Parents will soon be able to track their children’s journey to and from school in real time, thanks to a new smart card system being introduced under the Government’s Rural School Bus Programme.

According to Major Paul Brown, vice-president of El Hydro, the new technology will enable parents and guardians to receive instant notifications when their children board or exit a school bus. The feature, he said, is designed to boost safety, efficiency, and confidence in the still-developing school bus programme.

El Hydro, the technology and maintenance partner for the rural school bus initiative, has been tasked with implementing the digital systems that power the fleet — from GPS tracking and driver monitoring to the new smart card feature that enables parents to follow their children’s journeys in real time.

Speaking during a press conference last Friday at the transport ministry to give an update on the Rural School Bus Programme, Brown explained that each student will be issued with an electronic smart card linked to a digital monitoring platform that records boarding and disembarkation times.

“The system, as alluded to by the minister [Daryl Vaz], will be able to provide a notification to the parents and guardians; onboarding, exiting, and all of these notifications will be sent via SMS text messaging and via the app that the parent or child or guardian can download to get a full status report, a full detail of how the child has been utilising the bus,” Brown said.

According to Brown, the technology forms part of a wider cashless payment system that will officially go live on November 3. Students will tap their cards when entering or leaving the bus, activating a digital log of their movements. During the current testing phase, Brown said, the cards have been preloaded to simulate live transactions and allow parents to familiarise themselves with the process.

“One of the big parts of this in achieving the requirement for the third of November is the conduct of a trial period, and this will commence on Monday the 13th. What we have done is that we have issued bus cards to the students,” he said, adding that the intention was for the students to register their cards on the just-ended weekend “so that come Monday, when they go to tap, the card will be activated and the system, the entire process, will chip in and will be able to test it for the duration of October”.

Brown noted that the smart cards are being rolled out in phases, with the first set already distributed to students registered through the Ministry of Education.

“As far as the roll-out leading up to the third [November 3] is concerned, we intend to have the bus card delivered for those students who are registered to the Ministry of Education by the 24th of October. We will open the online top-up module of the process on the 25th of October and we will have a walk-in retail outlet that will be ready to be utilised by the parents on the 27th, a week before, to facilitate parents, guardians who are not doing online top-up to be able to walk into a facility and top-up their bus cards,” he said.

The smart card system complements a suite of advanced security features already installed on the buses, including GPS tracking, live camera feeds, and a School Bus Operation Centre (SBOC) that monitors each vehicle in real time.

Brown explained that the SBOC will allow full visibility of all buses across the island.

“It is a central location that will be able to track all buses islandwide. It will be able to treat with all the school regions to ensure that no region is operating in silence. There’s interconnectivity between the regions… and it will increase response time in the event of emergency.”

Members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) will also be stationed within the monitoring centre to coordinate responses to emergencies, ensuring rapid communication with police patrols, fire units, or medical services whenever a situation arises on any of the routes.

“That facility will also be able to exercise all of the functionalities of the technology that will be installed in the bus and, most importantly, the storage of historical information so that you can retrieve data, footage, in the event that you need to investigate a particular matter,” he explained.

The School Bus Operation Centre, he added, forms part of a broader push to modernise public transportation for students while strengthening confidence among parents. Beyond the tracking and monitoring functions, the technology also supports route planning, fuel management, and maintenance scheduling — all aimed at keeping the fleet in top condition.

According to Brown, each bus is equipped with multiple cameras covering different angles, including the driver’s seat, the interior, and the exterior wings, as well as a reverse camera for improved manoeuvring. There is also a driver monitoring system that uses infra-red technology to detect fatigue or distraction.

“Once this is detected, an audible alert is sent and is immediately heard by the driver, and the driver can then react to this. All of this system will aid in reducing any risk of accident,” he explained.

He noted that this suite of technology allows the Jamaica Urban Transit Company and the transport ministry to monitor driver behaviour in real time and respond swiftly to any unsafe conduct. The system can detect sudden acceleration, harsh cornering, or speeding — data which can then be analysed to reward safe drivers or address performance issues.

Overall, Brown said the innovation is designed to bring peace of mind to parents who worry daily about their children’s safety.

“The electronic application is very significant and will form a big part of the safety of the buses and provide confidence to the parents, guardians with respect to their children who will be on these buses,” he said