Madison Reporter

The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) has expanded its yellow bus service to improve transportation access for students. This expansion has positively impacted the number of middle school students participating in after-school programs offered by Madison School & Community Recreation (MSCR), as it provides them with a safe way to return home.

"We are excited to see our students using these services," said Scott Chehak, Senior Executive Director of Building Services. "By providing transportation access, we’re able to connect our scholars to a variety of MSCR opportunities."

Additionally, MMSD reports increased use of the FirstView app, developed by First Student. This app allows families to monitor their children's yellow buses in real time via smartphones or tablets. Since its launch in spring 2024, it has been downloaded 3,929 times and supports 2,943 active parent profiles for 8,013 student riders. Metro Transit users can also track their buses through city- and third-party-supplied programs. The district plans to pilot special education route tracking through the FirstView app soon.

"Special education routing is an area we are continuing to look into and plan for," said Vanessa Cruz, assistant director of transportation and logistics. "We plan to identify a school to pilot to help ensure we have a clear process so that families have what they need."

Arrival times for yellow buses have also improved significantly; in January, they arrived within five minutes of their scheduled stop 98% of the time.

"The MMSD transportation team, as a whole, wants to continue to enhance our service to the community," Cruz stated. "We want to find economical solutions, be transparent and work toward proactive, solutions-focused outcomes."

Currently, MMSD accommodates 9,398 students across its various transportation services including yellow bus routes, specialized transportations like TEP and services for four-year-old kindergarteners (4K).