One of the biggest challenges in the world of student transportation is building trust with parents. Many parents now use ride-hailing apps from yellow buses to transport their children to and from school, citing safety as one of the primary concerns.
With just 33% of students still using school buses, how can districts increase their share in the student transportation market? Well, one way would be to earn parents’ trust so they feel comfortable sending their kids to school.
Here are 3 ways to help you do just that!
Make Your Buses Safer
One of the best ways to make parents feel more confident sending their kids to school in buses is by making the system safer. Not only does this entail the buses in your fleet, but also operational safety.
It’s clear that modern school buses are significantly better than those from the 90s, with modern ones coming with ADAS systems, seat belts, and other safety features. Capitalizing on these features is important, but how can you boost safety all around?
- Invest in Modern Hardware: There are many hardware tools that can make your school buses safer. Investing in dashcams, stop arms with integrated cameras, and interior cameras can greatly boost safety at your school district.
- Explore GPS Tracking Solutions: Not only does GPS tracking for your fleet allow you to know where each bus is at any time, but also gives parents the peace of mind that there’s some way for the school district to track where the students are.
- Maintain Your Fleet: School bus fleet maintenance tools have unlocked new potential for transportation departments. Many schools use these tools to keep their buses in top shape, leading to more reliable transportation for students.
If parents know school buses have modern safety features and will operate reliably, with no worry about students missing classes, they would be more comfortable with student transportation.
Establish Strong Communication
It’s important to keep parents updated about any changes in plans. There are factors out of your control like a car crash on the highway or severe weather that impacts routes. But in times of uncertainty, wouldn’t you want to know that your loved ones are safe?
Here are some important things to communicate to parents:
- Change in Timing: If there are any delays on the route, keep parents in the loop using mobile apps. This allows parents to have two-way communication with the transportation department and get timely updates about their children’s whereabouts.
- Pick and Drop Alerts: Parents need to know where the bus is when it’s picking or dropping their kids. Imagine how convenient it would be as a parent if you knew what time to reach the bus stop to drop or pick your kids.
Parents would feel more comfortable if they know someone is in-charge of the situation, especially during a crisis. With data and diagnostic information from school bus routing software, you can keep parents updated about any emergencies and corrective measures your school district is taking for them.
Make Buses More Accommodating
It’s important to make buses more accommodating for students considering how many special needs children are enrolled in American schools.

Additionally, it’s helpful to create seating charts for students based on their needs. Some students might need to sit closer to the door, while there may be some rowdy children who need to be seated away from others.
Similarly, stops might need to be adjusted based on address changes and for students with multiple households. Taking into account these things can greatly improve the service quality, making it easier for parents to consider switching to school buses.
Final Thoughts
While there is an obvious shift away from school bus transportation, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to get your student ridership numbers up. Many people have reported higher student ridership numbers after using school bus routing software like BusPlanner.
Get in touch with us today to see how we can transform operations at your school district!