Check Your Bus Eligibility

Wondering if your student can ride the bus? Use our eligibility tool to check and learn what options are available for your family. Follow the link below and enter your address to determine your transportation eligibility.

Can I Ride a Bus?

Support For Families in the Walk Zone

If you don’t qualify for bus service you probably live in the Walk Zone. STSWR provides a host of supports to educate, encourage, guide, and protect students who walk or wheel to school.

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Decline or Reinstate Transportation

This form is for students who are already eligible for busing to let STSWR know if they do not need transportation or if they need to be placed back on the bus. This form is not for registration.

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Inclement Weather Process for STSWR

We know our Inclement Weather process is important to families. These videos gives a brief overview of our process. If you want more details, the information below can walk you through the whole process. There may be times during the school year where it may be necessary to cancel student transportation services due to adverse … Continued

Check bus delays and cancellations

Quickly see delays, cancellations, or closures as soon as they are posted.

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Steer clear of school zone traffic

Drive to 5 helps make school zones safer by keeping more cars away from the school zone. With clear maps you can plan for a drop-off or pick-up spot that eases congestion, and creates a safer space for every child walking to and from school.

Avoid traffic. Be part of the solution.

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View maps

Drive a bus

Are you looking for a meaningful job that makes a difference in your community? As equal opportunity employers, local bus operators welcome applicants from all backgrounds and various walks of life to apply. Let’s make a difference together!

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Frequently asked questions

My student has forgotten an item on the bus. What can I do?

Contact the Operator for lost items. To do this you will need to know your student’s bus route.

To find this information use the Parent Portal function

My student is eligible for busing; do I need to notify anyone that my student will not be riding?

To ensure that your student is not mistakenly placed on a bus, please contact us for the Do Not Ride Form. To have your student back on the bus after being removed, and if your student is still eligible for transportation, please complete the same digital form again.

Please note: If your student will occasionally be riding the bus, do not complete this form, it is only for students who will never be riding the bus. For safety reasons, it is highly recommended that young children have a consistent travel arrangement.

Where can I go to see bus delays, cancellations or school closures?

STSWR will advise, via the media and the STSWR website, of any bus cancellations due to weather. In most cases these notifications will be sent out before 7am on the day of the cancellation. Should the weather deteriorate during the day causing an early dismissal, parents/caregiv ers will be contacted by the school prior to the students being sent home.

For the quickest updates/notifications, please create an account on the Parent Portal. Updates are also posted on our social media pages:

Twitter/X – @STSWR
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/STSWR/
Instagram – @student.transportation.stswr
For the latest daily delays, check the Delays and Cancellations

How can I get information about the next school year?

Our interactive database provides the ability to select the current school year or next school year in order to retrieve school boundary and transportation information for your student.

Dates information becomes available for the next school year:

Attendance boundaries in the beginning of February. Busing eligibility and route numbers for next September available in the last week of August.

Can I make special arrangements or changes in my student’s transportation directly with the bus driver?

No. Without a written notice from Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region (STSWR), no bus driver is authorised to make changes to your student’s bus stop or bus schedule.

All student information changes, including address changes, must be made through the student’s school directly. Please contact your students school to update the student’s school records to reflect their new drop-off address.

Once the school has made this change and if the student is eligible, the bus will assigned by the STSWR transportation planner through the school records with the primary address listed.
Visit this link on our website to see if the student is eligible to ride the bus from the new address

Isn’t it more convenient to drive and drop off my student who qualifies for the walk zone?

Driving might feel like the quickest option, but school zones can get busy and that “quick drop-off” might turn into a stressful wait in traffic. More cars around schools can create crowded, unsafe conditions for students and even slow down your own morning routine. Schools are intentionally placed in neighbourhoods so most families can walk or bike easily.

How do you determine the distance to my student’s school for transportation eligibility?

Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region (STSWR) uses a Geographical Information System (GIS) to calculate the distance for transportation eligibility. Distances are measured from the end of your property to the closest access point to the school–not door to door. The maps used are provided by the Region of Waterloo, not Google Maps, and include designated pathways and access points. Find your student’s transportation eligibility.

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