Transportation
Bus Service
Belmont Day School offers two bus lines—one for Boston-Newton and one for Cambridge-Somerville—for student transportation to and from school, five days a week. Families have options about the frequency of use.
Cost
| Frequency | Cost |
| 5 days round-trip | $5,460 |
| 4 days round-trip | $4,368 |
| 5 days one-way, morning or afternoon travel | $3,900 |
| 4 days one-way, morning or afternoon travel | $3,120 |
Lower school students must be enrolled in the After School Program on any day they use afternoon transportation. Middle school students must be enrolled in the After School Program if they use transportation on Fridays.
A registration deposit of $200 is required. The deposit is waived for families receiving tuition financial assistance.
Invoices for bus transportation are issued in early September. Financial assistance is applied to invoices for families who receive tuition financial assistance.
Parents receive an email confirming their student’s bus stop prior to the first day of school.
For questions about bus service, please contact Zach d’Arbeloff at zdarbeloff@belmontday.org.
Belmont Residents
The Town of Belmont offers bus transportation to Belmont Day students for a fee. For more information and to register, visit the Belmont Public Schools website.
Carpools and Ridesharing
We encourage parents to set up carpools to ease traffic conditions on and around campus and save time and resources. The school directories are available on the Veracross Parent Portal and provide an easy way to find households within < 1 mile to arrange a carpool.
Please note that Uber and Lyft require all riders and users to be 18 or older. Belmont Day School will not dismiss students to rideshare drivers.
Walking
Students in grades seven and eight, and their siblings, may leave campus on foot at the end of the school day if their parents have provided written permission.
School Bus Service FAQs
The school partners with a local transportation company, Doherty’s Garage, based in Lincoln and Arlington. Doherty’s provides both buses and vans for school transportation.
All Doherty’s drivers possess a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) with Special School Bus Certification. The School Bus Certification consists of passing a written exam specific to the operation of a school bus, 20 hours of behind-the-wheel training with a certified trainer, and passing a school bus driving test administered by the State Department of Motor Vehicles. Doherty’s completes background checks on all drivers.
Doherty’s provides high-quality drivers and strives to maintain the same driver assignment for the entire school year. Occasionally, a driver’s assignment will be switched, or a substitute driver will be provided to cover a vacation or illness. If that happens, families are informed about the change and who the new driver will be.
Buses will arrive at BDS by 7:45 a.m. each day.
Afternoon transportation departs campus between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m. following middle school athletics, Monday through Thursday, and at 3:30 p.m. on Fridays. Please note that lower school students who use afternoon school transportation must be registered for the After School Program and/or enrichment classes.
If departure from campus is more than 5 minutes late for any reason, families are notified via the WhatsApp bus group chat. The bus will not depart until all confirmed riders for the day are on the bus, or the school has communicated with the parent of a rider whose plans have changed at the last minute.
To assist families with stop logistics, Doherty’s provides a geo-tracking link shared in the bus WhatsApp group chat to track the bus/van’s location in real time.
If a student misses their morning transportation, it is the parent/caregiver’s responsibility to transport them to campus and notify the school.
If a student is unable to make the scheduled departure time from campus—for example, an athletics team might return late from an away game—we will contact the student’s parent/caregiver to determine alternative arrangements. Usually, this means the parent or another approved adult will need to pick up their child from campus.
If an authorized adult is not at the bus stop to receive them, the bus will wait for 2-3 minutes. It is extremely helpful to hear in advance about being late to a stop, and coordinating assistance from another parent can be done using the WhatsApp bus group chat. As a backstop, the driver will contact the school’s director of transportation if no adult is available to receive a child.
Parents should email attendance@belmontday.org before 9:30 a.m. if a student has an alternate transportation plan for the day. A WhatsApp message is a helpful addition, but email is most important.
Are there seat belts on the buses and vans?
Yes, riders are required to buckle up for safety.
For children who require a booster seat, the Cambridge-Somerville route uses a bus and cannot accommodate booster seats. The Boston-Newton route uses a van and can accommodate family-provided booster seats.
Behavior Expectations
- Riders are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with Belmont Day School’s community expectations in the Family Partnership Guide
- Students or parents should report any concern or issue to the director of transportation and/or the appropriate division head.
Bus Monitors
While the school does not provide faculty or third-party bus monitors, an eighth grade Bus Leader on the Cambridge-Somerville route helps monitor appropriate behavior, seating guidelines, and seatbelt wearing.
Is there assigned seating on the bus?
Seating is designated by grade, with the youngest students seated closest to the driver.