Patent ID: 6863215

Claim:
A bus access system for tracking of students to ensure that they board a correct bus for a correct assigned route, comprising: a card reader on said bus with a processor connected to the card reader, and a memory and an annunciator connected to the processor; a master card having an identifier code corresponding to said assigned route, a respective slave card for respective students for the assigned route, the slave card also having an identifier code thereon which matches the master card identifier code, and wherein at least one of said master card and said slave cards has an indicator permitting identification of the master card and distinguishing it from the slave cards; and the processor containing a logic which performs the functions of: upon insertion of the master card, first identifying presence or non-presence of the indicator to verify that a master card has been inserted, and if so, storing said master card identifier code in said memory, and if a slave card is inserted into said card reader, checking to see whether or not said indicator is present to determine whether or not the inserted card is a slave card, and if the inserted card is a slave card-reading the identifier code from the slave card and checking the slave card identifier code against the stored identifier code, and if the stored identifier code and the slave card identifier code are the same providing a valid annunciation by the annunciator, and if the identifier codes do not match, providing an invalid annunciation indicating that the student is on the wrong bus.