Pioneering educational journeys - at scale
Picture the scene: children gathered at bus stops, backpacks swinging, eyes wide with the possibilities of the day ahead. For generations, the school bus has been more than a ride—it’s a rite of passage, a safe bridge between home and school.
For First Student — North America’s largest school transportation provider — every one of those journeys matters. With a fleet of over 46,000 buses, they provide full-service transportation, special-needs, fleet electrification, maintenance, route optimization, and charter services to more than five million student trips each day. But even with this scale and a reputation built on safety and reliability, they knew there was more to be done.
The challenge: Modern needs, traditional constraints
Today’s school transportation landscape is more complex than ever. Districts face a persistent shortage of certified yellow bus drivers, a growing need for flexible, small-vehicle options, and the complex logistical challenge of transporting homeless youth and children in foster care, who often move frequently.
In addition, more students now require specialized accommodations and support, placing pressure on fleets and systems that weren’t originally designed for this level of customization. First Student saw a critical opportunity: to use technology to expand access, enhance flexibility, and ease the strain on traditional resources.
The opportunity: FirstAlt - A new model for student mobility
In partnership with Thoughtworks, First Student set out to build and scale FirstAlt — a centralized, cloud-native platform hosted on AWS, designed to enable safe, flexible, and inclusive alternative transportation at scale.
Through cross-functional collaboration across teams in the U.S. and India, Thoughtworks and First Student co-created a solution focused on three pillars: safety, reliability, and student experience.
FirstAlt enables districts to:
Manage the student service data
Optimize routes dynamically
Manage the trip planning, scheduling & servicing for the students
Track rides in real time and send alerts
Manage service providers & drivers onboarding, scheduling, and compliance
Driver Management - Assign or change drivers dynamically and manage driver data on routes
Integrate with district transportation systems
Provide visibility into individual student needs, including accessibility requirements
We selected Thoughtworks as a trusted collaborator to transform our business at speed and scale in the cloud with AWS. We saw strong results from the creation and launch of First Alt which provides school districts with a safe and reliable transportation option for students with special needs, students experiencing homelessness, out-of-district students and hard-to-serve trips.
The impact: Scale, speed, and service
Since its launch, FirstAlt has scaled from a developing pilot program to an essential nationwide service.
Expanded presence in states by 62%
Increased customer base by 105%
Grew the number of trips completed by 94%
Behind each of these numbers is a student who now gets to school safely, a district with a reliable plan, and a family with peace of mind.
In 2024, the FirstAlt platform also received recognition from Forrester, winning the prestigious Technology Strategy Impact Award for North America. The award celebrated First Student and Thoughtworks’ impact in using technology to drive measurable business outcomes while improving access and equity in public education.
What’s next? Exploring AI for smarter logistics
Building on its strong foundation, First Student is exploring AI/ML solutions within FirstAlt to unlock the next generation of intelligent school transit and operations.
Driving what matters most
In the world of education, where every ride can shape a student’s future, First Student and Thoughtworks partnered to ensure transportation is never a barrier to learning. By combining scale, empathy, and technological innovation, they’ve built more than a platform. They’ve created a smarter, more inclusive future for student mobility — and they’re just getting started.
We are building tech based on our business needs and feedback from the team, versus having an IT department deciding what we need. Trust me, as a lot of you know... This is a big deal. Not all companies function like this. And that's why they end up having bloated tech that's not relevant and lacks the simple things that make the biggest difference.
