Worcester has only school buses in state with high-tech safety features

By Mike Sullivan, WBZ-TV

WORCESTER – A new fleet of high-tech school buses will be rolling out of the Worcester School District this fall.

The district ended its contract with Durham School Services and decided to take its bussing situation in-house. As a result, the district bought new buses. They are the only school buses in the state that feature collision mitigation, lane assistance and speed control.

“If you are approaching a stop, and you don’t brake, it’s going to brake for you,”  Assistant Director of Worcester Public Schools Michael Freeman said, “If you are going above the speed limit, it is going to automatically decrease your speed.”

The buses will also have GPS tracking for parents. They will be able to use an app to see exactly where their child’s bus is and when it will arrive.

“It’s called MyStop. It will give the parents the ability to be able to track their students and only their students,” Freeman added.

“Now with this new system, there is no reason a parent should not be there on time to receive their kids,” says Greisy Jacquez. She has five children in the school district and will be driving one of these new buses. “Tracking the bus and doing your errands at the same time is a plus.”

The district is still in dire need of bus drivers. It has 76 right now but needs 101 to run all of the routes. As it stands, the district will start the year with limited routes and add more as drivers become available.