Beginning this fall, eligible Austin ISD middle and high schoolers will catch their bus at a new hub stop instead of a neighborhood one. (Jessica McLaren/Community Impact)
Starting with the 2026-27 school year, eligible Austin ISD middle and high school students who ride the bus will be picked up at a centralized "hub stop"—such as an elementary campus, library, post office, Austin Community College campus or Capital Metro transit center—instead of a stop on their own street.
AISD officials said the shift is driven by rising transportation costs and is meant to make routes more efficient and sustainable long-term. AISD receives $1 in state transportation funding for every $7.22 it spends per mile, creating a funding gap officials cite as the reason for the changes.
Elementary students will not see a change to their normal bus stops, per the district.
What’s changing
The district announced June 25 that it is making two separate changes: who qualifies for transportation and where eligible students catch the bus.
Under Texas law, school districts receive state transportation funding for most students who live two miles or more from their assigned campus, with additional funding available for certain hazardous routes. AISD officials said the district is returning to that eligibility standard after offering closer-in transportation exceptions at some campuses in recent years, meaning some students may no longer qualify for bus service.
The second change requires all eligible middle and high school students to use centralized hub stops instead of neighborhood bus stops, according to the district's FAQ document. As of Thursday morning, the district reported 254 hub stops, up from 242 when the Bus Stop Finder launched on Monday, said Executive Director of Transportation and Vehicle Services Kris Hafezizadeh, who attributed the increase to community feedback.
Austin ISD Transportation Director Kris Hafezizadeh said the district “cannot guarantee [it] will add hubs and stops everywhere,” but that it will consider the suggestions. (Jessica McLaren/Community Impact)
Other transportation changes include eliminating district-funded late activity buses, ending districtwide transportation for Campbell Elementary and Eastside Early College High School, and returning several campuses with previous distance exceptions to the state standard.
AISD officials said buses will be capped at 45 students, and some non-eligible transfer students may need to find alternate transportation if routes reach capacity. Hafezizadeh said the changes have reduced the district’s total bus routes by 27.
What parents are saying
Rob Amoroso, whose 12-year-old is zoned for a middle school hub spot, said the change has left him without a workable plan.
“My job requires my attendance,” he said, noting that walkability wasn’t a plausible alternative. “I’m not letting my 12 year old navigate intersections.”
Amoroso said he’s been reaching out to neighbors about carpooling, but the math doesn’t work cleanly and it will result in a significant increase in cars on the road.
“A car can only hold so many kids, so it requires a lot of parents,” he said. “It’s really difficult to figure out. I honestly don’t have a plan. It just really is an unreasonable burden on everyone involved.”
Thecontext
AISD initially piloted the hub model for magnet and choice-program students starting in the 2025-26 school year, citing a $110 million shortfall at the time, according to previous Community Impact reporting. This year's changes expand that model districtwide.
District staff said they first shared the hub concept with families in March, ahead of the June budget vote, then followed up after the survey and Bus Stop Finder tool launched.
The change lands amid broader strain that's reshaped much of AISD this year, including the closure of Paredes Middle School due to academic performance and a 2026-27 budget the district adopted in June after weighing $181 million in projected shortfalls, according to previous Community Impact reporting.
Hafezizadeh estimates the hub changes will save $5.2 million this year, part of roughly $7 million in savings across all of the district’s transportation-related cost-reduction projects. The district’s transportation budget dropped from about $33 million last year to $27.6 million this year, he said, adding that no bus driver jobs were lost as a result of the changes.
AISD currently transports about 20,000 students each day on nearly 550 buses via more than 370 routes, according to the district transportation website. Hafezizadeh said the district will not hesitate to add bus routes if they are deemed necessary.
According to AISD’s transportation policy, students are considered under district supervision—and subject to the same disciplinary rules as on school grounds—while riding on or waiting for a bus, whether at a hub stop or elsewhere.
When asked directly whether AISD did a formal risk assessment of routes to hub stops, Hafezizadeh said the district considered walkability and distance when placing hubs; if a location was a “long distance” or otherwise difficult to reach safely, that informed hub placement.
For Amoroso, though, distance wasn’t the core concern, safety along the way was. He said he isn’t comfortable letting his middle school child—some as young as 11 years old—cross intersections alone to reach a hub stop, regardless of how far it is.
“Everyone is” responsible, Hafezizadeh said, when asked who ensures student safety on the way to a hub stop.
What parents should know
Transportation routes and hub assignments are available through AISD's Bus Stop Finder tool, where families can look up their specific stop. Students assigned to hub stops travel an average of 2 to 2.5 miles from home to their pickup location, with a maximum target distance of 3 miles, if applicable, Hafezizadeh said.
For example, a student zoned to Small Middle School in Southwest Austin lives 2.666 miles from campus—just over the eligibility line—and is assigned to Hampton Branch Library, about a half-mile from home, for a 7:35 a.m. pickup, according to the Bus Stop Finder tool.
Families can currently submit concerns through the district’s Transportation Hub Stops Survey, open through the end of August. Officials described this as a preliminary round of feedback and said additional channels for reporting safety and walkability concerns will be introduced later in the year.
“Send us comments,” Hafezizadeh said, adding that staff review survey feedback on a rolling basis and use it to inform route adjustments.
He also asked families to lean on each other during the transition, suggesting parents “take turns” driving neighborhood kids to hub stops and pointing to Movability's Schoolpool carpool program as a resource.
The district also offers a Where’s the Bus app where families can track students' buses from departure to arrival, and all K-12 students can ride Capital Metro buses for free, a program made permanent in 2018.
What's next
The 2026-27 school year starts Aug. 18. AISD officials said the district will monitor and adjust routes in real time through September as enrollment and traffic patterns settle in.
