P-CCS has partnered with Durham School Services to provide bus transportation for our students. Visit the Durham website for complete details, contact information, and services.

The Plymouth-Canton Community Schools Transportation Department has provided this information to familiarize you with our procedures as they relate to your child’s school transportation. Please remember, it is the parents or guardians of bus transported students that are responsible for getting their children to and from the bus stop.

BusZone Bus Tracking

The P-CCS Transportation Department is using a new bus tracking system called BusZone. The team has worked hard to provide hassle-free transportation updates for the 2023-2024 school year. This new application will help families keep track of bus times and updates live including Geo notifications at bus arrival.

Please use the BusZone application to follow your student's bus or call the transportation department at 734.416.3032 or 734.416.3033 if you have any questions or concerns.

Please follow the instructions linked below to download and set up the BusZone app on your smartphone.

IMPORTANT- PLEASE NOTE:  The District Access Code for P-CCS is 4097PCCS. You need to enter your student's ROUTE NUMBER, not their bus number, when setting up your account. Your student's ID Number, Route Number, and Bus information can be found in the MiStar Parent Portal on the TRANSPORTATION tab.

BusZone Flyer (English)

BusZone Flyer (Español)

For more information, please view the BusZone User Guide.

If you have any questions, please send an email to michael.laubernds@pccsk12.com.

Click here for a printable version of: A Simple Guide for P-CCS Bus Riders

 Transportation Phone Numbers

• Dispatch Operations: 734-416-3032 or 734-416-3033
• General Office: 734-416-3034
• Regular Education Busing: 734-416-3040
• Special Education Busing: 734-414-8160

We are still in need of regular, special education and substitute bus drivers.  Please click here for a link to the job posting.

Transportation topics on this page

• Bus Eligibility
• Bus Route Efficiency
• Bus Rules
• Bus Stops
• Bus Stop Change Request
• Day Care
• Inclement Weather
• Kindergarten
• New Student / New Address
• Parent Requested Assignment/Non-Resident Children of Employees
• Special Needs Students
  • Specialized Transportation Guidelines
• Split Family Time

Bus Eligibility

Only Plymouth-Canton Community School District students can ride the school bus during the scheduled school day. Transportation is provided for:

• Elementary students who live one mile or greater from their designated school,
• Middle and High School students who live one and a half miles or greater from their designated school.

Bus Route Efficiency

A bus route is designed to make maximum use of each vehicle. Each high school run is combined with a middle school and elementary run to make a full route. Efficient routes make minimal stops and travel down a limited number of streets. Unnecessary stops or delays have a ripple effect on the entire schedule.

Safety and efficient use of time are the reasons our buses do not travel down cul-de-sacs or dead-end streets. Sending a bus down these types of streets sometimes requires the bus to back up, this is a potentially dangerous situation and one that the Michigan Department of Education advises against.

Bus Rules

Don’t Lose Your Riding Privilege! Follow These Rules:

• Students may only ride the bus they are assigned to ride, unless given specific permission to ride another bus by their school administrator.
• Observe same conduct as in the classroom.
• Be courteous, use no profane language.
• Do not eat or drink on the bus.
• Keep the bus clean.
• Cooperate with the driver.
• Do not smoke.
• Do not be destructive.
• Stay in your seat.
• Keep your head, hands and feet inside the bus.
• The bus driver is authorized to assign seats.

For reasons of safety and in order to comply with state law and transportation procedures, the following items are not allowed on a school bus:

• Glass objects; bottles, jars, etc.
• Open containers of food, drink, and at no time peanuts or peanut butter.
• Live animals, bugs, worms.
• Oversize objects and instruments; those that cannot fit safely in the seat with the student.
• Weapons; guns, knives, razor blades, etc. (real or toy).
• Sports equipment which could endanger others; like javelins, pole vaults, shot puts, or skate boards.
• Any item which cannot be transported easily or which creates a safety concern.
• The use of electronic devices such as cell phones, and items that generate noise (without the use of headphones).

Bus Stops

• The Durham School Services Mobile Bus Tracker App, which enables parents and guardians to view multiple stops on an assigned route, including the scheduled arrival time for each stop, is available now. Sign up for the BusZone Tracker.

• Below are the various channels in which route information can be found:

  • MISTAR Parent Portal: This will be the same as always and will have the most up to date information per Wayne RESA routing software.

  • E-mail: Durham will be sending out emails this year as well as the main method of communicating route information. Postcards will not be sent anymore.

At P-CCS, most students are required to walk to consolidated bus stops throughout the District. The walk criteria is as follows:

• Elementary: 900 feet
• Middle & High School: 1,320 feet

Students should be at the bus stop at least five minutes before their scheduled pick up time. Students must use only their designated bus stop.

Students need to wait at the bus stop in an orderly fashion and also be careful not to walk on the grass or damage shrub beds. Students should wait at their bus stop in a single line, 15 feet away from the roadway.

Parents, guardians or an authorized person must accompany kindergartners to and from the bus stop. The bus driver is instructed not to leave the kindergartner alone. We do this for your child’s continued safety. Most bus stops are arranged so that students are picked up on the right hand side of the road.

Bus stops are planned for efficiencies, it is possible that you may not be able to see your child from your home while they are waiting for their school bus. Seeing your student is not part of the criteria in placing bus stops. Please see “Frequently Asked Questions” created by the Michigan Department of Education.Day Care

Students who live in a “non-eligible area”, who have a day care provider in the “eligible area” qualify to ride the bus to and from their day care provider. When using sitters or daycares for student transportation, you must use the same location Monday through Friday. We cannot transport students to different locations on different days of the week.

Please complete the request for daycare bussing form and return it to the Transportation Department. Processing takes 3-5 business days. Excludes Parent Requested Assignments and Non-Resident Children of Employees

Inclement Weather

There may be times during the school year where it may be necessary to cancel school due to adverse weather conditions. P-CCS gathers information on road and weather conditions from a wide variety of sources. The P-CCS administration considers the actual weather conditions, the forecasted weather and the projected impact on road conditions during the peak student transportation windows. Every attempt is made to provide the public with information on school cancellations as early as possible. The announcement will be communicated on all local medias, such as; local radio, local television, and posted on the front page of our Website.

Also, in situations where road conditions are snow or ice covered, some buses may be running late. If you need to know the status of the bus route, please call dispatch at 734-416-3032. Please note that no matter how late the bus is running, all assigned routes are completed.

Kindergarten

Kindergartners are picked up and dropped off at consolidated neighborhood stops during the A.M. pickup times and the P.M. drop off times.

During the first week of school, your child will receive a packet with two Emergency Cards and a Sibling Release Form. Please return the cards and form to your child’s bus driver as soon as possible.

All kindergarten students are to be met at their bus stop by a parent or a person(s) authorized by the completion of the emergency card or sibling release form. Bus drivers are instructed to never leave a kindergarten student alone. In the event that you or your authorized person(s) are not at the bus stop to receive your student, the bus driver has been instructed to radio our dispatch office. A reasonable effort will be made to call the home or a contact person listed on the student’s emergency card. If contact cannot be made, Dispatch will notify your child’s assigned school, the driver will return your child to their school at the end of the bus route to await your arrival.

• Please instruct your child never to leave their bus until they see you, or a person responsible, at the bus stop.
• Please practice walking with your child to familiarize him/her with the area surrounding the bus stop and the walk path to and from the bus stop. By familiarizing your child with the area surrounding their bus stop, it will help insure that your child recognizes their bus stop.
• It is important to attach a name tag to your child’s outerwear and also in or on their backpacks for at least the first month of school. This tag should indicate your child’s name, and school they are attending.

During the first two weeks of school, buses tend to be delayed in arrival and departure – this is not unusual. Schools, drivers, and students are all adjusting to the start of a new school year, please be patient. During this start up period, some parents have chosen to transport their children to and from school until all “kinks” are worked out of the transportation system.

Through the years many parents have stated that they would rather have their child adjust to the idea of going to school first, and later adjust to taking a school bus.

Articles left on buses are usually maintained on each bus for a few days. Following this time period articles are then brought into the Transportation Office and maintained for one month. All items, clothing, book bags, instruments, show and tell items, etc. should always be labeled with your child’s name and school. Please do not send anything on the bus that cannot be safely transported on your child’s lap.

STUDENT ARRIVAL TIME AT BUS STOPS

All students (K-12) are to be at their bus stops, ready to board the bus, no later than five minutes prior to scheduled stop times. Designated pick up and drop off points and times, as defined by the district, must be adhered to in order to continue a safe and efficient transportation system. Drivers are not allowed to stop to pick up students anywhere other than designated bus stops.

New Student / New Address

Because routing can sometimes be complex and student information systems need to be updated, student assignments to buses due to new enrollment or address changes may take three to five days for regular education students and five to ten days for special education students before a student is placed on a bus. We will try our best to place your student on a bus as soon as possible. Same day busing for new students or address changes are not possible.

Parent Requested Assignment/Non-Resident Children of Employees

Students approved for Parent Requested Assignment and Non-Resident Children of Employees through the Student Service Department are not eligible for transportation.

Students who request an assignment to a school other than their assigned home school do not receive transportation by the District.

Special Needs Students -- With Specialized Transportation guidelines

Special Needs bus stops are curb to curb, meaning; some subdivisions/complexes buses will get as close to your home address as possible.

Only your home address, sitter, or daycare provider within the P-CCS boundary can be used for pick up and drop offs. When using sitters or daycares for student transportation, you must use the same location Monday through Friday. We cannot transport students to different locations on different days of the week.

Because of efficiencies, all parents of students with special needs should contact the transportation dispatch office at 734-416-3032 if your child will not be attending school on a given day. This will allow the drivers to make adjustments to their routes and keep the buses on schedule. Please do not contact the bus driver.

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools Specialized Transportation Guidelines for Families with students approved for specialized transportation within the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools. 

If the student will be absent from school please contact BOTH your student’s home school attendance office AND the transportation department.  You may reach the transportation department at either number listed below: 
(734) 416-3032
(734) 416-3033

To reach your school’s attendance office, please visit www.pccsk.12.com/our-schools then select the student’s school to find the applicable attendance phone number. 

Three no-call no-shows will result in a pause in specialized transportation.  Please contact our Transportation department to resume bussing.  Routing will resume as soon as possible after the parent / guardian notification.  

The bus will wait up to three minutes beyond the scheduled pick up time at each location for students.   If after three minutes, if the student is not present to load the bus, the bus will pull away. 

Questions may be directed to Transportation at the numbers provided above or your student’s case manager.  

Split Family Time

Students with two home addresses may ride either bus as long as the address is within their home school boundary. For dual address situations please complete the split family time form and return it to the Transportation Department.  Processing takes 3-5 business days.

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