Buses that never showed up, a route that got sent back to school for lacking correct student addresses, and kids waiting as late as 5:30 p.m. to get home — that was the start of the school year for families in North Ridgeville. District officials have acknowledged the transportation meltdown and apologized for the delays and frustration families experienced over two days.
According to News 5 Cleveland, one bus driver returned a full bus of St. Peter's Catholic School students because the vehicle lacked correct student addresses, forcing those kids to wait until 5:30 p.m. for another bus to take them home. Parent Saissy Kendig, who has children in three different schools, said she didn't have sufficient transportation information the night before and ended up driving her second- and seventh-grade children to school herself. Kendig later requested simply that buses show up on time to pick up her kids.
Other families described a similar scramble. Melissa Fields waited an hour in the pickup line and called for better communication and organization from the district. One parent said she learned of a nearly hour-long afternoon delay only through her 6-year-old's smartwatch, while another bus reportedly failed to arrive for a child at all until the parent called in for pickup. Some riders were reportedly unregistered in the transportation system entirely, adding another layer of confusion to an already chaotic first two days.
Software Glitches Compound Staffing Shortfalls
North Ridgeville City Schools attributed the chaos partly to software challenges and understaffing, reporting that its transportation app and bus routing system were malfunctioning. District staff said they worked with Tyler Technologies to address the problems with the routing system and the My Ride K-12 app. That app, rolled out nationally in early 2024 to replace Tyler's older Traversa Ride 360 platform across more than 2,600 school districts, has drawn recurring complaints in multiple states over inaccurate arrival forecasts and choppy map updates, according to Tyler Technologies' own release documentation.
District staff said they reviewed reports, verified routes, and in some cases manually assigned students to buses and routes when the system failed to do so correctly. They also said they contacted affected families directly and shared updated transportation information with school buildings as adjustments were made throughout the disruption.
A Statewide Driver Shortage Behind the Local Strain
North Ridgeville's troubles echo a broader crisis playing out across Ohio. The state lost nearly 7,000 active school bus drivers between the pre-pandemic period and August 2025, with the number of active drivers statewide dropping from 25,706 to 18,817, according to the Statehouse News Bureau. That shortage has forced route consolidations and delays in districts across the state, and it comes as transportation costs keep climbing — an Ohio Pupil Transportation Workgroup report released in mid-2026 found that student transportation cost Ohio districts an average of $1,273 per student in fiscal year 2026, while districts statewide designated more than 22,000 students as impractical to transport the previous school year due to driver and route constraints, per the Associated Press.
North Ridgeville's own growth has added to the pressure. The district is among the fastest-growing in Ohio, with enrollment climbing from 4,044 students in 2010 to 4,909 in 2023, straining infrastructure and transportation logistics built for a smaller district. The district broke ground in April 2025 on a dedicated Maintenance and Transportation Facility with expanded bus maintenance bays and a larger, gated parking lot, part of a broader capital push that also includes a new 340,000-square-foot high school slated to begin construction in 2026, according to ThenDesign Architecture.
Nonpublic Students Also Caught in the Disruption
The busing failures didn't stop at the district's own schools. St. Peter Catholic School, a K-8 parish school on Center Ridge Road that relies on North Ridgeville's public busing under state law, advised parents in official communications to consider self-transporting or picking up students directly while the district worked to resolve the routing failures. Under Ohio Revised Code Section 3327.01, public districts are legally required to transport eligible K-8 students who attend chartered nonpublic or community schools if they live more than two miles away and within a 30-minute travel radius, regardless of whether the public district's own schools are in session — a mandate that adds to the demands on North Ridgeville's already strained bus fleet.
North Ridgeville's own eligibility rules add another layer: the district provides transportation to all kindergarten through second-grade students, but limits yellow bus service for students in grades 3 through 8 to those living more than two miles from their assigned school unless granted an exception variance, per district guidelines. Parents who believe the district's delays crossed a legal threshold have a formal option — under Ohio Department of Education and Workforce guidelines, families can file transportation non-compliance complaints if buses arrive more than 30 minutes after the scheduled end of the school day or fail to arrive at all due to route failures. It remains unclear whether any North Ridgeville parents have pursued that route.
District Response and What Comes Next
North Ridgeville City Schools has said it is prioritizing student safety and reliable transportation and has made adjustments as issues arise. Bus drivers in the district have also participated in specialized refresher training aimed at improving navigation, route management, and handling of disruptive passengers or strangers, according to a report by CBS Mornings. Whether those measures, combined with the district's new transportation facility and continued work with Tyler Technologies, will be enough to stabilize routes remains an open question as the school year continues. Kendig said she hopes the busing situation improves quickly, a sentiment echoed by other families still waiting for buses that show up on time.
