Beyond the Bus: Comparing Transportation Models for Serving Today’s Most Complex Student Needs

When a student experiencing homelessness moves in the middle of the night, how quickly can your district get them a ride to school the next morning? When a student with an IEP can’t be adequately served by a traditional bus route, who do you call — and what happens if they don’t show up?

For most transportation directors, solving for the most complex student needs consumes 95% of your time. McKinney-Vento compliance, IEP mandates, chronic absenteeism, driver shortages, and the everyday scramble of last-minute changes don’t slow down — and neither can you.

Watch School Transportation News and HopSkipDrive's recent peer-led conversation on how districts are rethinking their transportation mix to serve every student — not just the ones the yellow bus can reach. You’ll hear directly from a McKinney-Vento Coordinator and a Director of Pupil Transportation and Fleet Management who have navigated these challenges firsthand, alongside a HopSkipDrive transportation analyst who has sat on both sides of the table.

We’ll dig into the real costs and tradeoffs of different transportation operating models — Transportation Network Companies (TNCs), brokers, and taxis — and explore what a smarter, multimodal approach can mean for attendance, compliance, and the students who need you most.

You’ll leave this webinar with:

• A clearer framework for evaluating transportation operating models and where each fits in your district’s plan

• A practical look at what McKinney-Vento transportation can and should look like

• Real-world strategies for using supplemental transportation to reduce chronic absenteeism

• A comparison of TNCs, brokers, taxis, and white fleets: what each model actually delivers in terms of safety, speed, visibility, cost effectiveness, and compliance