Electronic multi-year bus passes

[pete]

Background:

 

We pay (and then parents reimburse us) for 7 school buses (mix of minibus and 60-seater) for children who don't live along routes served by the LA.

 

Bus passes are laminated card (Name, Form, Bus Route, Start and Expiry date), issued yearly.

 

Finance are interested in not having to issue ~300 bus passes every year. Especially since most students will be riding the same bus for 5-7 years (depending on school and GCSE results).

 

Query:

 

On Edugeek, I can see some schools integrating student bus passes with door entry & cashless catering.

 

• Are you re-issuing electronic cards yearly?
  
• If not, how are you handling bus pass expiry and validation? So a driver can spot an expired pass from a post-16 student using the pass to get to college in the same town?
  
• Do your bus companies have any (standard, already on-board) equipment or information to link a badge ID to an expiry date?
  
• What does it cost you (roughly, nearest £1K is fine) to issue and/or reissue passes in terms of materials and labour? What were the initial setup costs?
  

[robyholmes]

You could look at what people like the national trust do for car stickers. They change the colour each year. It would be harder in that the drivers would need to know that Blue and Green was valid this year, but next year Blue is expired?

[M4tty_j]

Do the students have ID cards? Can you print on their ID card what bus theyre eligible to ride?

[M4tty_j]

Or issue some kind of Apple Wallet / Google Wallet pass that they can show to the driver?