CINCINNATI, Ohio – First Student, the trusted school transportation and technology provider to millions of families across North America, announced today the launch of First Services, an all-encompassing division that will solve a wide and growing range of school transportation needs. First Services reflects the company’s success and growth, allowing First Student to build, and now bundle, stand-alone services for districts, an essential offering that achieves greater cost savings for districts and the opportunity for partnership in specific areas of transportation rather than a full-service model.
First Services will help districts incorporate technology, electric school bus charging, routing, fleet maintenance, and behavioral training to improve student transportation. First Services will make its experts available to all school districts, regardless of whether they contract their transportation or manage it in-house, enhancing transportation for students and creating essential budget flexibility for districts.
First Student has the following services and consulting accomplishments:
27% reduction in behavior incidents on vehicles using FirstServes program
30,000 buses routed each year across all major routing software platforms
1,250 qualified and highly engaged technicians who hold over 3,200 ASE certifications and maintain more than 45,000 vehicles
$425 Million secured for electric school bus customers in EPA funding
30+ EV experts to assist districts across North America with deployment
“For us, it starts and ends with helping students reach their full potential. We have a rich history and an incredible team. Districts and their students will benefit from our 100+ years of experience and the processes and efficiencies we have developed providing 1 billion trips a year across 20,000+ schools and districts,” said First Student CEO John Kenning. “First Services leverages our industry-leading experience providing safe, reliable transportation and our team of experts to aid districts with their needs from technology to training, from fleets to maintenance. Helping districts improve transportation and lower their costs, will allow them to focus on education while we provide support to ensure every trip to and from school is an exceptional one.”
First Services starts by engaging districts and identifying where they need help meeting goals including:
Optimizing school bus routes
Keeping buses running efficiently
Managing maintenance programs
Revamping operations
Electrifying school bus fleets
Improving the student experience
“First Student’s priority always is providing the best and safest ride for all students but too often, school districts face budgetary pressures that make this even more challenging. First Services unlocks cost savings for districts and greater opportunity for students and their families,” said First Student Vice President of Consulting Leslie Norgren. “Our expert consultants will work with districts to evaluate their daily transportation operations, bus routing, electrification, fleet maintenance, management, and safety and find opportunities to further improve transportation services. We are proud that our success has allowed us to expand our offerings for districts, and we look forward to delivering an even better experience for the students we serve.”
First Services experts then provide insights, analysis, recommendations, training, and turn-key solutions, freeing the district to focus on other priorities. The umbrella of services includes:
Fleet as a Service
Fleet as a Service (FaaS) allows districts to design a program that meets their transportation needs and lowers costs. Under FaaS, districts can build a tailored set of services and maintain complete control of their transportation operation. First Services can assist with bus procurement, vehicle maintenance, technician training, and best practices.
Maintenance as a Service
Maintenance as a service provides districts with best-in-class full service maintenance as a stand-alone contract. Our dedicated team will maintain district vehicles in a district-owned facility or one of our 100+ ASE Blue Seal Certified shops across North America. With maintenance as a service, districts benefit from a reliable and well-maintained fleet without worrying about parts, technician staffing or varying maintenance costs.
Electrifying Fleets
First Student is the largest operator of electric school buses in the world with nearly four million miles of service with EVs. As more school districts look to modernize their fleets with electric school buses, First Service’s EV experts can assist districts with grant applications, infrastructure design, hardware and software selection, charger and bus selections, site assessments, utility outreach and construction, and deployment. First Services support in the EV process allows for a reduction in implementation lead times and cost.
FirstServes
FirstServes is First Student’s premier, expert-backed training and support program, developed in conjunction with top children’s hospitals, behavioral psychologists and education professionals. The program is designed to help school districts and on-vehicles staff meet the individualized needs of all students, including those with intellectual, physical or emotional disabilities. The program empowers bus drivers and attendants with specialized training to support students on the bus, respond to behaviors and de-escalate situations to ensure all children show up to school ready to learn.
Operations
First Services also provides daily operations assessment. All aspects of day-to-day operations are analyzed, including dispatching, staffing, daily management, safety, communication and Key Performance Indicators, allowing our experts to identify opportunities to improve overall effectiveness.
Routing
Districts can receive a routing efficiency and effectiveness analysis as a stand-alone option from First Services. It includes examining routes, school schedules and bus utilization. First Student manages the routing of more than 30,000 vehicles each year, working with all major routing platforms. The evaluation can help districts improve on-time performance and reduce costs.
About First Student:
As the leading school transportation solutions provider in North America, First Student strives to provide unmatched care and the safest ride to school to 5.5 million students every day. With a team of highly trained drivers, the company will complete 1 billion student trips during the 2024-25 school year. First Student delivers reliable, quality services, including full-service transportation and management, special-needs transportation, fleet electrification, route optimization, and scheduling, maintenance, and charter services with a fleet of about 45,000 buses. For more information, visit firststudentinc.com.
