Getting students to school safely is tougher than ever. Driver shortages, tight budgets, and the logistics of routing specialized or McKinney-Vento riders have pushed traditional yellow buses to their limit.
In our recent webinar, Arianna Grand (Head of Partner Success, Via) sat down with Zack Midles (Director of Student Transportation, Tacoma Public Schools) to discuss how they built an alternative student transit program that works.
The challenge: where yellow buses fall short.
Traditional 72-passenger yellow school buses are great for main routes, but they are highly inefficient for routing individual, vulnerable students scattered across a large geographic footprint.
"We need to make sure that all kids get to school safely and on time. In doing so, unfortunately, we're not able to send a bus everywhere. So we rely on carriers, such as Via, to send cars out into some locations far away... where it's a little bit more beneficial than sending a bus." — Zack Midles
The solution: built-in cost savings & real-time transparency.
Many districts worry that using smaller vehicles will break the bank. However, by implementing automated features—like automatic afternoon cancellations when a student is marked absent in the morning—Tacoma has unlocked consistent, predictable savings. Additionally, the introduction of a dedicated caregiver web app has dramatically improved communication with families while reducing inbound phone calls to the district.
"We've gotten a lot of positive feedback on the caregiver app. It's easy to use, easy to navigate, and accurate. It helps with communication in the event that a car is running late or there are traffic delays." — Zack Midles
The impact: consistency for students who need it most.
To date, the partnership has completed over 3,800 rides across 52,000 miles, serving 114 of Tacoma's most vulnerable riders—including 85 McKinney-Vento students, 19 special education students, and 16 students in foster care. For these students, having a familiar, smiling face pick them up at the same time every day makes a massive difference.
"Having consistent schooling is important, and hearing from the parents that they were able to continue to go to school and get the education their kids need—while other stuff at home has been difficult—makes us proud of the work we do and the partners we have." — Zack Midles
If your district is navigating similar driver shortages, specialized routing hurdles, or tight budgets, you don't have to tackle them alone. Our team is always here to help you figure out if a smaller-vehicle, alternative transit model makes sense for your schools. Chat with us here.
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