There’s no greater responsibility than getting students to and from school safely. For transportation providers, that mission grows more complex every year with tight budgets, driver shortages, and growing expectations from parents. Meeting these demands isn’t optional. It’s essential.

Samsara delivers the visibility, tools, and insights transportation teams need to operate safely, efficiently, and with confidence to:

• Proactively reduce risk. Get ahead of incidents with real-time visibility, in-cab coaching, and driver safety tools that prevent problems before they happen.

• Control costs. Identify inefficiencies, streamline routes, and make the most of your resources without compromising safety or service.

• Build trust, instantly. Access trip history, video footage, and live updates to quickly answer questions from parents, staff, and school officials.

Real success stories of K–12 transportation providers

By unifying safety, efficiency, and communication into a single platform, Samsara empowers student transportation providers to not only meet but exceed their community’s expectations.

As the leading provider of student transportation, First Student completes over 5.5 million student journeys daily. By equipping their buses and vehicles with Samsara AI Dash Cams and Vehicle Gateways, they reduced accidents by 30% and harsh braking by 40% during a pilot program. With Samsara, First Student is creating a connected fleet across nearly 46,000 vehicles, providing greater safety insights, reliability, and peace of mind for students, families, and districts.

As the alternative transportation division of First Student, First Alt provides students with unique transportation needs with safe, reliable rides to and from school in small-capacity vehicles. With Samsara AI Dash Cams, installed across more than half of their contracted vehicles, First Alt leads the alternative transportation industry in adoption. Using Samsara’s HD video, First Alt reviews incidents in minutes rather than days, cutting investigation time by 99% and allowing for quicker resolutions for both students and drivers.

Berkeley County Public Schools transports over 17,000 students daily across West Virginia. With Samsara’s cloud-based video, the administrative team can retrieve footage in under 20 minutes, a significant reduction from the hours it once took. This, combined with real-time GPS data, has streamlined communication with parents and school officials, saving administrators more than 10 hours per week.

Canyons School District operates one of the largest school bus fleets in Utah, serving over 15,000 students. By using Samsara's dual-facing AI Dash Cams, they've reduced incidents by nearly 50% through proactive coaching. Fast access to dash cam footage helps quickly exonerate drivers and resolve incidents—in a single event, they saved an estimated $100,000 in insurance payouts. They also improved back-office efficiency by 75%, helping provide parents with more accurate bus ETAs.

Gwinnett County Public Schools is one of the largest public school systems in the U.S., transporting over 182,000 students daily. Samsara’s proactive coaching led to a 60% reduction in harsh braking and a 47% reduction in seat belt violations in just three months. They've also streamlined investigations, decreasing the time it takes to exonerate a driver by 50%, and saving over 400 hours per week across the district with real-time GPS tracking.

As Alabama's largest school district, Mobile County Public Schools uses Samsara to provide supervisors with real-time feedback on risky driver behaviors. This proactive coaching has led to a 50% reduction in speeding incidents across the fleet. The combination of Samsara and their routing software also helps the district quickly and easily investigate incidents reported by parents or students.

Caddo Parish Public Schools manages a large and complex student transportation operation in Louisiana. With Samsara, the district has been able to reduce their annual budget by $2 million, and a 35% decrease in parent calls has eliminated the need for temporary phone operators during peak times. Real-time visibility of their fleet has also helped recover three stolen buses, saving $420,000 in replacement costs.

Expert tips: How to drive efficiency and safety for student passengers

Here’s how leading student transportation providers are using Samsara to go beyond the basics and elevate their operations:

Tip 1: Turn incidents into learning opportunities

Shift the conversation from disciplinary action to a teaching moment with an objective record of events, like harsh braking or speeding. This provides drivers with powerful opportunities for growth and improvement. This data, combined with HD video footage, allows managers to facilitate constructive, one-on-one coaching sessions. This approach builds a culture of trust and empowers drivers to take ownership of their safety performance.

“We see Samsara not as a way to discipline our drivers, but as an opportunity for teaching and learning. It’s helped us become more efficient in our respective jobs.” Jeremy Wardle, Director of Transportation, Canyons School District 

Tip 2: Empower teams with time-saving technology

The right technology frees up administrative staff from repetitive, manual tasks, allowing them to focus on what matters most. By digitizing workflows and providing real-time data with Samsara, you can eliminate the need for endless phone calls and manual data entry. This kind of real-time visibility and efficiency helps transportation divisions save hundreds of hours each week, giving teams more time to focus on strategic initiatives.

“We’ve saved so much time through Samsara’s real-time feedback and video retrieval. Plus, now that drivers are being coached, we’re receiving fewer calls about safety because drivers are paying more attention to what’s happening on the road.” Eric Keesecker, Executive Director of School Transportation, Berkeley County Public Schools 

Tip 3: Give parents peace of mind through trip transparency

Real-time visibility builds trust with parents and dramatically reduces call volume. When parents are anxious about a late bus or a missed stop, quick access to accurate bus locations and real-time information can make all the difference. This level of transparency helps departments ease parent concerns while saving valuable administrative time.

“Samsara is the best decision we’ve made—it delivers benefits we couldn’t achieve with other systems. We’ve cut costs by improving safety and efficiency while building trust with parents and administrators.” Anthony McClain, Transportation Supervisor, Caddo Parish Schools

Tip 4: Protect your drivers with video evidence   

Protect drivers from false claims and provide a clear end to disputes with dash cam footage. When an incident or a complaint occurs, fast access to HD dash cam footage provides an unbiased record of events and reduces investigation time from weeks to minutes. Easy-to-pull video means you can provide law enforcement with evidence at the scene of an incident and exonerate your driver right then and there. 

“With Samsara, we have the ability to see what’s happening in every ride. That visibility is game changing—drivers feel supported, students are safer, and it provides families an additional level of comfort.” Gregg Prettyman, Vice President, First Alt