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K-12

First Alt standardizes their student experience with Samsara AI Dash Cams 

With Samsara, First Alt brings the same level of safety and visibility as First Student’s school bus fleet to their alternative vehicles, helping them win new business and earn the trust of their primary stakeholders—parents of student passengers. 

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The Challenge

First Alt needed standardized fleet technology to provide the best student experience  

First Student is the industry-leading provider of full-service student transportation for more than 5.5 million student journeys each day. First Alt is their alternative transportation solution, providing non-bus school transportation across 26 states for students with unique transportation needs. “First Alt is the first alternative transportation solution that mirrors the exact same standards, policies, and procedures of the school bus,” said Gregg Prettyman, Vice President of First Alt. “We use vehicles such as minivans, SUVs, and wheelchair accessible vans to transport students to and from school. It's an innovative model that allows First Student to offer districts and parents a complete suite of transportation solutions for all students, regardless of their needs.” 

As part of the First Student family, First Alt has an unmatched commitment to student safety, providing parents, caregivers, and districts with peace of mind. Before Samsara, inconsistent dash cam use made incident review a challenge. Some drivers used consumer-grade cameras while others had no cameras at all. This led to unreliable incident footage retrieval and student privacy concerns as cameras were driver-owned. Many of First Alt’s student passengers also have special considerations in the vehicle—like wheelchairs and specific restraints—that must be properly used. To proactively manage safety and monitor compliance, First Alt needed a standardized camera solution in each vehicle. 

Solution

Standardizing safety with an integrated platform 

When evaluating technology solutions, First Alt found Samsara to be intuitive and flexible. Specifically, cloud-stored dash cam footage greatly improved incident investigation. They decided to roll out Samsara AI Dash Cams and Fleet Telematics, largely self-installing the devices in the vehicles. This required First Alt to work closely with their transportation partners to schedule installations, often a 24/7 initiative to accommodate individual driver schedules. 

First Alt eased potential driver privacy concerns by providing camera covers for off-duty vehicle use and emphasizing that the cameras were as much for driver safety as student safety. Adoption accelerated as drivers learned how the cameras were mutually beneficial for themselves and students. Today, First Alt has AI Dash Cams installed in over 50% of their contracted fleet—the largest percentage of camera use in the alternative transportation industry—showcasing their dedication to student safety and trip transparency. 

AI Dash Cams provide real-time feedback to drivers with AI-powered detections for behaviors such as distracted driving, drowsy driving, and mobile device usage. These in-cab alerts enable drivers to self-correct in the moment, helping build safe driving habits that last. By equipping their fleet with Samsara technology, First Alt provides the same level of visibility, safety, and efficiency as First Student’s school buses. 

Results

Achieving the highest dash cam installation rate in the industry

With AI Dash Cams and in-cab alerts, First Alt enables continuous driver training and receives detailed performance data on a trip-by-trip basis. “If we don’t meet a school district’s safety expectations, we lose the contract. We’ve always been safe, we’re just a lot safer now because we can review every trip,” said David Saunders, First Alt’s Samsara Support Manager. To ensure student safety from anywhere, First Alt proactively monitors each vehicle for appropriate child-to-child behavior, proper seatbelt use, and special restraint compliance. Using Samsara’s cloud-stored, HD video, First Alt quickly reviews reported incidents to take immediate action. As a result, they reduced incident investigation time by 99%, from weeks to minutes, enabling faster incident resolution for both the student and the driver. 

To further build trust with parents and enhance safety, First Alt uses Samsara’s real-time collision alerts for proactive incident management. “When the collision threshold is met, First Alt’s local managers receive an instant alert on their phone, allowing them to proactively contact parents and school personnel about the accident,” said Prettyman. “We gain the trust of our stakeholders—the parents—by having solutions like Samsara in place.”

This enhanced operational control and visibility helps First Alt win new business and ensure safe, reliable transportation. As First Alt expands their service area, their partnership with Samsara enables fast innovation. The customizable platform allows them to evolve their business by incrementally turning on new alerts or additional features.

Building on the successful partnership with First Alt, First Student is now expanding Samsara's solutions to their entire school bus fleet. By bringing a unified camera platform to their buses and alternative vehicles, First Student is establishing a consistent technology solution across all vehicle types.