We would like to share transportation information for the upcoming year as we look ahead to the start of school on Thursday, Sept. 4.
Yellow bus services
The City School District of Albany provides transportation on yellow buses for all eligible elementary students (those living 1.5 miles or more from school), and for all students K-12 whose Individualized Education Plan calls for specialized transportation.
The district once again will have three yellow bus partners in 2025-26 – First Student, Durham and Rejha. We were excited to expand our partnerships to include these three companies last school year, and satisfied with the services they provided for our students, families and schools.
We expect that level of service to continue this school year.
If your student is eligible for yellow bus transportation in the upcoming school year, watch your mail for more information about your route and provider in the coming days.
If you needed to submit a transportation application for the new school year and were not able to meet the Aug. 1 deadline, please contact our Transportation Department at (518) 475-6170. At this time, the first route additions and changes for the new school year are scheduled to take effect on Wednesday, Sept. 17.
Apps for yellow buses
There are two apps available for families to receive updates about their route and to contact the Transportation Department with questions -- FirstView 1.0 and MyRide K-12. Both apps can be downloaded at or the .
For families with students riding First Student buses, both apps also allow you to track the bus in real time through GPS (Durham and Rejha buses do not currently have that capability).
- FirstView 1.0 (for First Student buses only)
- Use district code U2Q0B
Communications when yellow buses are late
When one of our yellow bus routes is running 15 minutes or more behind schedule for a district school in the morning or afternoon, we use SchoolMessenger email and text notifications to update district parents and guardians.
To receive text notifications, make sure you are signed up to receive text messages through SchoolMessenger.
- To sign up, just text “Y” or “YES” to 67587
To receive SchoolMessenger email notifications, you just need to be sure that we have your correct email address on file in SchoolTool.
We also encourage you to download the SchoolMessenger app to manage your messages and contact preferences:
Reviewing all of your contact information in SchoolTool also is a good idea so your school also has the correct information in case they need to contact you for any reason throughout the year.
CDTA
We once again will partner with CDTA to provide transportation for students in grades 6-12 who are not eligible to ride a yellow bus.
Tripper buses once again will be in place for our three middle schools and Albany High School. Please note that while these routes are assigned to serve our secondary schools, CDTA is required by law to make those buses available to the public as well.
You can find information about all of our CDTA tripper routes in the Transportation section. There are no changes to these routes for the 2025-26 school year.
Eligible students also are able to ride any regular CDTA route with the activated student ID card they will receive at the start of the school year.
All students in grades 6-12 will be able to ride CDTA buses for free for the first two weeks of school – through Friday, Sept. 19.
Beginning Monday, Sept. 22, only eligible students in grades 6-12 (those living 1.5 miles or more from school) with an activated student ID will be allowed to ride without paying the standard CDTA fare.
You can find additional information on , including CDTA's Trip Planner tool to help you find the best bus route to get where you need to go.
Student behavior expectations
Whether riding a yellow bus or a CDTA bus to and from school, all students are expected to meet the same behavior expectations that they do in school. Riding a bus to and from school is a privilege, not a right, and your school may temporarily suspend a student's bus privileges if behavior expectations are consistently not met.
Please review the Student Code of Conduct with your students. also applies for students riding those buses.
Best practices
We strongly recommend that students are ready at their designated bus stop 10 minutes before their scheduled pickup time. A bus' arrival time may vary each day depening on a variety of factors, including traffic conditions and the weather.
Bus schedules also may be inconsistent in the early days of the school year as drivers, staff and families get used to the new routes, schedules and routines.
Please contact our Transportation Department immediately at (518) 475-6170 if you have any complaints or questions, or if you would like to file a complaint or report an incident.
Stop-arm cameras on First Student buses
New this school year, all First Student buses serving the district will be equipped with stop-arm cameras. The district is partnering with the City of Albany and BusPatrol on this important additional traffic safety feature, which is designed to cut down on vehicles passing stopped school buses illegally.
When a school bus stops and flashes its red lights, traffic approaching from either direction must stop before reaching the bus. This holds true whether the bus is encountered on a two-lane road, a multi-lane road or highway (such as Central and Washington avenues), or divided roads or highways (such as parts of Hackett Boulevard and South Manning Boulevard).
Stop-arm bus cameras will go into effect on Monday, Sept. 15, with a one-month introduction period. The City of Albany will begin issuing fines for violations on Monday, Oct. 20. Please watch for more information on this topic in the new school year.