National School Transportation Association
375 episodes listed below
School transportation, from the people running it.
The Bus Stop follows National School Transportation Association conversations with vendors, contractors, safety voices, and training voices. Its best episodes pair collegial background stories with concrete discussion of radios, insurance, accessibility, driver preparation, fleet technology, and association events.
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The Bus Stop is an NSTA-centered interview show for people who live inside school transportation, not merely near it. The conversations are relaxed, but they are rarely casual in subject matter. Guests talk through the machinery of the field: insurance, training, safety committees, route operations, communications, accessibility, fleet technology, vendor partnerships, and the annual events where much of the industry gathers. Episodes often start with biography. That history matters, because the show treats experience as a form of proof. A guest might explain a family bus company’s growth from a few vehicles, a career that began in parts and sales, or the path from training work into a customized CDL platform. Then the conversation turns practical. School radio coverage becomes a discussion about unlimited range, interoperability, dispatcher access, and managed services. Insurance becomes a recurring pressure point for contractors trying to plan in a rocky market. Accessibility becomes a training issue, with attention to body language, learner confidence, and support after the class ends. Safety competition episodes give the show a civic rhythm, tying individual drivers and committee members to a broader culture of preparation. Technology appears often, but not as hype. AI, cameras, dashboards, and physical operations platforms are discussed in terms of alerts, coaching, data, and the risk of letting tools outrun understanding. The show also has a strong association texture. Denver, Austin, Fort Lauderdale, annual meetings, keynote sponsors, committee work, awards dinners, and long partnerships are part of the landscape. The interview style is patient. Questions usually frame the context before asking for specifics, and guests are given room to explain how something actually works. That makes the show especially useful for operators, suppliers, and association members who want the details without a sales-stage sheen. It can feel inside-baseball to outsiders. For the intended audience, that is part of the appeal. The Bus Stop captures the working relationships, recurring worries, and field-tested ideas that keep student transportation moving.
Made for: The show suits school transportation contractors, vendors, safety leaders, trainers, association members, and district decision-makers. It is especially useful for listeners who want operational context from people already active in the field.
What sets it apart: The Bus Stop stands apart by blending association continuity with practical vendor and operator knowledge. It gives industry relationships, committee work, and field problems the same attention as products or event announcements.
Your one stop shop for all things NSTA and school transportation industry. Check back for new content being added weekly. The National School Transportation Association (NSTA) provides “The Bus Stop” podcast as a public service, but it is neither a legal interpretation nor a statement of NSTA policy. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by NSTA. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. NSTA encourages interested parties to circulate podcast episodes via appropriate venu...
School-bus operations have edge cases; Kurt Mackeson hands you the people paid to solve them.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical, people-first conversation about training, support, and making transportation products easier to use.
The Bus Stop keeps its attention on the human side of student transportation products through Maritza Valentin's view of training and support.
A grounded school-bus safety conversation about keeping community knowledge in the driver's seat.
School-bus safety here is framed less as a checklist than as a question of how larger operators carry sound practice into local communities without flattening the people and habits already in place.
A grounded look at bus video, driver behavior, and the judgment needed to turn safety data into training.
Protecting a school bus here becomes less about hardware alone than about what a video record can prove after something goes wrong. Joe Allen, Director of Sales at Safe Fleet and an NSTA Safety Competition Committee member, makes the case for systems tied to driver behavior:…
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Alex Blumberg interviews guests like Megan Phelps-Roper and Shane McAnally about failure and reinvention.
NSTA The Bus Stop features Kurt Mackeson interviewing Maritza Valentin, who describes entering student transportation in 1990 and reaching nearly 36 years with AMF Bruns.
The Bus Stop host Kurt Mackeson interviews Kevin Kilners, Beacon Mobility's Chief Safety Officer and chair of the NSTA Safety Competition Committee, about his path through transportation service and school-bus safety.
Joe Allen, Safe Fleet’s Director of Sales, explains how the company’s SAVES system uses AI-enabled cameras to identify and document illegal school-bus passings when a stop arm is deployed.
NSTA The Bus Stop host Kurt Mackeson interviews John Rojas, CEO of Bumper to Bumper Easy CDL, about commercial-driver training and school-bus safety competitions.
NSTA's The Bus Stop podcast features Wendy Bass, co-owner and vice chair of Go Right Way, a Milwaukee-based school transportation and motor coach company founded by her grandparents in 1957.
An interview with an attorney discussing legal and business issues in the school transportation industry.
An interview with Adam Silbernagle, SVP of IT at Summit School Services, discussing his career background and the school transportation industry.
The episode introduces a guest from the Marine Industries Association who will speak at the NSTA midwinter meeting, discussing his background and the student transportation community.
An interview with Patrick Dean, President of Dean Transportation and NSTA, discussing his journey in the school transportation industry and back-to-school topics.
Interview with the grand champion of the School Bus Driver International Safety Competition about his experience and the competition.
The episode covers highlights from the NSTA conference in Boston, including networking events and industry discussions.
This episode features an interview with John Barrington from IMMI/SafeGuard discussing his 30-year career in school transportation and the company's commitment to student safety and innovation.
This episode features an interview with Patrick Girardin, Co-President of Q'Straint, discussing his personal journey and the company's mission to improve wheelchair safety and securement systems in school transportation.