Complaints

This profile includes complaints for First Student's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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• 

  First Student

  191 Rosa Parks Street, 8th Floor, Cincinnati, OH 45202

• 

  First Student

  1000 North Jefferson St. Amarillo, TX 79107

• 

  First Student

  762 Queenstown Rd. Severn, MD 21144

• 

  First Student Inc

  90518 HWY 99 Eugene, OR 97402

• 

  First Student

  132 W. Dudleytown Rd Bloomfield, CT 06002

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/04/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  This bus company has the worst people working for them and dispatch there's never the same driver drivers come all at different times so they expect my kid to stay outside from 6:30 to 7:00 her bus come in between that time frame when you call up there to try to get a decent reasonable time for your child to be standing on the corner that early in the morning they give you attitude they tell you it's not their problem they know where their kid is they act like they don't care and don't know that people children are being kidnapped out here especially young black females you call up there you question them they get aggravated angry and hang up the one lady told me that it was too early for her to be dealing with this and hung up on me very unprofessional I tried to go up there and speak with them administrator and she got rude nothing works nobody's doing nothing about it they need to be shut down everybody in that building needs to be replaced every single person I've been dealing with this for over four years nothing has changed something needs to be done expeditiously

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/30/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  September 2023-present My son has been riding a First Student bus since September 2023, and we have had issues almost everyday he has rode the bus. The problems we have been facing are the bus arriving 15-20min early and up to 45min late on multiple occasions, they have changed his pick up/drop off times on 4 different occasions without notifying us, canceling his bus at 6am on multiple occasions, and no staff member seems concerned about how this effects our family/other families. The way we find out that his times are changed is by the driver showing up earlier for pick ups and later for drop offs, and when we get out to the bus, they will then notify us that this would be his new time for either the pick up/drop off. We will then plan accordingly for the said change, and they won't stick to that time. The bus has arrived anymore between 7:48am-9:30am since he started riding the bus. The bus monitor, past bus drivers, and office staff justify the poor communication, schedule changes, calling at 6am to cancel his bus, and never showing up at the same time each day by using a plethora of excuses/reasons. We were told at the beginning of the school year by an office staff member "We have a driver shortage, and will show up when we can." This bus company should be calculating the bus routes as best as they can while anticipating traffic and weather changes. My husband and I understand that some days might be tricky with bad Buffalo weather, but this is unacceptable. Him and I both rode the bus growing up, with my husband riding the bus in ***** *******, and myself in ************* (rural/country). Neither one of us experienced the challenges that this bus company is putting us through when we rode the bus as kids. No matter how many times we have talked with the bus monitor, bus drivers, or office staff the problems are still present. The unpredictability of the his school transportation has greatly affected our family and our day to day. We don't understand how this could be considered acceptable or be justified. I hope by reaching out that this is actually looked into, investigated, and solutions are provided.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/22/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Since the beginning of the school year, I've been emailing/calling First Student (locally and at their corporate office) regarding the consistently unsafe practices of one of their drivers. My street has a posted 5mph speed limit due to many young children, some with special needs, living on our street; the driver regularly goes 25-35mph. I've sent their local "Safety Manager" videos and photos of the bus and, while she was initially responsive, she hasn't responded to me for 7 weeks now. Despite her telling me that it would be "illegal" for the bus to not have a bus number, I have not been able to locate it, although I did send her the license plate number (it's also the only bus in the city that goes down our street); it's hard to understand why this has been so difficult to resolve.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/10/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnresolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My children are bused to school by first student in the ******* **** School District of ******** County, **. They take bus 717. From 1/2/24-1/5/24 the bus arrived at least 20 minutes late for pickup. On Friday 1/5/24, I had to drive my children to work because the driver did not arrive to work on time. There are several issues with this. The first one is that first student does not have a notification system to let parents and children know how late the bus is running. Because of this, my children have had to wait outside in the cold all four days for 20 minutes or longer. It also causes them to get to school late and miss learning time. On Friday, it caused me to get to work late because I had to take them to school because the driver was so late that they would’ve missed half or all of first period. The most egregious issue is that I called Mike P***** (Bus Depot Manager) on Thursday, Friday, and Monday to inquire about his plan to fix the issue. I left several messages for him and he has not returned my call. This is unacceptable and unprofessional.

  Business Response

  Date: 01/22/2024

  Michael P***** the LM was out sick the first week of January when this parent tried to call him . This parent was called by the dispatcher Melissa S****** explaining that they had a lot of drivers out due to Covid after the Holidays . We have recently added FirstView to this school district, which is our parent APP, and the parent was instructed to sign up so they will be aware of when the bus should arrive .
  
  Our driver pool has improved the past couple of weeks so they should not be inconvenienced with late buses going forward . 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/24/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, reasons for rejection are included below.

  I was not contacted by Melissa. I spoke to her because I continued to try to get in touch with Mike and happened to reach her. I was also not informed of the driver pool being affected by an increase of Covid. I was told specifically by someone in dispatch (not Melissa) that my children’s bus driver was on vacation and that the covering driver had to drive from ********. I was confused by this because that didn’t tell me how they planned to fix the lateness with the bus. Furthermore, I mentioned to the same person in the dispatch office that we are not alerted to when the bus is late and therefore cannot prevent our children from sitting in the cold and waiting for the bus. I was not told about an app at that point. It was not until I called and reached Melissa that I was given that information. Part of the issue could’ve been alleviated with proper communication and knowledge about the first view app. The response from the business is filled with half truth. My next step if this continues to happen is to go as high as I can with the school board. 
  

  I also attached a post via social media about ******* **** Transportation and their rude employees. The post from two days ago shows that the buses have come late and they have not completed educated parents about the first view app to prevent their children from getting to school late.  

  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ********
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/20/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The bus company on purpose bought buses with new budget money with no air-conditioning. The first three days of school there was a heatwave. Our students were left on the bus for over 45 minutes in those conditions They also on purpose are giving buses that are breaking down for our students. I personally think this bus company is cutting corners and pennypinching to increase profits The safety of our students should be top tier priority. End of story.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/06/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Bus 10 coming from elm city middle school was compared with bus 9 my daughter was sitting on the floor the driver was driving reckless putting my daughter who was sitting on floor and other kids in danger when ask to slow down or when the kids address there opinion she got disrespectful and told kids to get there mother contact me

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/14/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  11/14/23 I was 6 minutes late to meet my son getting off the bus. I was on the phone with ****** from the "bus barn"....and told her that I was pulling in behind the bus, honking, and they kept driving. She said she would dispatch the driver to pull over and she hung up the phone. I called her back to ask her where exactly the bus pulled over, because I could no longer see the bus ( it turned off the street). She began YELLING at me, to "just come to the Bus Barn" and get your kid." EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL AND DISRESPECTFUL BEHAVIOR. When I got there, I spoke with her and she continued to be disrespectful. When the bus arrived with my son, I told the bus driver that I was behind them, honking. She told me she was aware. I asked her why she didnt pull over...and she told me, because ****** told her NOT TO PULL OVER. This is ridiculous. I'm not sure what kind of games ****** and her staff are playing here, but it will not be tolerated. I would like to see some policies, in writing, that state a grace period, in case a parent is caught in traffic. Certainly, I'm not the only parent that has been 6 minutes late. The staff and the supervisor need to learn how to respectfully engage with parents. I understand that it's an inconvenience to have parents that are late...but it's no excuse for her ******'S behavior.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/17/2023

  This has been in on going issue with this parent being late to pick her child up.  ******, the dispatcher was not rude based on a driver's statement who witnessed the incident in the office and ******’s statement.  ****** stated that Ms. ****** cell phone kept dropping the call, she never hung up on Ms. ****.  The Location Manager pulled GPS, the route was 5 minutes late to the stop and sat at the stop for 3 minutes waiting for the parent to arrive, the parent never arrived even though she told dispatch she was 2 minutes away. Route was told to continue on to drop off 1 more student, while in route dispatched radio route to pull over because Mom was behind the bus honking, route driver never saw mom behind the bus and we would not have pulled over until we reached the next bus stop per district policy and for the safety of the student.  The location manager listened to video and nothing was said unprofessional on the radio by the route driver and dispatcher.  The district is aware of the incident and will being sending the parent a letter about being on time.    

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/26/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Since last school year, this bus company’s bus does not come and pick up my son in a timely manner the latest my son can be to school is ***. The bus sometimes does not reach the stop until *** which would make my son late for school so I’ve been taking him to school in the morning the bus drivers are never on time to pick up the children, sometimes the buses don’t even have the GPS trackers on leaving parents worried on the whereabouts of their children. This place has been contacted numerous times from numerous parents, and none of the issues are ever resolved. Something needs to be done because this is ridiculous.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/18/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Good morning, I'm filing this grievance today against First Student Bus Company, because they are always late picking up my my kids as well as the other kids here. I am currently residing in a family emergency shelter located a****  ********** *** **** ******* *** *****, this Is an ongoing issue. My kids are always late to school, and miss breakfast. I feel like we are not a top priority because we are homeless. It is now 9:11am and I have been outside a little before 7am . I had to stop working because the way the bus runs. I feel that this is unacceptable, and they need to do way better.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/01/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Thelis company is contracted for ensuring that student will be picked up and dropped of to and from school. These buses aren't showing up at all. Depriving student of being in attendance to get an education. They're also on the bus routes because they don't live close enough to walk to school. In addition, if the parents don't have a car they can't get the kids to school after sitting at the bus for 30 minutes of no shows. This is simply unacceptable and a sad excuse for 1st student bus 2015. They passed a law fining and locking parents up for children not making it to school. This stuff right here creates a catch 22 for all parents. I have only been able to put my child on the bus 3 times since school started. I even came to the stop 30 minutes in advance and still no show. I am about to lose my job because the bus doesn't show for my child. I think this is unfair because the other students that ride the same bus are being picked up. Shame on you 1st student.