North America’s Leading Provider of School Bus Transportation Services

First Student is the largest school bus operator in North America. We provide student transportation services for schools and districts across the United States and Canada. We leverage significant economies of scale, global resources, capital investment, experience and systems expertise to provide school busing services with maximum efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

The Largest School Bus Company in North America

First Student provides student transportation in 38 U.S. states and 9 Canadian provinces while our fleet of more than 54,000 buses serves 6 million student riders every day. We’re not just a leading school bus company - we’re one of the world’s most extensive transportation operations of any kind. In fact, each year we transport more passengers than all major U.S. airlines combined.

Trusted by more school districts than any other provider

When school districts need transportation solutions, First Student delivers. We’ve partnered with more than 1400 districts to develop customized services that support the transportation needs of 6 million students each day. This expertise combined with our commitment to innovation and student safety has established us as the industry’s leading provider of school busing and student transportation services.

Contract Services

We put our experience to work to custom-design a transportation package that addresses your district's specific goals and needs.

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Routing Services

First Planning Solutions, our in-house specialists, are the industry’s leading experts on school bus routing and student transportation logistics.

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Fleet Services

We provide safe, reliable, cost-effective options for everything from school bus leasing and maintenance to daily shuttles and charter bus rentals for large and small events.

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Technology

First Student’s industry-leading innovation means continuously researching, developing and investing in technology that matters.

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We've been transporting students for a century

Our student transportation experience can be traced back a century. And while throughout the years equipment and technology have evolved, our commitment to safety and service has remained unchanged. We are proud to have transported past generations and look forward to serving tomorrow’s students.

Student safety is at the heart of everything we do

Student safety is the primary concern of school districts, parents and communities. That’s why safety is a core value, an integral part of our culture, and a way of life for our employees. We invest millions in equipment, technology and driver training, making our school buses one of the safest forms of transportation on the road today.

Fast Facts About First Student
 

  • More students ride a First Student bus to school each year than the total number of passengers on all the major U.S. airlines combined. (Source: FAA. Airlines include Airtran, Alaska Airlines, America West, American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, Jet Blue, Midwest Express, Northwest, Sun Country , Southwest, Spirit, U.S. Airways, and United.)
     
  • Our local transportation professionals safely and securely transport 6 million students every school day.
     
  • We are the leading school bus operator in the U.S. and Canada, with a fleet of approximately 54,000 school buses and a number one ranking according to School Bus Fleet’s annual top contractors’ survey. 
     
  • Our bus fleet travels 600 million miles per year — the equivalent of 1,200 round trips to the moon.
     
  • We operate in 38 states and 9 Canadian provinces.
     
  • We operate approximately 600 locations and 1,400 school districts.
     
  • We are the first school bus company to utilize global positioning systems (GPS) on each bus in the U.S. to enable dispatchers to monitor a vehicle’s location and exact speed at any time. We have more than 1,000 buses with GPS in Canada, with plans to install units throughout the entire fleet.
     
  • We install Safety Crossing Gates on the front of all of our school buses to prevent children from crossing too close to the front of a bus, where drivers cannot see them.
     
  • We install the Child Check-Mate™ electronic reminder system on all of our school buses to help drivers confirm that no sleeping children remain inside a bus at the end of each route.
     
  • We invest millions of dollars each year in driver training. Each driver receives ongoing, extensive safety and security training throughout the school year.