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) 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.
- 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.
