Relive all the memories from the North Carolina debut of the STN EXPO East Conference! Over the six days of the conference, attendees had no shortage of educational sessions, networking events and unique experiences, all geared towards having the conversations that are making a difference in the student transportation industry. Watch the daily videos that were brought to you live from the conference and highlight events like the Bus Technology Summit, Green Bus Summit, the Charlotte Motor Speedway Reception, the Trade Show and more!
CONCORD, N.C. — Taking place at the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway, the Bus Technology Summit and Green Bus Summit Technology Demonstration and Ride & Drive Experience showcased the latest advancements in green school buses and transportation solutions on March 23, 2025 during STN EXPO East.
Attendees were treated to a hands-on experience with various transportation technology demonstrations and green buses, including electric, propane and other alternative fuel vehicles. School transportation professionals were able to ride the latest models and learn about their features while driving around the Charlotte Motor Speedway track.
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Attendees at the 2025 STN EXPO East in Charlotte, North Carolina were invited to attend a unique ride and drive experience at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo by Vincent Rios Creative.)
Attendees at the 2025 STN EXPO East in Charlotte, North Carolina were invited to attend a unique ride and drive experience at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo by Vincent Rios Creative.)
CONCORD, N.C. — Monday opened with a general session on school bus Cellular-V2X technology and possibilities, and a keynote address by Scott Welle, author of ‘Outperform the Norm.’
Multiple Bus Technology Labs featuring live demos and hand-on exercises were held throughout the day, as well as informative Green Bus Summit panels hosted by school bus OEMs. The day was capped off by the Trade Show and Networking Madness Reception featuring a March Madness basketball theme.
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Joel Stutheit, senior manager of Autogas for the Propane Education & Research Council, speaks during an STN EXPO East panel on propane school buses.
CONCORD, N.C. — Both Bus Technology Summit and Green Bus Summit sessions and demonstrations were held throughout Sunday, beginning with addresses from Nicole Portee, associate superintendent of operations at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina, and Charles Kriete, president and CEO of Zonar.
Supplier representatives and student transporters led live demos and informative panels on various topics of green energy and modern technology.
Conference sessions were also held on transporting students with disabilities, shop management, the “Danger Zone” at school bus stops, routing for school startup, and the leadership challenge.
Dinner and drinks were served during that evening’s Bus Technology Summit/Green Bus Summit Technology Demonstration and Green Bus Ride & Drive Experience at the world renowned Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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Nicole Portee, associate superintendent for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, welcomes the audience to begin Sunday's learning
STN Publisher and President Tony Corpin addresses the audience.
Zonar President and CEO Charles Kriete discusses technology's role in student transportation.
Joe Annotti, the VP of incentives for TRC Clean Transportation Solutions, speaks on the future of green school bus funding at STN EXPO East on March 23, 2025.
Joe Annotti, the VP of incentives for TRC Clean Transportation Solutions, speaks on the future of green school bus funding at STN EXPO East on March 23, 2025.
Jim Ellis, director of transportation for Henrico County Schools in Virginia, discusses transition to a paperless operations.
Alexandra Robinson, left, and Sue Shutrump share the Top 10 things to know when transporting students with disabilities.
Consultant Derek Graham facilitates a session on understanding and training for the "Danger Zone" at school bus stops.
Danger Zone panelists, from left, Shay Coates of Newport News Public Schools in VIrginia, Laura Hill of Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida, and school bus safety trainer Dick Fischer.
Electrical engineer and consultant Ewan Pritchard, Ph.D., discusses the intricacies of the RFP process of working with electrification-as-a-service providers.
Alexandra Robinson, left, and Nicole Portee offer a leadership challenge to attendees.
Greg Jackson of School Bus Logistics leads a panel on the role routing plays on school startup.
Andrew Grasty, center, of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Tennessee talks during the "Effective School Start Planning Strategies panel. He is flanked by Jim Ellis of Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia, left, and Dana Rosen of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD in Texas.
CONCORD, N.C. – A lunch and learn session shared Transfinder’s integrated software and hardware tools and resources to help transportation departments efficiently deal with both daily routines and intermittent challenges.
Zachary Moren, manager of enablement and engineering for session sponsor Transfinder, noted that technology isn’t a magical solution apart from careful integration, process and workflows. “Our company helps one in three students get to school safer every day,” he stated.
He shared that Transfinder focuses on a unified platform and instantaneous information updates. This, he said helps districts serve their stakeholders — families and district administration — in a more efficient way.
The process begins with onboarding student registrations, which he said he’s seen starts with Google forms at many districts. Transfinder’s integrated registration process allows parental input, feeds the information into a student record, and adds it into the routing software, if applicable.
The anchor of it all is a robust routing application, which for Transfinder is its Routefinder Plus. Moren explained that marrying this with bus GPS and student ridership data tightens things up and builds trust in the system. That information can then be confidently shared through parent apps to reduce calls to the office.
For their part, parent apps should be more than a GPS bus tracker, Moren said. They should provide transparent information on their child’s journey to and from school every day.
School bus driver input is a crucial piece of the puzzle, Moren declared. To eliminate handwritten notes on route sheets, automatically updating data accessed via tablets helps make drivers’ jobs easier and improve on-time performance. Tablets also allow drivers to easily create alerts on road hazards or routing errors.
Moren said he’s seen many districts start implementing student ridership data on special needs buses before rolling it out fleet-wide. They may first implement manual student check-in before RFID cards. Either way, he said, with Transfinder, this information is instantly shared with district administrators who can give parents answers on student location.
“Worse than sharing no information is sharing bad information,” he remarked.
When a bus breaks down, Moren said, dispatch can use Transfinder software to see exactly who is on the bus at the time and send notifications to impacted families.
For bus or driver replacements, he said Transfinder’s integrated resource substitution systems tie bus inspections to parent apps for more accurate information on things like bus numbers, also eliminating the need for staff to enter data twice.
Moren noted that field trips and fleet maintenance are other areas he’s observing which districts want to bring together into the larger technology stack to improve information sharing and resource utilization.
With data dashboards being important to transportation departments to share with district administration, Moren confirmed that Transfinder’s platform allows customizable comparisons and analysis to be made.
He shared the story of Springfield Public Schools in Oregon, which had to fire 11 drivers and still cover all 55 routes. Staff used Transfinder’s Trip Absorption feature to consolidate routes and less than a week later sent updated information to parents.
Bo Bowman, the new transportation director for Benton Community Schools in Indiana, said he wouldn’t have been able to open the 2024-2025 school year without Transfinder. Instead of making 1,100 phone calls, he pushed relevant information out to parents via the app.
Sharing accurate information builds trust with parents while inaccurate information negatively affects that trust, Moren noted. School bus drivers should also be able to safely be rerouted back on track after a wrong turn or road obstruction. Laramie County School District #1 in Wyoming uses parent app Stopfinder paired with driver app Wayfinder to help solve these issues.
Customer service is crucial as well. “Technology [implementation] is a partnership with a company that is either able to be there for you or not,” Moren noted.
During the Q&A portion of the session, Moren clarified that Transfinder’s tablets aren’t required for use of its bus inspection software Servicefinder, which can be accessed via a QR code scanned by a driver’s personal cellphone or other device.
Transfinder’s systems can accommodate split custody or other multiple-home family situations, he confirmed.
Scenario-based routing is available so distinctions can be made for am vs. pm routes, yellow buses vs. activity buses, areas that can flood, and more. Moren established that zones and reports can be set up to track buses that are driven into places they are not supposed to go.
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Supplier representatives and student transporters led live demos and informative panels on various topics of green energy and modern technology. Photo by Vince Rios Creative
Supplier representatives and student transporters led live demos and informative panels on various topics of green energy and modern technology.
STN EXPO East’s debut in North Carolina in March will bring together the latest school bus technology with green fleet offerings during the Bus Technology Summit and Green Bus Summit events.
The Bus Technology Summit is a hands-on and interactive experience on Sunday, March 23, where attendees can see product demonstrations during laboratories presented by industry companies. This event will allow attendees to discuss challenges and solutions directly with vendors who can answer their questions in real time and demonstrate the technologies’ capabilities. The labs will be presented by Zonar, Tyler Technologies, Transfinder, Geotab, First Light Safety Products and First Student.
Presented by Bus Technology Summit title sponsor Zonar, the opening session on Sunday, “CEO Talk: 2025 Technology Trends,” will feature Zonar President and CEO Charles Kriete as he discusses the emerging trends of student transportation technology and what they mean for the industry’s future.
The Green Bus Summit sessions will be held the same day and will feature sessions on electric bus technology and other considerations of adding zero-emission buses to school bus fleets. Educational sessions will be presented by Blue Bird, IC Bus, Ride, Propane Education Research Council (PERC)/Southeast Propane Alliance.
Attendees will be able to choose which Bus Technology or Green Bus sessions to attend based on operational needs and interests.
On Sunday evening, the Bus Technology Summit and Green Bus Summit converge for an entertaining and informative evening on the racetrack. The Charlotte Motor Speedway Reception will feature a technology demonstration and ride & drive event hosted at the famous speedway that has hosted major car races, including NASCAR events.
The evening event will include indoor technology demonstrations in the Sprint Cup Garage from participating sponsors. Attendees will be able to ride various green buses as they drive around the track. Dinner and drinks will be available to enjoy in the Winner’s Circle Lounge. There will be a live DJ as well as games, including a racing simulator and a tire changing competition under the speedway lights.
The Bus Technology Summit and Green Bus Summit continue on Monday, March 24.
Save $100 on conference registration with Early Bird registration by Feb. 14. Find the conference agenda, exhibitor lists, hotel information and registration at stnexpo.com/east.
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