Routes out. Buses rolling. School bells ringing. BusRight's Summer Wrap Up

The first bells of the year have rung across the country. Routes are planned and drivers are on the road safely with BusRight by their side.

It's the start of a new school year and our first assignment is writing about what we did over the summer. And this summer was packed with activity.

We Landed at No. 453 on the Inc. 5000

BusRight debuted at No. 453 on the 2026 Inc. 5000, Inc.'s annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America. 

This recognition belongs to the transportation teams who work hard year round to ensure accessibility of education. Every route, every driver, and every community that places student safety as their top priority is what this recognition represents.

Thank you for all you do.

Summer on the Road

We attended 30 conferences this year, and the summer stretch took us all across the United States.

We ate lunch with you in Atlanta and Austin, closed out Ohio with a game of Family Feud, watched Avery hold his own at clay pigeon shooting on the river in Texas, and scanned into sessions with Safety Pass cards at Boyne Mountain.

A big thank you to all the APT event organizers and presidents, and to everyone who stopped by to say hello or turned their head when our crew joyfully rolled through in their bus-themed attire. These conferences are more than a meet-and-greet. They are the moments each year when our industry comes together, learns on behalf of the students we serve, and workshops ideas with the people who keep the wheels turning. 

Safety Pass Is Live, and Sevier County Is Leading the Way

This month we launched Safety Pass, our NFC ridership system, and Sevier County Schools in Tennessee is running it across their full operation.

Sevier County serves 14,500 students, and about 9,500 of them ride the bus every day across more than 100 routes, 173 buses, and 6,000 daily miles. The routes stretch from packed neighborhood stops in Sevierville to mountain roads above Gatlinburg where a full size bus cannot go. Every one of those rides now begins and ends the same way, with a tap.

Students tap on and tap off, and the district has a live, timestamped record of every ride while the bus is still en route. When the driver scans a rider, the student's photo appears on the tablet. When the office needs an answer, it is a few clicks away: which bus, which stop, what time.

"We saw BusRight as a very simple and elegant solution," says Tony Ogle, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services for Sevier County Schools. "If students are using badges to get on school buses, letting us know they're on that bus and the location where they got off, we can almost instantaneously have our fingers on information that might have taken an hour or more to collect otherwise. We can solve that problem and set parents at ease quickly."

Safety Pass badges carry no personal student information and can only be read within a few centimeters of the BusRight tablet, and there is no separate platform, no card printer, and no charge for replacements.

Read the full Sevier County story

Sevier County's rollout also picked up local coverage from WBIR, WATE, and The Mountain Press.

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BusRight Featured on FOX 32 Chicago

You can track a pizza in real time, so why not the school bus? That was the jumping off point when Keith joined ChicagoLIVE on FOX 32 to talk about what modern student transportation actually looks like from the driver's seat and from the kitchen table.

Watch the segment

Elsewhere in the News

• School Transportation News covered Lawson Crook, our first Behind The Wheel Award winner, a special education driver at Sulphur Springs ISD in Texas who was nominated by his transportation director, Dan Froneberger.
• Laurel School District in Mississippi rolled out BusRight across 13 daily routes ahead of the new year.
• Washington County Schools in Tennessee went live in time for their first day on August 3.

The Friends We Made Along the Ride

Regina Hoskins, Transportation Director at East Jackson Community Schools in Michigan, wrote in the week before her first day:

"I am truly blessed to have found your company at the MAPT a couple of years ago. In years past it would take me weeks to get routes ready prior to school starting. I would get calls, emails, and an abundance of parents at the open houses. School is back in session on August 26th and this school year so far the routes are ready to go. I am 2 weeks ahead of schedule! Pinch me I think I'm dreaming!"

Jeremy Theiss, Transportation Supervisor at Carlisle Local Schools in Ohio:

"We've only had BusRight for a year, but it has been outstanding. The parent app is excellent. The parents love it. It has saved me, I couldn't tell you how many phone calls. I've actually had two drivers who were interviewing at other districts, but once I interviewed them and took them out and we followed the tablet. They were like, I'm not even going to those other interviews, this is great."‍

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The Best Time is Now

to learn about what BusRight has to offer.

Whether you're an existing partner who is interested in learning about Safety Pass or BusRight Solutions, or a friend we havn't met yet, we'd love to explore new ways to partner with you! (:

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