Transportation
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The Monona Grove School District partners with Nelson's Bus Service, Inc. to provide transportation to our families. Nelson’s has been providing school bus transportation since 1940, and is now in its 3rd generation of ownership. The Company was built on a solid belief in quality and customer service and continues to operate with those same foundational beliefs. We encourage you to visit their website to read their Vision and Mission Statement, along with the history of their Company. Nelson's takes great pride and incredible care to ensure that they continue to provide the safest, most efficient, and most reliable transportation to the students they serve. Please call Nelson's Bus Service, Inc. at (608) 221-8417 with all transportation related communication. Contact Information for Nelson Bus Service, Inc. Important note for families: To ensure the safety of our students, it's important that students get off at their designated drop-off locations only. Students may not ride to a friend's stop (even if they are on the same route). This ensures that everyone gets home safely. Thank you for your understanding.
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2025-2026 Transportation
2025-26 transportation sign up
All transportation requests are due by July 31, 2025.
- A new form is required for each student needing transportation. No student(s) will be automatically routed.
- Transportation Zones have changed slightly. Please make sure to reference our new, interactive map before signing up for transportation.
- Buy A Bus Seat fees have increased. These rates impact resident and non-resident students who live outside the established transportation zone for the school they will be attending. Buy a Bus Seat fees are not eligible to be waived.
- All transportation notifications will be sent to families via the Stopfinder app.
Stopfinder Information
Nelson’s Bus Service utilizes a parent/guardian app called Stopfinder that allows parents and guardians (and any other authorized users such as grandparents or childcare providers) to have easy-to-use and secure access to their student’s school bus information. Stopfinder is free for families. Beginning in the 2024-25 school year, all transportation communication on bus notifications and transportation updates will be sent through Stopfinder.
With this app, you can:
- View your student's daily transportation assignments - including transfer trips and stops
- Securely share your student's schedule with caregivers
- Receive custom notifications and updates related to transportation
How to get the app
Parents/guardians of students listed in Infinite Campus as “Emergency Priority 1” will receive an email from no-reply@stopfinder.com inviting them to set up the app and begin using it. (To find out if you are listed as Emergency Priority 1, please log in to Infinite Campus. In the left menu, click More, and then select Family Information.) Once this primary contact has created a profile, they are able to grant access to any additional authorized contacts they choose. If you don’t receive this email, or if the primary contact does not add you and you believe you should be an authorized user, contact mononagrove@nelsonsbusservice.com.
Access Student Transportation Schedules
Access to student schedules is granted only to the student’s designated contacts by Nelson's/MGSD. The Stopfinder contacts, at their own discretion, may share their student’s schedule with caregivers (sub-subscribers). Please contact mononagrove@nelsonsbusservice.com if you haven’t received an email invitation to register for Stopfinder or if you have any questions regarding your student’s transportation schedule.
Learn more about Stopfinder features:
School Transportation Zones
Transportation to public schools is regulated by Wisconsin state statutes, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and local school board policies. In accordance with state law and Monona Grove School Board policy 8600, Monona Grove offers transportation to students of any age, whose distance from their school makes this service necessary within the limitations established by State law and the regulations of the Department of Public Instruction or other appropriate agency. The “distance necessary” is determined by the age of the student and the conditions in which a student would otherwise encounter if they were to walk to school. These are called “unusually hazardous.” While it is generally understood that all traffic situations students may travel through include some degree of hazard, an area may be deemed unusually hazardous due to a high speed limit, lack of sidewalks or crossing guards, degrees of traffic, presence of railroad tracks, etc.
Monona Grove School District most recently updated its Transportation Zone in 2021, including updates to the “Unusually Hazardous” zones. A study was conducted by Traffic Analysis and Design Inc. (TADI). The report can be found here.
For residents who live outside the school transportation zone, fee-based transportation (Buy a Bus Seat) may be available. Fees can be found on the Student Fees and Assistance page. Non-Resident (Open Enrolled) may be able to participate in the Buy a Bus Seat Program if there is space available on an existing route to the student's school of attendance (the student must be picked up and dropped off at an in-district bus stop). Buy a Bus Seat fees are not eligible to be waived.
Please check the Transportation Zone Map below for the school of attendance to see valid transportation areas.
Transportation Zone Maps
When signing up for school transportation, your address will be verified by our staff to ensure accuracy. If you select that you live in the transportation zone but your verified address does not reflect that, you will receive a message from our staff about paying Buy a Bus Seat fees before being routed. Please refer to the interactive map below to check your address for busing eligibility.