Two McMahon students arrive to school after riding the bus

Dean Santiago, Transportation Manager
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Routes for large buses are posted in the blue box above and also linked here.

• Students should arrive at the bus stop at least 10 minutes prior to the time listed and may wait up to 10 minutes after the time listed. This includes students with door-to-door transportation on their IEPs. All students are expected to be waiting outside for their bus. Bus arrival times may vary due to traffic and weather conditions.

• Students in PreK-2 must be met by a parent or authorized adult. Bus drivers will not drop off students in these grades without an authorized adult present. Authorized adults should be able to present a picture identification (photo ID). If an adult is not present at the bus stop, the student will be brought to the Enrollment Services office located at 57 Suffolk Street, 1st floor. Call (413) 534-2000, option 1 to reach Enrollment or Transportation staff. Families should pick up their children in the Enrollment Services office within 30 minutes of being notified.

Families are highly encouraged to download the My Ride K-12 mobile app so they can conveniently access real-time information about their children’s bus transportation through their mobile phones, including:

• The location of their child's bus,

• Where their child will be picked up and dropped off,

• What time the bus will arrive and depart,

• Who the driver will be, and

• Bus information.

Click here for directions on how to download the app.

Students are eligible for transportation if they live further than the following distance from their home to their assigned school:

• PreK: Not eligible

• K-5: 1 mile or greater

• 6-8: 1.5 miles or greater

• 9-12: 2 miles or greater

Students with an IEP that includes transportation services are eligible for transportation regardless of whether they meet the distance criteria or are attending a school outside of their zone.

– In order to ensure safe walking routes, we may also provide transportation to students who live closer than the distances listed above due to designated hazard zones assigned by the Holyoke Police Department. We also provide crossing guards at some places to ensure safe crossing of busy streets.

– If a family has put in an appeal to attend a school other than their home or assigned school, the child is not eligible for transportation.

Holyoke Public Schools will provide transportation to the following before and after school programs, regardless if the program is in your child’s zone:

• Boys and Girls Club (all Holyoke locations)

• Homework House (all Holyoke locations)

• YMCA

• Girls Inc.

If you request that your child be picked up or dropped off at an address other than your home and the request is not for one of the before or after-school programs listed above, the new requested address must be in your child’s school zone. 

Please note that exact drop-off and pick-up times will evolve throughout the school year. We try, whenever possible, to minimize disruptions to the current schedule. However, since students continue to enroll throughout the year—especially at the beginning of the year, we need to examine bus routes to ensure that 1) we have the right number of students on each bus, 2) students are not on the bus too long, and 3) the timing between bus stops is accurate. We also share buses across schools with different start times, so that we spend our limited resources as efficiently as possible.

Families of students who ride a full-size bus should expect some small changes as the student lists and routes are refined. Families of students who ride minibusses should expect more significant changes due to the specialized nature of the transportation and changing student lists. Select high school students who qualify will receive PVTA passes during the first week of school.

If you have questions, please contact your child’s school or send the Transportation Department an email.

Families with questions regarding their bus stop can contact their child’s school or send the Transportation Department an email. To contact the bus company directly, Durham School Services, call (413) 315-4119.