To better serve our students, we will begin asking elementary students (K-5) to carry and use a Bus Badge or pass to board the bus. This program is designed to enhance bus rider safety and provide:
A more accurate list of students using transportation to maximize route efficiency.
Parent’s knowledge of when their child boarded and got off the bus.
As part of the Bus Badge Program, the district has partnered with Tyler Technologies to provide passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards or badges as the District Bus Badge. The card reader is located at the top of the bus stairs on the driver dashboard. The Bus Badge will be scanned as students enter and exit the bus, and will record the card number, location, and time the student swiped the reader. This information can be accessed by select district staff as well as parents by using the Traversa Ride 360 application. If you are interested in receiving Ride 360 notifications, you will need to create an account as part of the registration process. You can get more information on Ride 360 here.
This program is being implemented in phases at the elementary level in West Ada School District.
Schools will be issued Bus Passes prior to their designated launch date to hand out to students during the Fall of 2023.
As part of the bus badge program, school offices will issue Bus Badges along with backpack straps to students currently riding a district school bus. Students will receive their initial Bus Badge free of charge.
If the Bus Badge is lost or damaged, please place a Help Desk Ticket at Transportation - Jira Service Management (atlassian.net). You may also reach this request by going to www.westada.org, clicking on the Transportation icon and then hitting the ticket symbol. The first replacement badge will be free, however additional replacement passes will result in a $5.00 replacement fee.
Students who arrive at the bus stop in the morning without their Bus Pass will be allowed to ride the bus to school. It will, however, slow the boarding process and slow bus progress. Please help us by making sure that your students have their Bus Pass when they head to the bus stop each morning.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Transportation at (208) 350-4747, create a ticket for Transportation.
Thank you for your support as we work to provide this exciting new service for bus riders!
District Bus Pass Program Frequently Asked Questions:
What is the Ride 360 Buss Badge/Pass?
- The Ride 360 Bus Badge is a passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) program designed to provide greater security for students riding buses in West Ada School District. Students will be issued a bus pass badge which will allow the Transportation Department to better account for student riders, including the location of when and where students enter or exit the bus.
How does the Ride 360 Bus Pass work?
- A student riding a bus will scan their Ride 360 Bus Pass Badge when they enter or exit the bus for daily transportation or for occasional transportation such as for academic or athletic field trips. As the student scans their badge, the system captures the student's location allowing parents/guardians to know the location of the bus their student is riding while they are on the bus or the location where they exited the bus by downloading and registering for an account with the Traversa Ride 360 app. If you have already registered, you do not need to do anything additional.
How does the RFID chip in the badge work?
- The student IDs use passive RFID, which means that it does not emit any type of signal unless it comes near an RFID reader - approximately 1 - 2 inches.
- The only readers the district uses are located on the buses to log when students get on and off the bus.
- The student scan is date/time stamped when it occurs, and the encrypted data is sent over-the-air to the cloud.
- Once the student moves away from the on-board RFID scanner, there is no ability for the card to be tracked (there is no GPS tracking built into the card). The bus is tracked using GPS, and the snapshot of where the child is located only happens as the rider gets on and off the school bus.
Is my child's location tracked while not on the bus?
- No. Students are not tracked using their unique ID assigned to their badge while not on the bus. There are no electronic readers inside the school or at any other location that may trigger the chip on the badge to track a location.
What information is stored on the Ride 360 Bus Pass Badge?
- The only information stored on the badge is a unique 56-bit card number. No identifiable information such as student ID number, name, grade, school, social security number, etc. is stored on the card's RFID chip.
How is my child's information protected?
- Students who have requested transportation to and from school are automatically enrolled in the Bus Pass program and will be issued a badge. The badge is encrypted to only work with Transportation Department equipment. Any student information, including scan activity, is only accessible by select West Ada School District staff and is available to that student's parents/guardians who have downloaded and registered the Traversa Ride 360 app. No one else has access to your student's information and no identifiable information about the student is stored on the card. The only information stored in the student's badge is a random number assigned to that student within the system. This number is fully encrypted.
Can I opt out of the program?
- Participation in the bus badge program is mandatory for all bus riders, meaning each student will need a Bus Badge to gain entry onto a bus. Currently attendance is already taken on the bus, but it is done with pen and paper. This current method is time consuming, distracting to the driver, and not readily available in times of an emergency. Ultimately, the Bus Badge is more accurate, more efficient, less distracting to the driver, and more helpful to parents and any emergency personnel.
Does the Ride 360 Bus Pass Badge or program have a cost?
- No, there is no cost to families to participate in the program, receive the badge, or download the app.
What happens if my child loses their Ride 360 Bus Pass Badge?
- In the event of a lost badge, please notify the school or District Transportation at (208) 350-4747 immediately to request a replacement badge. Replacement badges will be issued to students at no cost for the first lost card. Thereafter, each replacement will incur a cost of $5.00.
What happens if my child forgets their Ride 360 Bus Pass Badge? Will they not be able to ride the bus?
- If a student forgets their badge, they will not be denied transportation - the bus will still pick them up in the morning. They may be asked to provide their name and student ID to allow the bus driver to manually add them into the system. They will be issued a replacement badge or a temporary bus pass listing their route to board the bus in the afternoon.
