First Student’s Biggest School Year Ever: Safety Enhancements, More Electric School Buses, & 1 Billion Planned Bus Rides in 2024–2025

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First Scholar, the trusted faculty transportation supplier to hundreds of thousands of households, is gearing up for its greatest faculty 12 months ever. The corporate will advance scholar security, broaden its fleet of fresh electrical faculty buses, and take advantage of scholar transportation journeys in North America. This faculty 12 months, First Scholar expects to:

• Full 1 billion scholar transportation journeys
• Transport 5.5 million college students each faculty day
• Drive 525 million miles
• Serve greater than 19,000 colleges
• Function scholar transportation providers in 43 states
• Make use of practically 50,000 drivers

“Back to school is one of the best times of the year for our team because we get to help students start their school year off the right way,” stated First Scholar CEO and President John Principle. “We are ready to deliver exceptional service with our biggest, safest and most electric school year ever. First Student is proud of our proven, industry-leading solutions in electrification, alternative transportation and fleet management that serve the school districts and families that trust us with their students. We are driving the future with safety, innovation and unparalleled operational excellence, and our goal is ensuring every student receives the best possible ride to and from school.”

First Scholar is the most important operator of electrical faculty buses in North America and is charging towards its dedication to transitioning 30,000 diesel buses to electrical by 2035. The corporate has been awarded greater than $400 million in rebates from the Environmental Safety Company’s (EPA) Clear College Bus Program and different applications, enabling it to speed up its push to supply more healthy and safer rides for college students by means of electrification. This faculty 12 months, First Scholar expects to:

• Deploy 110 new electrical faculty buses in 10 faculty districts
• Move 6 million miles pushed on electrical faculty buses
• Full 167,400 journeys on 465 electrical buses
• Cut back carbon emissions by 12,550 tons

FirstServes, the corporate’s ground-breaking scholar habits enchancment and particular wants scholar assist program, not too long ago introduced that this system is considerably lowering disruptive incidents on faculty buses by as a lot as 27% year-over-year. Developed in partnership with the foremost authorities on youngster habits and particular training, FirstServes offers structured planning and assist to ship focused coaching for driving workers and on-vehicle displays. First Scholar has expanded FirstServes as a standalone choice to high school districts, no matter whether or not transportation is contracted or managed in-house.

“By deploying FirstServes across our school districts and offering it to any district in North Americawe can meaningfully reduce behavioral incidents and make bus rides safer than ever,” stated First Scholar Head of Scholar Companies Will McDermott. “We are excited for the 2024-2025 school year because this transformational program will serve more students than ever. We are proud to meet each individual school district’s needs in bridging the gap between the classroom and the school bus, making rides safer and better for everyone on board our buses.”

FirstAlt, First Scholar’s progressive various transportation service, additionally expects to broaden its footprint within the upcoming faculty 12 months. FirstAlt, which permits faculty districts to function extra effectively, and ensures the secure and dependable transport of scholars with distinctive transportation wants and college students experiencing homelessness, will construct on these exceptional milestones from final faculty 12 months:

• 142% improve at school districts serviced
• 1,035% surge within the variety of college students transported
• 2,068% improve in journeys serviced

“FirstAlt is serving more students with special transportation needs than ever before, alleviating stress for more parents and school districts while providing reliable, trustworthy transportation,” stated First Scholar Vice President of FirstAlt Gregg Prettyman. “FirstAlt has developed custom technology specifically designed to address the unique challenges of alternative transportation and meets kids where they are, both geographically and with their needs. Districts that utilize FirstAlt are delivering well-trained, professional and caring support to the students who depend on them the most.”

First Scholar is essentially the most chosen faculty transportation supplier in North America. It’s also the one faculty bus firm to supply a full-service Ok-12 transportation resolution inclusive of all scholar wants and automobile sorts. First Scholar has been delivering these confirmed, progressive and sustainable transportation choices to high school districts for greater than a century.

About First Scholar

As a number one faculty transportation options supplier in North America, First Scholar strives to supply the very best begin and end to each faculty day. With a crew of extremely educated drivers and the trade’s strongest security document, First Scholar delivers dependable, high quality providers, together with full-service transportation and administration, special-needs transportation, route optimization, and scheduling, upkeep, and constitution providers with a fleet of about 45,000 buses. For extra data, go to firststudentinc.com.

Supply: First Scholar