While growth is the name of the game, according to this year’s district survey respondents, operational pressures rise as the federal landscape shifts and complex challenges emerge in the new reality. If last year’s survey hinted at transformation, 2025 confirms it. 

Amid cost pressures, safety concerns, and shifting student needs, district leaders find balance between optimism and challenges across the entire transportation ecosystem.

As many districts grapple with the driver shortage, many also experienced growth. 

Gwinnett County’s Charley Humble notes his district’s fortune in being fully staffed since fall 2021. “A significant reason for that success is our ability to offer more hours to our drivers through the four-tier system we operate,” he said. “Year-round, grassroots recruiting also plays a critical role in maintaining our staffing levels. While we haven’t faced a district-wide shortage, we continue to navigate challenges related to driver retention, largely due to a highly competitive job market … and the rising cost of living.”

As the largest district, Humble also is grateful for the ability deploy tech. “Tools like GPS tracking, dash and stop-arm cameras, enhance safety and accountability, allowing our team to operate efficiently and safely at a scale few districts ever experience,” he said.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t hurdles. “Factors beyond our control, such as ever-increasing traffic congestion in the metro area, can impact daily routes,” he added.

Despite many districts purchasing new buses, Orange County holds on to its extra buses pre-COVID in hopes of gaining new drivers. Director Bill Wen plans to begin the surplus process for the oldest to reduce its fleet and keep an appropriate spare ratio.

New challenges emerged this year, too. Sam Ellis, Baldwin County Schools’ transportation coordinator, said they are extremely concerned about tariffs. “The cost of our buses has doubled in the last 10 years, but state funding for fleet renewal has remained stagnant. Last school year was the first year in which our district had to cover the majority of the cost for purchasing new buses.”

Beaverton School District’sCraig Beaver echoed the sentiment. “We’ve already seen price increases of $6,000 to $17,000 per bus on EV and propane units that were ordered as early as the beginning of 2025,” he said. “Rising costs for steel, aluminum, and other key materials — driven by tariffs — are impacting all OEMs and powertrain types, and those cost increases ultimately affect our ability to modernize and expand our fleet.”

5 Takeaways from School Bus Fleet’s Survey Data

1. Alt-Fuel Adoption Surges: Both propane and electric school buses saw the largest year-over-year gains ever this year, with usage tripling and doubling, respectively. New diesel purchases were unchanged from last year, but its dominance is dropping in overall fleet makeup.

2. Buying On the Rise: 73% of districts purchased new buses for this school year, up from 57% last year and returning to 2023 levels.

3. Driver Pay Grows; UnionPresence Increases. Hourly pay for school bus drivers reached an average of $23.18 this year, marking five years of wage growth. But, the margin by which it grew slowed this year — just 1% growth from 2024 to 2025, versus 5–10% in earlier years. At the same time, for the first time, more drivers are unionized now than we’ve seen in recent years.

4. Driver Shortage Remains, but Less Severe: Nearly half of districts are feeling a mild shortage of drivers, while 17% said theirs was severe — and none described the situation as desperate, a first in years.

5. App Adoption Grows: Use of rider-tracking and parent apps jumped to 68%, nearly doubling in two years and suggesting a broader shift toward modernized software solutions to streamline transparency and efficiency. 

Note: All data presented was compiled and averaged from qualified survey respondents representing transportation officials at public school districts in the U.S. between August and October 2025. To see your voice represented in these results next year, watch for announcements about 2026 survey dates and share your insight to help us identify challenges, opportunities, and report on the state of school district transportation operations.

2025 Survey Results & District Trends

• Median No. of Buses Per District: 204.5

• Average No. of Bus Drivers Per District: 224, and a median of 91 drivers.

• Average % of Buses Used in Daily Routes: 73%

• Average % of Buses Operated by Contractors: 9%

• Average Student Passengers Per District: 13,226

• Average Annual Route Miles Driven: 3 Million

• Transportation Director Median Salary: $98,450

• Altered Bell Schedules Due to the Shortage: More (31%) districts this year modified school start times to accommodate a driver shortage: last year, 83% answered no (69% this year).