Above: While the public schools are using the same bus company as they have for years, under the contract started for this school year, changes are coming. (image edited from presentation and photo by Beth Melo)
Last month, the NSBORO administration updated the Southborough School Committee on improvements planned for school buses in the new school year. That includes new technology to be piloted this summer during the ESY (Extended School Year) program.
The presentation previewed: Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation, Live Camera Access, an Upgraded Bus Tracking Application, RFID Student Tracking System, and improved financial “Accountability”.
The changes will apply to all of the 32 buses for the ten NSBORO schools, including Algonquin Regional High School.
Asst Superintendent of Operations, Keith Lavoie also recapped results from the busing changes made for Southborough students last year. The successes will continue this year. Those include dedicated buses for Finn School and the Morning Transfer system for transporting Algonquin Students.
Below are more details from the June 11th presentation and my follow up with Lavoie.
Background
Readers may recall that the School Committee and administration pursued a new bus contract this year. It came at a higher cost, but it included changes meant to address issues that parents have complained about.
The district has historically struggled with bus reliability based on driver staffing issues, substitute drivers unfamiliar with routes, buses breaking down, and communication issues when buses are late or miss stops.
The contract for this school year, approved in March, caps the age and mileage of NSBORO buses (to 10 years and 130,000 miles at the start of the school year) in hopes of reducing breakdowns. It also requires NRT have a “pool of substitute drivers” to tap into when needed.1 The Combined School Committees also voted to include in the contract “stop arm recordings” (to record vehicles that don’t stop for school buses) and “electronic student ridership”.
2025-2026 Bus Plans
The June presentation included details on how that electronic ridership data will obtained and improvements negotiated with NRT for this school year.
(For info on results from the improvements the district implemented last year, scroll further down.)
Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation:
Lavoie highlighted this change as one the district had been longing for. Buses will be equipped with verbal turn-by-turn navigation. It eliminates the need for drivers to rely on paper route sheets, and will help drivers get back on track if they take any wrong turns. Upon questioning, he confirmed that drivers will also have the paper routes as backup in case of a system failure.
This one of the improvements the district plans to pilot this summer with ESY buses. (The ESY program runs about five routes between the two towns.)
Upgraded Bus Tracking Application:
The district had previously been excited to offer parents live tracking and alerts on their kids’ buses using the “Where’s my kid?” app. It allowed parents to see where their kids’ buses are and set notifications to get alerts when the buses enter set zones.
The problem was that the app didn’t generally work when substitute buses were used.
Lavoie explained that the “third party” app had “shortfalls”. The upgraded app to be launched will be integrated with NRT’s internal systems. He believes that means that when drivers load the route to follow, their buses will show up correctly in the new app.
Lavoie said they “heard very good things from other districts that have launched it, so we’re hoping for for a smooth roll out”.
Live Camera Access:
Also to be piloted through ESY — Cameras on buses will be upgraded to allow Principals and central office staff direct access to live feeds. The intent is to help staff resolve issues more promptly. (No, the feed won’t be accessible to parents.)
RFID Student Tracking System (Pilot Program):
Unlike the other changes, the administration is planning a “slow rollout” for this pilot to track student ridership. Students will be issued cards to scan upon entering and exiting the bus. This system will provide live tracking of every student by the school and central office, so they know where every student is.
Lavoie said the program will take some learning, but they are talking to both NRT and with Hopkinton where it is already being used. They believe it will help offer more precise ridership data.
The details won’t be made available live to parents. But it will help school and central office staff more quickly know where every student is to follow up on any questions/issues.
NRT-Led Routing Management:
NRT will take a more significant leadership role creating and managing the bus routes. In a conversation with Lavoie, I recalled that he first stepped up to deal with bus routing issues years ago when he was a Principal at Trottier.
I pointed out that the district eventually took over creation of routes from NRT because there were problems. He explained that the administration is seeking for NRT to take more ownership of the routes drivers are following (and any changes made), so they will be more responsive to questions and problems when they come up. He assured that he would still jump in to triage if there are snafus that require it.
Lavoie said he doesn’t expect any substantial changes to the routes, though there will be slight modifications.2
Enhanced Accountability:
The new contract with NRT is “quite detailed” with provisions to instill sanctions for lack of performance. The district appears to have added the “Accountability” measures to financially motivate the company to meet its responsibilities.
The administration has already been tracking interruptions and violations daily. They will now will submit the data to NRT management weekly to ensure prompt action on any recurring issues.
Recap of 2024-2025 Improvement Results
Last summer, the administration made changes to how buses were handled to address too long bus rides and problems with getting kids to schools on time. In last month’s update, Lavoie told the committee the changes were successful.
Dedicated Buses
This past year, seven buses were dedicated to the Finn K-1st grade students. Eight buses were dedicated to Woodward and Neary School. Lavoie told the committee the dedicated bus change resulted in reduced travel time for students.
The dedicated buses were a change from the prior strategy of grouping Finn, Woodward, and Neary students all on the same buses.3 Parents had complained about ridiculously long bus rides for schools not that far from their home. Looking into it, the School Committee found that many young Finn students had morning bus rides that were 45 minutes long, and some even over an hour. And in the afternoons, that problem shifted to the Woodward and Neary students.
Algonquin Transfers (about more than just the high school):
Separating out the Finn buses also helped address another busing issue — buses running late for morning pickup on a regular basis. While all 15 buses were used to pick up Trottier and Algonquin students in the morning, only the seven “Finn” buses were used to bring kids to the high school. At Trottier, when the middle schoolers disembarked, many of the ARHS students were “transferred” to another bus. Then only the “express” buses continued to Algonquin.
That transfer allows buses to begin picking up Neary & Trottier students without waiting for buses to make the round trip to Northborough during morning rush hours. Lavoie said the program was a success, despite the initial “chagrin” of the high school students. The changes contributed to ensuring on-time arrivals virtually every day.
Significantly Reduced Disruptions:
Lavoie said they went from experiencing disruptions (doubled up or significantly late buses) on 75% of school days in 2023-2024 to fewer than 30% of school days in 2024-2025.
As for the 30%, Lavoie said those issues took place in the first three months of the school year. Following Halloween, there was marked improvement with very few disruptions. He blamed the early problems on resignations near the start of the school year and lack of substitute drivers familiar with routes.
As for ridership improvement, Lavoie said that the only marked improvement they saw in participation was from Finn School families. He hoped that building trust in the improved reliability will lead to greater ridership for other age groups in the long run.
What’s Next?
School Committee Chair Chelsea Malinowski noted that all of the changes were going to mean a busy summer for Lavoie. During an earlier discussion of the new app, he stated, “just like with anything new I think we’re going to have to see how it goes.” And he referred to the first day of the new school year as their “Super Bowl”. But he expressed optimism about being ready for the big changes by the time school opens.
Today, Lavoie continued to sound confident about the plans. In a message to me, he wrote:
We’re looking forward to a smoother start to the school year under the new contract with NRT—with drivers secured for all routes, accurate and efficient route details for every student, and technology fully installed and operational. This work is actively underway this summer in preparation for the 2025–2026 school year.
Parents should expect to receive email (and probably Parent Square) announcements in early August about changes coming. Based on past years, I’m assuming the actual routes won’t be poste until much closer to the start of the school year (as they allow for families to continue to register students).
In the meantime, if you haven’t already registered your Southborough student to take the bus, the schools do still want that data (even though the promoted deadline passed). You can do that here. The form notes that requests take two weeks, so don’t wait too long to act.
Updated (7/11/25 9:47 am): I initially forgot to include an important detail about the cap on bus ages and miles — that was at the start of the school year.
- The first time the administration put the contract out to bid, they asked for even newer buses and 4 substitutes dedicated to NSBORO. When the bids came back way too high, the administration was forced to issue a less ambitious RFP.
- Though he didn’t specify, the routes do have to be reexamined every year as addresses for students change. Sometimes a route doesn’t need any changes other than where to stop. But other times, as some streets drop off and others are added, there can be bigger re-routes that make sense for efficiency.
- Routing all three K-5 school students on the same bus was a change made in 2021 after school start times were adjusted to give ARHS students more time to sleep in the mornings. The Southborough bus routes shifted from 3 trips (for ARHS, Trottier & Neary, and Finn & Woodward) at the start and end of each school day to two trips.
The Community Advocate published an article back in January about what was happening with the bus situation: https://www.communityadvocate.com/education/bus-bids-rejected-by-northborough-southborough-and-regional-school-committees/article_7f12e4e1-96a6-552a-9ef5-0cdae8bc787b.html
The District initially rejected the first two bids only to find out that the bus companies were not going to budge. At that point, negotiations began because if the District had to pay significantly more for transportation, they wanted something in return.
Thankfully, John Wysocki spoke up at the meeting and pointed out that the bus companies appeared to be holding all the cards.
This statment, “Readers may recall that the School Committee and administration pursued a new bus contract this year. It came at a higher cost, but it included changes meant to address issues that parents have complained about” needs to be put into context. That sentence made it sound like the District initially began with addressing parent concerns, but that is actually not how this came about. Districts across the State were faced with the same dilemma of the bus companies demanding a steep increase. (Our District was faced with the bus companies proposing a 45% increase, per the Community Advocate article.) It was then that our District thought it was important to get something for the increase we were being forced to pay. And, according to the RSC meeting I observed, most of the dialogue at that time was limited to making sure we didn’t have old buses in disrepair with too much mileage.
And then there was another article in the Community Advocate in March where a former Committee member pointed out the need for a change to the bus contract system:
https://www.communityadvocate.com/education/nrt-to-remain-northborough-southborough-bus-provider-at-higher-cost-after-school-committee-discussion/article_b3952aa2-00d4-11f0-bd01-233c0a28257f.html
That’s inaccurate. Some of your details are correct, but your missing others.
I believe the district had the ability to extend its contract under old terms (at a prescribed increase much lower than the 45% you refer to). It did that last year, but pursued a new contract for this year. Even if they were no longer able to do that, they could have sought a less expensive contract than they ended up with if they didn’t pursue better terms to improve transportation reliability.
As I mentioned in the post footnotes, the first version of the contract they put out to bid resulted in a too high cost (the 45% increase proposed by NRT that you specify), as the lowest bid. That was based mostly on the administration seeking to cap the age of the buses at even lower years (5) and miles (60,000) at the start of the school year, and for the company to dedicate 4 substitute drivers to NSBORO. When they went out with the second, modified bid, it also resulted in an increase, but not as steep.
I’d like to think the administration and school committee would have sought to fix issues even if parents weren’t complaining, simply because the administration was aware of problems. But I’m sure that complaints from parents upset about the situation added pressure. It certainly appeared to increase the School Committee’s awareness of issues and interest in seeing problems resolved.
First, I am not surprised that you are the first person to respond to my post. You have a history of posting to me and not giving your readers an opportunity to respond. Check the history.
Second, I watched the video and listened to the Regional School Committee discussion, and I am not about to waste my time dredging it up. I would like to sincerely request that you and all your readers listen to it. It is very clear. (As a researcher, I abide by FACTS. Hence, my initial concern and reaction to how this situation was framed.)
A lot of what you write in your post are things like, “I’d like to think….” “I believe….” Where are the FACTS?
Money drove this issue, not the parental concerns. FACT. Parental concerns were an afterthought. And if you can show me the facts that suggest otherwise, I will publicly apologize for misunderstanding what transpired. However, i would agaiin urge everyone to listen to the RSC Meeting. (If I have time, perhaps I will find it for you and direct everyone to the appropriate part so that no one has to waste their time.)
I have a history of responding to many commenters – especially when I feel there is a fact that needs to be clarified.
Here is the meeting to which i am referring in my original post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhhQsPCim6U&list=PLk479TOxptkWbSsy2P7olMPLgA4gx_nQy&index=7
The discussion around transportation starts at about 26 min, 44 seconds. Everyone can listen to it themselves and form their own opinion. However, I will paraphrase Superintendent Martineau:
Two main concerns:
Age of bus and number of substitute drivers
John Wysocki then asks to speak about the assumption of increased cost equating with better quality.
Martineau replies something to the effect, quality is included in the procurement document but “quality is not changing.” Further, we feel the two changes (age of bus and number of substitute drivers) meet the quality standard.
Perhaps I’ve gone tone deaf because clearly we are hearing two different messages. Obviously you cover such topics with a microscope so you may have more granular details and indeed I may have left out items that occurred after the January meeting…..
(Sometimes the minutes are unreliable so I go back to the video.)
I am sorry that I neglected to include this quote from an article in the Community Advocate:
“Many school systems in eastern Massachusetts have been hit with large increases in bus transportation. Hudson Public Schools recently awarded a contract with a 51% increase in rates over fiscal 2024.
In an effort to mitigate the impact, WPS sent out a request for bids earlier in the school year. Although there were a dozen vendors making inquiries, only NRT returned with a bid.
When asked whether to send out another request for bids, School Committee Chair Stephen Doret said, “Don’t expect anything new from a second bid except a higher price.””
The point here is that the bus companies were driving the cost, not necessarily the concerns of the parents over quality. One might speculate that the bus companies knew of the quality issues and raised their rates to address them. But that is speculation.