The second largest school district in the country reports that 67% of its 1,300 school buses rely on non-diesel fuels including propane, natural gas and electricity.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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Topline:
School buses drive to and from about 90% of Los Angeles Unified schools, but less than 10% of students are onboard. The 2025-26 school year is the second where the district is offering “transportation for all,” but the availability varies depending on your family’s needs, locations and what school they attend.
The backstory: The state doesn’t require schools to offer transportation, though the federal government requires schools to provide it for a few specific groups of students. LAUSD has historically prioritized busing for students with disabilities and in specific academic programs such as magnets and dual-language.
Request a ride: LAUSD Transportation Director Daniel Kang says the Parent Portal app is the most direct and effective way to request a ride. You can also ask school staff, including the principal, or counselors, or call the district’s resource hotline — (213) 443-1300.
Read on... to learn more about busing in LAUSD and how your child (and some grown-ups) can get free Metro bus and train rides.
School buses drive to and from about 90% of Los Angeles Unified schools, but less than 10% of students are on board.
“Often our buses ride with a number of empty seats,” said Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. “There's no reason for that. Let's fill those seats up. There's capacity. The bus is gonna travel the route anyway.”
This is the second year where the district is offering “transportation for all,” but the availability varies depending on your family’s needs, locations and what school they attend.
New this year, the district will prioritize bus service for families who are worried about being targeted by immigration officials while walking or driving their child to school.
“We want to make it as easy and safe for parents and children to get to school,” Carvalho said. “If by using transportation for all we can reduce or eliminate some of the concerns parents may have about walking their children to school, we are here to do that.”
In this guide, we’ll talk about:
How to request transportation
How the district prioritizes busing
Free Metro passes for students
Bus upgrades
And hear from students about their bus-riding experiences.
“There's this really amazing community that comes together for all the LAUSD buses,” said 2025 graduate Eno Thomson-Tribe. “ I met a bunch of my friends on the bus.”
How do I request bus pickup?
There are several options to learn more about what transportation is available for your child.
LAUSD Transportation Director Daniel Kang says the Parent Portal app is the most direct and effective way to request a ride.
You can also ask school staff, including the principal, or counselors, or call the district’s resource hotline: (213) 443-1300.
You’ll need to provide the name of your child’s school and your address. You may also be asked why you’re requesting transportation. Families are not required to share their immigration status and the district does not retain this information.
“Any information we obtain to provide those [bus] routes as an accommodation is information that shall never be shared with any agency whatsoever,” Carvalho said. “So for the parents, do not fear. Speak with us.”
How are requests prioritized?
California doesn’t require schools to offer transportation, though the federal government does require it for the following groups:
Students with disabilities whose Individualized Education Program (IEP) includes transportation.
Areas with hazardous walks to school (i.e. gang activity or dangerous streets). The district also calls this “safe passages.”
Families concerned about immigration enforcement actions
The district also adapts to the needs of families. For example, it provides busing for families affected by the Palisades Fire.
Other students may also be eligible, including those:
With an IEP that does not include transportation.
Who live more than one mile (elementary school) or more than two miles (middle/high school) from their school.
The lowest priority are families requesting rides merely for convenience. In most cases, these families will be offered a ride on existing routes and stops.
Los Angeles Unified leaders acknowledge that these routes can be located in the opposite direction of their child’s school, too far away or otherwise inconvenient.
“ The bus stop may be four blocks away from where you live, but if you are a first grader, those four blocks, you know, might as well be 4 miles,” Carvalho said.
Bus driver Rosa Quintero is part of a 1,400-person LAUSD transportation workforce that includes mechanics, and aides that help students with disabilities and people who plan routes
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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Efforts to change how the district creates bus routes are underway.
“ We'll also be monitoring ridership and continuously adjust throughout the school year based on the needs that come in from our families,” Kang said.
So if the first route you’re offered doesn’t work for your family, try again later in the school year.
What if my child attends a charter school?
Students at LAUSD-affiliated charter schools may be eligible for district busing based on the same criteria described above.
Independent charter schools run by outside organizations manage their own transportation.
(For more on the difference between these two types of charters, check out our guide.)
Keith Dell'Aquila, vice president of local advocacy in the Los Angeles region for the California Charter Schools Association, told LAist some schools run their own bus service.
“Our schools are incredibly committed to helping anybody who wants to be there,” Dell’Aquila said.
Who rides the bus now?
About a week before the start of the 2025-26 school year, about 30,000 students were signed up for bus services. Kang said the district has the capacity to carry up to 55,000 students to and from school.
The vast majority of existing riders are students with disabilities, an estimated 67% to 70%, according to Kang. The next largest group are students that attend specific academic programs, such as magnets and dual language.
Less than 5% of riders are eligible for bus services through “safe passage.” Starting in the 2024-25 school year, the district added pickups for students who face unsafe commutes to school because of factors, like dangerous streets and intersections and active gang territory.
LAUSD reports that 67% of its 1,300 school buses rely on non-diesel fuels including propane, natural gas (like the buses pictured here) and electricity.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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Incoming senior Gabino Perez got a test ride on one of the district’s new electric buses ahead of the 2025-2026 school year. He said the ride was cooler (because of the air conditioning) and quieter than the vehicles that have taken him to school in the past.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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What are the buses like?
The Los Angeles Unified School District has expanded its fleet of electric school buses to 180 vehicles ahead of the new school year. The second largest school district in the country, 67% of its 1,300 school buses rely on non-diesel fuels, including propane, natural gas and electricity.
LAUSD purchased the first 10 electric buses in 2021. The district expects to save money on gas and maintenance over time, and, like many others, relies on a combination of federal and state funding to subsidize the higher upfront cost compared to a diesel-powered bus.
Hear it from a student: A more relaxing, comfortable ride
Incoming senior Gabino Perez’s parents don’t drive, so he relies on the bus to get from his home in Atwater Village to the STEM Academy at Bernstein High School in Hollywood. He also took the bus to a dual-language elementary school where he learned in English and Spanish.
Perez got a test ride on one of the district’s new electric buses ahead of the 2025-2026 school year. He said the ride was cooler (because of the air conditioning) and quieter than the vehicles that have taken him to school in the past.
“ Every time I'm in the other bus, like, I can't hear what the other person is saying to me because of too much noise,” Perez said. “This one, it's a lot [more] relaxing and comfortable.”
Every bus in the district is also equipped with free Wi-Fi.
Carvalho said some students might opt to use their devices more recreationally. For example, listening to music.
“ Why not? Joy is part of our strategic plan,” Carvalho said.
Who drives the bus?
LAUSD has a transportation workforce of 1,400 people, including bus drivers, mechanics and aides who help students with disabilities and people who plan routes. The unions that represent many of these employees include SEIU Local 99 and Teamsters Local 572.
The district also contracts out about 500 bus routes, largely to serve students with disabilities to external companies because the demand for buses exceeds the district’s supply.
Hear it from a student: The bus is a community
Eno Thomson-Tribe is a 2025 graduate of North Hollywood High School and rode the bus from Eagle Rock daily.
“The bus was the only reason that I was able to attend a specialized magnet program that otherwise my parents would not have been able to drive me to five days a week, 180 days a year for four years straight,” Thomson-Tribe said. He also gave a shoutout to his driver, Mr. Young.
The bus picked him up around 7 a.m. and he arrived at school around 8 a.m., half an hour before the first bell. If he had marching band practice after school, Thomson-Tribe could take a late bus with the added bonus of spending less time in rush-hour traffic.
Thomson-Tribe was in his school’s highly gifted magnet program which came with a hefty load of homework, some of which he completed using the bus’ free wifi.
“The bus was honestly one of the best times to do it,” Thomson-Tribe said. “I didn't have a ton of free time.”
How do I know where my child is?
For the first time in the 2025-26 school year, families will be able to track their child’s bus in real time through LAUSD’s parent portal app.
Can federal immigration officials board school buses?
Carvalho said a child’s ride to and from school is legally protected.
“ They travel with the same protection and safety, the same protocols of protection provided by Los Angeles Unified,” Carvalho said. “Being on that school bus is equivalent to being in a classroom in a school.”
Carvalho said the district has trained bus drivers to respond to federal immigration officers by contacting district administrators, the Los Angeles Unified Police and legal departments.
Immigration enforcement are not supposed to be granted access to the bus or students onboard without a signed judicial warrant.
How can I get my child a free Metro pass?
Students can get free Metro bus and train rides through the GoPass program.
Sign your child up through the school’s front office. A district spokesperson said schools will share information about renewal before current passes expire on Sept. 30.
Last year, 44,996 students got a free TAP card and took nearly 5 million Metro rides through July 2025. In addition, 17,482 adults enrolled in district education programs got a pass.
Every bus in the district is equipped with free wifi.
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Mariana Dale
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LAist
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Eno Thomson-Tribe is a 2025 graduate of North Hollywood High School and rode the bus from Eagle Rock daily. His school’s highly gifted magnet program came with a hefty load of homework. “The bus was honestly one of the best times to do it,” Thomson-Tribe said. “I didn't have a ton of free time.”
The state doesn’t require schools to offer transportation, though the federal government requires schools to provide it for a few specific groups of students, including some with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness.
LAUSD has historically prioritized busing for students with disabilities and in specific academic programs, such as magnets and dual language.
“The current model has basically been engineered to provide the services to those two very important groups of students,” Carvalho said. “But not necessarily for those who on the basis of environmental conditions, distance from school or danger could benefit from transportation and that's what we are changing at this point.”
