When Student Transportation Inc. was founded in 1997, the goal was fairly simple: to build a good company with good people. Nearly thirty years later, the STA Family of Companies has done just that.

“The fabric of STA’s history is woven with the dedication, compassion, and expertise of thousands of remarkable individuals,” says Gene Kowalczewski, Chief Executive Officer of the STA Family of Companies. “From the Company’s first acquisition and our organic bid growth to the many new partnerships being forged today, we could not do what we do without the talents and commitments of our team members, at every level of the organization.”

What began as an idea around a kitchen table in New Jersey quickly flourished into one of the industry’s largest school bus contracting firms, growing from less than 100 contracts in the early 2000’s to operating more than 23,000 vehicles across North America today.

We made our debut on the U.S. stock market in 2011, and the next year purchased the largest all-propane fleet in the student transportation industry. We were honored with the Sustainability All-Star Award in 2013, and in 2014 STA’s founder was named Contractor of the Year by School Bus Fleet Magazine. And while we were building a name for ourselves as a “game changer” in the industry, we were also building a family. Initiatives such as Employee Appreciation Week, our Mentor Program for newly hired bus drivers, and the importance placed on employee recognition for community involvement, safety excellence, and years of accident-free service, have all served to support STA’s mission of upholding a supportive and empowering family culture, even as the organization continued to steadily grow.

Then in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought sweeping change to our industry. With schools closed and society put under strict social distancing orders, transportation contractors and district administrators alike were left wondering how to mitigate potential learning gaps for students, while balancing other issues like mask usage, proper ventilation, and rigorous vehicle sanitation. But the STA Family worked together to support our communities, delivering meals to children quarantined in their homes, using our school buses as Wi-Fi hotspots to help students access virtual classrooms, and finding creative ways to celebrate the graduating class of 2020, who largely were unable to experience the traditional pomp and circumstance that surrounds graduation.

Through it all, we continued to improve upon the safe operations we already had, and implemented new technologies to provide even more efficient services for our customers.

We launched our electric school bus program in the summer of 2021, bringing new electric vehicles to our fleet in Los Angeles. The following year, we welcomed Pacific Western Transportation, the largest privately-owned transportation company in Canada, adding more than 5,000 employees to the STA Family. The shared values, family goals, and commitment to sustainability made PWT’s teams a perfect match for our organization.

With strength in numbers, our electrification program grew coast to coast, and we received the Large Private Green Fleet Award during the 2022 Green Bus Summit, followed by the NSTA Go Yellow Go Green Award. And in February of 2024, STA had the distinct honor of being recognized as the only student transportation contractor on the Forbes list of America’s Best Employers, appearing alongside many notable peers from a wide range of industries.

“The strength of our organization can be shown in numbers, doubling in size between 2019 to 2024, but what I believe is more telling is the retention and happiness of our team members,” Kowalczewski says. “The foundation of any successful company begins with its people. Whether you’re sitting behind the wheel of a bus, working under the hood as a mechanic, or supporting other needs behind the scenes, there is mission-driven purpose with every role here. And that mission is to provide safe, reliable transportation to the school children of North America.”

As we mark STA’s anniversary this month, we continue with the notion that taking care of our employees, customers, and the communities where we operate translates into sustainable and long-term partnerships. We know that reliable transportation for students can be vital to local communities, and we continually put our expertise to the test. Where others may see only numbers or routing schedules, we see the families we connect to their school communities, and the lives we touch daily.