From News10 ABC / By Tyanna Xavier / Aug. 28, 2026

WATERVLIET, N.Y. (NEWS10) —Some students heading back to school this year will have one more thing to remember before getting on the bus…a new card. The Watervliet City School District (NY) is providing students with Wayfinder cards to helps track which students are on board.

So how does it work? 

“They’ll (the students) get on the bus, and they’ll scan their card. A picture will appear for the driver, and it will scan a green, which means go, a red means that a child doesn’t belong on the bus or a blue means a child got on at a different location. 

The district says the goal is to have safer and more organized transportation. The district currently uses Transfinder which is a system used identify student bus stops and route the buses there. Wayfinder is part of that system and helps track which students are riding each bus. 

“Wayfinder is a system of taking student attendance, identifying what students are on what bus stops and locating them with our transponder system and allows us to keep our transportation as safe as possible,” said Dr. Donald Stevens, Superintendent of Schools.

According to Dr. Stevens, the district tested Wayfinder last year. 

“We actually started a pilot and did this last June with one of our routes. So, parents have already been accustomed to, ‘Hey, we’re rolling this out.’ There’s been information sent from our district to families about the upcoming school year, and we’re excited that it’s just a new technological advance of how we get kids to school safely,” said Dr. Stevens.

Robin Donovan, Transportation Coordinator, says the system is especially helpful for substitute bus drivers.

“Coming on to a bus that I don’t know that driver students’ [because] I substitute so it was easy, it matched,” said Donovan.

If a student forgets their card at home, the bus driver can still confirm they’re supposed to be on that bus. 

“The stop automatically identifies what students are supposed to get on at that bus stop, and either the driver or the student themselves can select their picture to identify that they’ve boarded the bus,” said Dr. Stevens.

Students are advised not to lose their cards. They can also use them to check out books, and soon they will be able to get lunch with them.