First Student announced that it has just completed its biggest school year ever. 

2024-2025 School Year Milestones

In school-year 2024-2025, the transportation provider transported 5.5 million students daily across 44 states and eight Canadian provinces, covering more than 525 million miles. 

"This school year, we continued to live out our values by setting the highest standards for student transportation," said First Student CEO and President John Kenning. "With more than 1 billion student rides completed and the launch of HALO, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to our values of safety, innovation, and student service. These principles guide everything we do as we deliver unmatched care and the safest possible ride to school for every student we serve."

Service Growth

In February, First Student launched HALO, a proprietary technology platform that integrates routing, navigation, hiring, training, safety, maintenance, and electric vehicle (EV) charging. Its impact earned First Student a place on Fast Company's prestigious list of the World's Most Innovative Companies of 2025.

First Student's alternative transportation solution, First Alt, increased its customer base by 105%, expanded its presence in states by 62%, and grew the number of trips completed by 94%. First Alt serves students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), those experiencing homelessness, out-of-district students, and hard-to-serve trips. First Alt earned the company a Forrester Technology Strategy Impact Award for North America in 2024.

Additionally, its First Serves program achieved a 27% reduction in disruptive incidents year-over-year, setting a new benchmark for supporting students with special needs on the school bus. The program was recognized with the T-Mobile Innovation in Customer Experience Award.

First Student also introduced fleet management and maintenance services through First Services, providing school districts with flexible, cost-effective options to maintain and modernize their fleets. With a network of over 1,250 ASE-certified technicians who maintain more than 45,000 vehicles, the program also offers tailored solutions, including vehicle leasing, procurement, and fleet management.

First Student's EV charging infrastructure solution, First Charge, also debuted. It is designed to simplify and accelerate the transition to electric fleets by eliminating costly and time-consuming infrastructure challenges with an above-ground solution and without the need for digging, trenching, or permanent construction. As a result of First Charge, First Student has made significant progress toward its goal of converting 30,000 diesel school buses to electric by 2035. Its fleet of electric school buses surpassed 7 million miles driven.

First Charge has been recognized with the Edison Award for Scalable Clean Transportation Energy, the American Business Awards Stevie Award for Product Innovation, the Green Product of the Year by the 2024 BIG Awards for Business, and a place on Fast Company's prestigious list of the World's Most Innovative Companies.