YCS announces changes to walk zones, transportation ahead of school year

Weeks ahead of the 2025-26 school year in Yelm Community Schools (YCS), the district has announced several new changes to walk zones and transportation.

Getting students to school safely is a priority for every school district, and for the 2025-26 school year, YCS has continued working to keep travel safe by revising routes and stops, along with recruiting and training additional drivers to reduce cancellations of bus routes.
One of the changes includes the expansion of routes for secondary students walking or biking to school.

Maps can be viewed online at ycs.wednet.edu/departments/transportation. Each of the routes are within one mile of the respective school and include sidewalks and lighting.
All students will be provided with a school bus card on the first day of school. They will be asked to swipe their student rider cards upon entering and exiting the bus as a safety practice to ensure families are aware of their child’s location when transporting.

If a student has changed addresses since the end of last school year, families are asked to contact their child’s school to notify them of the address change and to verify the new location.

The application uses GPS geolocation to show bus arrivals each day and provides access to real-time data to ensure your student is at the right place at the right time. Create a My Ride K-12 account to see transportation routes and location of the bus online at https://www.ycs.wednet.edu/departments/transportation/ride-360.

Register a student to ride the bus online at https://tinyurl.com/YelmBusRoutes. Families are asked to review their route information in RIDE K-12 starting Aug. 22. Route times are subject to change, and families are encouraged to give 15 minutes before or after the indicated time.