Bus Routes

Generally, four-year-old students are provided transportation under the same conditions as all other elementary school students. If you live less than one and one-half miles away from your attendance area school, and your child is in 4K, you may submit an 4K Walk Area Exception Request.  These applications are due during the summer before your child starts 4K. Transportation is provided on an “as available” basis. Determinations regarding space on existing routes will be made within the first two weeks of the school year and transportation will begin during the third week of the year. This exception is only available for 4K students. The District will not provide transportation to siblings, relatives, or friends of the 4K student.

Applications for 4K bus service will not generally be accepted during the school year except when a family experiences a significant change in circumstances (onset of parent health condition) or moves into the District after the school year has already begun.

4K Bus Stop Locations

For the before-school (morning 4K)  and after-school (afternoon 4K) runs, 4K students will be picked-up and dropped off with all other elementary students at the established bus stops.  For the midday run, students attending morning 4K may be dropped off in front of their house (or at the closest safe location in situations where the bus cannot safely maneuver) and students attending afternoon 4K may be picked up from in front of their house (or at the closest safe location in situations where the bus cannot safely maneuver).

4K Drop-off Procedures

When a child attends a morning 4K session, the student is dropped off in front of their house (or closest safe location) and the District requires that a parent or responsible adult meet the bus to accept the student.

When a child attends an afternoon 4K session, the student is dropped off with all other elementary students at the established bus stop servicing the neighborhood. The District requires that a parent or responsible adult be at the bus stop to meet the 4K student.

Elementary school-aged students (4-year-old kindergarten through fifth grade) who live in the MMSD and who attend their attendance area MMSD school are eligible for District-provided, yellow bus transportation if their pick-up location (residence or childcare location) is located more than one and one-half (1.5) miles from the attendance area elementary school or they reside in an area identified as an unusually hazardous zone in which transportation is offered.

6th – 8th: Currently, this also applies to middle-school-aged students (grades six through eight). However, beginning with the 2019-2020 school year, a transition will begin through the implementation of a three year phase in plan to accommodate later middle school start times. More information can be found here. We will continue this implementation with 5 of our 6 remaining middle schools that have been utilizing Madison Metro transit. Students attending Badger Rock Middle School will continue to utilize the Madison Metro transit system. 

6th-8th:  Students in 6th-9th grade who live in the MMSD and who attend their attendance area MMSD school are eligible for District-provided, yellow bus transportation if their address of residence  is located more than one and one-half (1.5) miles from the attendance area middle school.

9th – 12th: The District does not generally provide transportation to high-school-aged students (grades nine through twelve). Rather, the District and City of Madison work cooperatively to ensure that Madison Metro Transit routes are available to students as a primary means of transportation. Yellow bus transportation is provided to neighborhoods where no public transportation is available. District-provided Metro passes are available for students who:

1. Reside within the boundaries of the school attendance area
2. Reside more than one and one-half (1.5) miles from their attendance area school.
3. Have demonstrable financial need, including qualifying for free or reduced lunch.

The District provides yellow bus transportation to private/parochial students in grades 4K through 5 who live in the designated attendance areas and attend St. James, St. Dennis, Queen of Peace, or St. Maria Goretti. Yellow bus transportation for the school year will align to the District’s calendar. Transportation will begin on the same day as the District’s start date.

Parents of students attending a private or parochial school other than those identified above may be eligible to receive reimbursement through a parent contract. In order to qualify for a parent contract a student must:

1. Reside within the boundaries of the Madison Metropolitan School District.
2. Reside within the boundaries of the school attendance area.
3. Be four years old on or before September 1st of the year school will start.
4. Be in eighth grade or younger (except in certain areas of Fitchburg).
5. Reside more than 1.5 miles from the school attended.

Reimbursement for Transportation Letter

Annual Cost of Transportation Excel Workbook

When your child’s bus is less than 20 minutes late, it is best to contact the bus company directly.  Contact information for District carriers is located on the Transportation homepage.

If a route is more than 20 minutes late, contact the appropriate Transportation Coordinator.

Please note that PM (drop off) times have been estimated. Please be aware: 

- The bus could be early, but will wait until the established drop off time.

- The bus could be late due to road conditions, traffic, student interaction, etc...

While it would be wonderful if we could stop at each student’s house, doing so would be unsafe, economically inefficient and would create unjustifiably long bus routes. Consequently, we establish corner bus stops that are accessible to multiple students.  This means that some students may have to walk several blocks to their bus stop.  There is no established maximum distance a student may be expected to walk to a bus stop.

Bus stops are selected based on location and safety.  The District’s goal is to, whenever possible, establish centrally-located community stops at safe intersection locations (corner stops).

Bus stops are reviewed annually to ensure that the District is implementing the safest, most efficient and most expeditious routes possible for all students riding the bus.

During summer school some students may be assigned to a summer school site outside their normal attendance area.  Generally, if your child would have to walk to his/her attendance area school, he/she will be expected to walk to the attendance area school, which will serve as a central pick-up location.  In some instances, the District may establish other centralized locations, such as a community center, as a summer school pick-up location.  Individual requests will not be honored.

The District has developed an Unusually Hazardous Zones Plan for each elementary school attendance area, which is filed with and approved by the State Superintendent and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI).  The Plan has also been filed with and reviewed by the Dane County Sheriff’s Department.

There are no specific criteria within the law for identifying and remediating an unusually hazardous zone.

Districts are not required to provide transportation to all students who live within an unusually hazardous zone.  Other methods of risk reduction may be sufficient to adequately reduce the risks and allow students to continue to safely walk or ride their bicycles to school.

Parents should have only one pick-up and drop-off location for their child so as to avoid confusion during the week.  If necessary, however, the District does allow parents to select different locations during the annual enrollment process.  All pick-up and drop-off locations must be within the attendance area for the student’s assigned school.  The District will not provide transportation to students outside of the assigned school’s attendance area.

Except in cases of emergency, parents are to contact the school at least one hour before the end of the day if afternoon drop-off plans need to be changed or modified.  This will ensure that the school staff has sufficient time to notify the classroom teacher and student of the change prior to release time.

Students in kindergarten through eighth grade are dropped-off at their assigned bus stop. Estimated drop-off times are provided. It is important that parents understand that these times are only estimates. A variety of conditions including weather and traffic may impact a bus’s arrival time. If a bus arrives at a stop before the posted drop-off time, the driver will allow students to get off the bus. The bus will remain at the stop until the posted drop-off time.

Bus drivers do not verify that a parent or other adult is at the stop waiting for a student. Students will be dropped-off regardless of whether an adult is present. Parents who choose to regularly meet their children at the bus stop should have a safety plan in place for times when the parent is unable to be at the bus stop at the drop-off time. It is important that the student understand the safety plan.

Drop-off procedures for summer school may differ from the procedures described above.

The City of Madison's Metro Transit features a number of tolls, apps, and other resources, to help every rider get to the where they're going quickly, easily, and efficiently. Find your route, plan your trip, track your bus, and get information about any detours, all in one place. 

Click here to learn more

To learn which bus stop your child will be picked up and dropped off at:

1. Log in to your Infinite Campus Parent Portal
2. Click "More" on the left sidebar
3. Click "Transportation"

To view the rest of your student's bus route, select your child's school from the lists above. Routes are updated daily with the most current information.