Fairfax County Public Schools students now must tap an ID card every time they board or exit a school bus. The policy change, in effect since the start of the 2026-27 school year, has drawn mixed reactions from riders and drivers at schools including James Madison High School in Vienna.

The district rolled out the requirement as part of a broader transportation overhaul that includes upgraded driver tablets and a new parent-facing app called My Ride. FCPS operates more than 1,600 buses, and bus riders make up 72 percent of the student population, according to The Hawk Talk, Madison High's student newspaper.

The cards use radio-frequency identification technology, or RFID, that logs when and where a student boards and exits, FFXnow reported in July. Drivers see each student's assigned stop and identity on their tablet. The data also transmits in real time to a dispatcher who can send help during an emergency, Superintendent Michelle Reid said in a video explaining the system.

Before this year, students could get on and off any bus without showing identification. The Hawk Talk reported that the change has created friction at bus stops.

Bus driver Thomas Gold told the student newspaper that scanning adds time to the routine. Students who forget their card can still board after a driver manually checks them in on the tablet, but FCPS encourages families to get a replacement right away, according to the district's announcement in July.

Madison High student Daniel Henderson told The Hawk Talk the requirement creates a new morning headache. "I'm tired of waking up in the morning and going to the bus stop and forgetting my bus ID and having to go home and grab it," Henderson said.

The policy also limits students who need to ride a bus other than their assigned one. Previously, a student whose parents were out of town could hop on a friend's bus. Now extra permission steps are required. Student Helena Backman-Cruz told The Hawk Talk she was unable to ride a friend's bus when her parents were not home.

FCPS said the system tracks the bus's location once a student taps in, not the student's own location. Some parents have still questioned the ethics of the tracking capability, The Hawk Talk reported.

The new My Ride app will replace the older Here Comes the Bus app and give families real-time boarding alerts. But as of an FCPS update in an Oct. 2 school newsletter, the app was still in its final testing stage. The newsletter told families to keep using Here Comes the Bus for the most accurate information and said FCPS would notify schools when My Ride is ready.

The ID cards are color-coded by school and include information about the national 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline on the back, as required by Virginia law since 2023, FFXnow reported. FCPS said the cards will eventually be used for other services, including school meals and field trips.

FCPS began testing the bus technology during the summer before the 2025-26 school year. Bus Driver Supervisor Lei Shi told FFXnow the initial pilot drew positive feedback from drivers, particularly for the navigation features.

The district has not announced a date for My Ride's full launch.