St. Lucie Public Schools Bus Transportation

Florida law has St. Lucie Public Schools bus students who live more than a reasonable walking distance from their school, plus younger students facing hazardous walking conditions, and the state counts riders living 2 miles or more from school for transportation funding.

Section 1006.21 of the Florida Statutes directs every district board, St. Lucie's included, to provide transportation for kindergarten through grade 12 students, and for students in prekindergarten disability programs, when their homes are more than a reasonable walking distance, as defined by State Board of Education rules, from the nearest appropriate school (Florida Statutes 1006.21). The same section makes transportation mandatory for elementary students whose grade level does not exceed grade 6 when they would face hazardous walking conditions, and optional for St. Lucie students in grades 7 through 12 in the same situation.

For St. Lucie and every other Florida district, the state funding formula in section 1011.68 counts students transported by reason of living 2 miles or more from school, students with disabilities regardless of distance, and children in a state prekindergarten program regardless of distance (Florida Statutes 1011.68). For hazardous walking, it allows a student to be counted for less than 1 year when the bus is needed only until the condition is corrected.

The St. Lucie Transportation Department's own menu points families to a Non-Transportation Zone Map, a Pay Rider Plan with its brochure, request form and Q&A, an Alternate Address Form and a page of Questions & Answers about Daycare (St. Lucie Public Schools Transportation page).

Families register through the registration link at the top of the St. Lucie Transportation page, and both bus complexes answer at (772) 204-RIDE (7433).

The St. Lucie Transportation Department lists two complexes, the North Transportation Complex in Fort Pierce and the South Transportation Complex in Port St. Lucie (Transportation department directory):

The department says it transports over 23,000 students each school year and serves the district from two bus compounds, the South County Compound and the North County Compound (Transportation page, about the department). The St. Lucie district office address and main line in the last row come from the footer of the same page.

The same St. Lucie Transportation menu lists the Alternate Address Form and the Questions & Answers about Daycare page next to Bus Rules, a Safety Brochure, Tips for Parents, Safe Walking and Biking to School and the School Bus Driver Handbook (Transportation menu).

St. Lucie bus stops sit at centralized locations chosen for safety under state and district guidelines, and community stops for magnet and attractor programs are not moved or added on individual request.

The district says all St. Lucie bus stops are planned and placed in the safest and most centralized locations for eligible riders, with safety, timeliness and operational efficiency as the top priorities (Transportation page, bus stops). State law sets the same baseline: each district school board establishes bus stops at the most reasonably safe locations available, and where unusual traffic hazards exist at stops on state roads outside municipalities, the Florida Department of Transportation places signs warning drivers of the stop on request of the district (Florida Statutes 1006.22).

Community Bus Stops are designated pickup and drop-off points that St. Lucie uses primarily for magnet schools and schools with attractor programs, built to gather students from several neighborhoods at one spot (Transportation page, community bus stops). Because the stops are centralized, the district notes that not every student can walk to one; a parent or guardian is expected to bring the child to and from the community stop when necessary, and these stops are not relocated or added on individual request.

That rule touches every St. Lucie family weighing a county-wide magnet such as Fort Pierce Westwood Academy, Lincoln Park Academy, Creative Arts Academy of St. Lucie or Samuel S. Gaines Academy (St. Lucie school directory, magnet schools), and every high school student applying to an attractor program such as International Baccalaureate or the Marine Oceanographic Academy (Student Assignment, high school programs).

Section 1006.23 of the Florida Statutes defines the hazardous walking conditions that can put a St. Lucie student in grade 6 or below on a bus, using walkway width, traffic speed, traffic volume and road width.

The tests below apply to any route a St. Lucie elementary student must walk to school, and each is taken from the statute's wording (Florida Statutes 1006.23):

The walkway rule does not apply on a road carrying fewer than 180 vehicles per hour per direction at walking times, or on a residential road posted 30 mph or less (Florida Statutes 1006.23, exceptions). When the superintendent asks for a review of a road for students within the 2-mile limit who walk, the condition is inspected jointly by the district, the state or local government with jurisdiction over the road, and a representative of the municipal police department for a municipal road, the sheriff's office for a county road, or the Department of Transportation for a state road.

Bus tracking in St. Lucie Public Schools runs through the Here Comes the Bus app, which shows a bus's real-time location once a parent enters school code 77914 and the child's student ID.

The St. Lucie Transportation page walks through setup: download the Here Comes the Bus app or open the website, enter school code 77914 and choose Next and Confirm, complete the User Profile box, then under My Students choose Add and enter the child's last name and student ID number (Transportation page, Here Comes the Bus). The app offers push notifications or email alerts, and the district lists (772) 204-RIDE (7433) for customer support with it. Instructions appear in English, Spanish and Creole.

Every St. Lucie school bus carries two-way radios, onboard cameras and satellite tracking technology, according to the department (Transportation page, bus equipment). Drivers and aides are certified in the State of Florida Basic School Bus Curriculum, Exceptional Student Education training, on-the-road training by certified Department of Education instructors, C.H.A.M.P.S. strategies for positive student behavior, and CPR and first aid.

Not automatically: a parent using Florida's controlled open enrollment law in St. Lucie County enrolls and transports the child, though a school district or charter school may provide transportation.

Section 1002.31 lets a parent from any Florida district enroll a child in, and transport the child to, a public school that has not reached capacity, and adds that a school district or charter school may provide transportation to those students (Florida Statutes 1002.31). The statute also requires districts to provide information on transportation options, including any transportation the district may provide and any options available in the community, and St. Lucie families can raise the bus question with Student Assignment at (772) 429-3930.

Inside the zone system, St. Lucie Public Schools already gives assignment preference to families who live within two miles of a school or have a sibling attending it (Student Assignment, school choice). For magnet and attractor students the community stop rules above apply, and parents bring students to the designated stop when necessary (Transportation page, community stops). Last verified: October 22, 2026, with the complexes, stop rules and app steps checked on the St. Lucie Transportation page, the zone preference on Student Assignment, the magnet list on the school directory, and Florida Statutes 1002.31, 1006.21, 1006.22, 1006.23 and 1011.68.