On-time, friendly, safe driver.

1. The driver was not informed of the pickup location. I had called the day before to confirm First Student had the pickup location. That information was not with the bus driver. The bus driver showed me the info sheet she was given and it listed the location of our Church. There was no field on the sheet giving pickup location that I had specified.
The bus driver went to the address of the church, not the pickup location at the Lemont Metra Lot. Members of our church group saw the bus circling two blocks away and drove to the bus to direct the bus driver where to go for the pickup.
2. Before I saw the bus circling looking for us, I called the Day of Event number, 815-726-0033, at 11:35 am and pressed 1 to get Dispatch. My call went to voicemail, I left a message, and never got a callback. I called the Day of Event number again and pressed 3 to get Manager. My call went to voicemail, I left a message, and never got a callback.
3. The bus driver was not given my cellphone number, and I was not given the bus driver's cellphone number to assist the driver with finding the riders.
4. The After Hours phone numbers are dispatch center specific, Westmont vs. Crest Hill. On August 24, I called 630-605-7197 which I was told is the After Hours number. I spoke with Justin who told me his screen only gives Westmont, and he is not able to see Cresthill dispatch information, and he did not have an After Hours number for Cresthill. Justin tried to confirm the pickup location but was unable to. Justin had manager Dave call me. Dave called and took the pick up information, but unfortunately, that did not get to the bus driver.

Every August for the past several years we use First Student Bus for our annual White Sox Outing and have not had a problem. Those trips were dispatched out of Westmont. Our August 25, 2024 trip was handled out of Cresthill. There is an issue with the pickup location coordination that First Student should address with process improvement and IT systems improvement.

Two positives to mention: All the people I dealt with were very helpful and tried to address the pickup location: the bus driver Adrianna, manager Dave, After Hours person Justin. Also the bus was air conditioned, not typical for a school bus.

They were there on time and they got everyone to the destinations safely

The day of experience was amazing! The team was on time and great to work with!

There were IT issues, and he scheduling leading up to the day was a bit difficult. Our ticket got lost between scheduling and the dispatch team. A virtual scheduling that allows you to see where your request is would be very helpful. Even if you keep the in person scheduling and receive an email that allows you to track your requests would be great.

Melissa was wonderful. Very professional and timely.

Driver started on time and ran an efficient shuttle.

Destiny was amazing! Such a great host, we loved her! She made the Pub Crawl and additional party feature with the bus rides to each bar.

You put on the sheets on how to cancel bus but no one answers, mail box full or closed.

I wish I could give a 0 star review. I made this reservation on August 22, 2022. I received a call from my coach saying the bus did not show up. We called the numbers provided. The one simply said 1st Student, we are closed. The other was for a Tam Gordon (I think that was the last name). No answer. Called again. No answer. Sent a text. No response. I called first thing Monday and pushed one for someone to call me back. No one did. I called again in the afternoon and found the drivers father passed away. I am very sorry for that. However, I spoke to a supervisor, Andrea I think her name was. All she kept saying is that the drivers father passed away. She really did not care that the bigger issue is that you are a business and gave emergency phone numbers that did not work. My coaches had to scramble to call parents to carpool them to the game. They got there late an almost had to forfeit.

Had a great time , driver lenord was awesome

The driver & people at the direct location were great. Easy to get a hold of and answered all of my questions.

We had an excellent time. Jesse, our driver, was top notch. He was very prompt and friendly. This was our second time using First Charter and the experiences have been great. We got and from our destination safely and on-time. We will be using the service again and requesting Jesse as our driver. Thank you!

Great! On time and peompt

We had the best experience, thank you!

Everything was great, bus was on time, we got to our destination in plenty of time. The driver, Wendy, was helpful and very pleasant.

Amazing experience! From booking to the end of the trip it was a breeze

We were finally able to take our youth on this field trip for an once in a life time visit to see the Fransican hospital construction site. It was so worth the wait.

P.S. our driver was awesome!

Maria was amazing ! She made our day extra special ! She met all our requests , she wanted to make sure we made special memories ! And we sure did ! Thank again Maria ! Hope to you your service again soon .