Campus ID News
Card, mobile credential, payment and security
FEATURED
PARTNERS

Handheld card readers enable a Pennsylvania university to track bus ridership

Chris Corum   ||   Oct 24, 2004  ||   , ,

by Lauren Lowrey, Contributing Editor

This semester has been a mag-stripe reading adventure for the administration at Kutztown University in southeastern Pennsylvania. Springing from a regulation to halt non-students (e.g. recent graduates, drop-outs) from using the bus, the university decided to invest in six handheld ID card readers in an attempt to better monitor ridership. In the process of implementing the PDAs with magnetic stripe readers from Tokenworks, the University gained even more than they had hoped.

Kutztown has approximately 4,500 residents and is located an hour and a half from Philadelphia and two hours from New York City. Currently, some 8,200 students are enrolled at the university from 20 states and 40 countries.

Tokenworks’ card readers are helping administration tremendously as they strive to understand a number of ridership issues. “It shows us which route has the most traffic and where we need to open another stop for the shuttle … or if we should have another bus altogether,” says Max Keiper, Kutztown’s Info Tech Technician.

Prior to the installation in the three shuttle buses earlier this fall, the policy to ride was to simply flash your student ID, making it uncomplicated for graduates and drop-outs to ride. Now that the student must swipe their card in the card reader, “it helps to let students know who can ride the bus and who cannot, and what they would have to do to get permission to ride,” said Keiper.

The card readers have also enabled the discovering of which bus stop has the most traffic at certain times of the day. Mr. Keiper points out, “it gives us an idea as to which class levels are using it, what times they are riding, and from a security standpoint, if anything were to happen, who was on the bus.”

The package that Kutztown is using in their busses is the DBDeluxe package from Tokenworks. It includes Tokenworks’ CardTool Reader, CardDB Software, a Handspring Visor PDA and a number of other items. “The card readers are updated to the latest version: 3.30. We are using CardScribe and CardDB Database Applications installed on the handheld,” said Max Keiper.

Kutztown says a number of schools have contacted them about their usage of the card readers, and the University of Toledo has already gone through with the installation. “We continue to see strong demand from the higher education market as new customers see the CardDB solution used by existing customers” says Charles Cagliostro, President of Tokenworks.

When asked if he was looking to purchase more card readers for the same or other applications, Mr. Keiper replied, “Yes, there are a lot of possibilities for these readers. I am happy with them, and with the service.”

TokenWorks has provided smart card, magnetic card and other token based solutions to system integrators and operators since 1998. The company’s co-founders have more than twenty years combined experience in electrical design and the ID card industry.


Additional Resources:

  • To learn more about Kutztown University ID card program, visit them on the web by clicking here.
  • To learn more about Tokenworks and the CardTool reader, click here.
  • Related Posts

    || TAGS:
    Subscribe to our weekly newsletter

    RECENT ARTICLES

    USF ID card back
    Mar 28, 24 /

    Caveat emptor when adding contact numbers to campus cards

    The back of University of South Florida’s ID card provides several phone numbers for students in crisis or seeking safety services. Many campus cards contain similar resources, but what happens when this information changes. How do you deal with incorrect contact info for essential services? The USF card prominently lists contact numbers for the victim […]
    High school bathroom

    Bathroom breaks tracked by campus ID and mobile app

    At California’s Fresno High, a new app is authorizing and monitoring trips to the bathroom in an effort to increase students’ time in class and decrease gathering in halls and bathrooms. Of course, this has not gone over well with students. Raising your hand and asking the teacher if you can go to the bathroom […]
    Atrium Ozzi container

    Atrium clients track check-out and return of reusable containers at OZZI kiosks

    The push to reduce or even eliminate single-use containers from campus dining is now easier for Atrium clients. Thanks to a seamless integration between Atrium and the OZZI reusable container program, the processes for both students and dining services is streamlined. Atrium clients have been using OZZI for years, but the two systems were independent. […]
    CIDN logo reversed
    The only publication dedicated to the use of campus cards, mobile credentials, identity and security technology in the education market. CampusIDNews – formerly CR80News – has served more than 6,500 subscribers for more than two decades.
    Twitter

    Feb. 1 webinar explores how mobile ordering enhanced campus life, increased sales at UVA and Central Washington @Grubhub @CBORD

    Join Jeff Koziol and Robert Gaulden from @AllegionUS as we explore how mobile credentials and proptech are changing on- and off-campus housing.

    Load More...
    Contact
    CampusIDNews is published by AVISIAN Publishing
    315 E. Georgia St.
    Tallahassee, FL 32301
    www.AVISIAN.com[email protected]
    Use our contact form to submit tips, corrections, or questions to our team.
    ©2024 CampusIDNews. All rights reserved.