SPECIAL REPORT
and video screening, where the company “asks specific questions about how you would handle certain sce- narios,” noted Millum. “We’re looking for compassion, situational judgment, the ability to understand how to take care of a child.” Vehicle inspections are paired with training that
includes trauma-informed care and neurodiversity. A telematics app on the driver’s phone alerts the com- pany to any red flags like unexpected stops, speeding or swerving, and can cause a ride to be canceled even before the student is picked up. Meanwhile, Pawar Transportation, a family business
that mostly serves schools in California but is expand- ing nationwide, uses a model similar to HopSkipDrive. Drivers use their own vehicles after a 19-point certifi- cation process. First Aid and CPR training—required for drivers under California SB88—must be done in person, and Pawar supervisors meet personally with each driver to review equipment and hard copies of individualized pickup plans. “Physically meeting with the driver is really important,”
said Pawar. “We’re making sure they understand they have to wear the identification vest we provide. It can be a big deal if you pull up and aren’t identified in the right way. If things fall through, we double down, and make sure we are retraining that driver, making sure they un- derstand the details.” Meanwhile, since 2015, EverDriven said it has provided
17 million rides to students, including transporting more than 50,000 students experiencing housing instabili- ty and more than 36,000 students with special needs. The company’s drivers go through extensive screening, training and monitoring. EverDriven notes that it “meets or exceeds” state de- partment of education requirements for small-capacity vehicles, a mandate that is largely not imposed on alter- native transportation companies that are often regulated as ride-share vehicles instead by local public utility com- missions. The company notes that in 83 percent of its rides for students with disabilities, the same driver serves the student each time. “For many students, especially those with disabilities, housing instability or unique behavioral or medical needs, consistency, and trust matter just as much as punctuality,” said Pallotta. “It is our mission to ensure every student arrives at school each day safe, calm, and ready to learn.”
Growing Reliance Almost two decades ago, Gregg Prettyman attended a meeting in Dallas, Texas, where parents were skeptical of alternative transportation, which was “almost unheard of” at the time. A district was looking to supplemental services to help deal with a school bus driver shortage. Prettyman expalined a change in district policy—where
20 School Transportation News • JULY 2026
teachers could no longer drive buses—was made a couple of months before school started and severely impacted driver avilability. “We were shouted out of the room,” as parents chanted
“We want the yellow bus!” Prettyman recalled. Six months later, when more drivers became available, he said parents didn’t want to go back. With alternative transport, “We had knocked down their ride time by 20 or 30 minutes, so they could participate in scouting or sports after school,” he said. Now Prettyman is vice president of FirstAlt, which
works with districts nationwide. “In the last 10 to 15 years, it’s come a long way,” he said of the sector. Millum concurred. “For many years, it was just a yellow school bus. Over time, school has changed and students’ needs have changed,” she said. “One of the things we’ve seen over time is this move towards a multimodal approach to school transportation. Districts say it’s not just about one size fits all. It’s about finding the right vehicle for the right student.”
Flexibility and Focus Alternative providers said they can be much more flexible than a district’s fleet of traditional buses or other alternatives like public transit or taxi cabs. “They’ll get a call at the last second. A student just
moved in the district, or a court ordered them to have transportation within 48 hours,” said Prettyman. “You don’t have the ability to be that flexible on a bus. “We can reach out to a nonemergency medical trans-
port company and say we need to utilize your resources for three weeks.” He added it would be difficult for a district to contract
with a company on short notice for such a brief period, but alternative providers are set up to do so. “We can go out in the community and find other re-
sources to ramp up, then ramp down,” said Prettyman. Such flexibility is especially necessary for students
without stable housing, noted HopSkipDrive’s Millum. “If they’re moved from a shelter to a motel at 10 p.m.,
you can’t reroute a 72-passenger bus the next morning without that having a huge domino effect on all the other students,” said Millum. “We’re able to book a ride with six hours’ notice or shorter,” leveraging their “huge network of drivers.” Flexibility is also integral to meeting the varied and
specific needs of different students. “Sometimes there are auditory issues. You cannot play
any music during that ride and they have to ride alone, it needs to be silent,” noted Prettyman. “Other times they need to always sit on the right side of the vehicle.” One young girl depends on hearing the song, “Let it Go”
from the movie “Frozen” played during every ride, Pretty- man said, “And the drivers end up loving it as well.” ●
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