A small company that answers the phone at 5:30.
AVRA was founded in 2017 by a former district transportation coordinator who kept seeing the same vendor problems from the other side of the desk: rotating drivers, unanswered phones, late routes. The company was built to fix those three things and nothing else.
How we have grown
One yard, one dispatch desk, and a fleet that grew as districts asked for more routes.
- First four vans, two districtsSpecial education routes in Quincy and Braintree. The founder drove one of them.
- First wheelchair vans, first collaborativeTwo lift-equipped vans and a contract with a regional collaborative for out-of-district runs.
- Dispatch office and GPS on every vanA staffed dispatch desk from 5:30 AM, live vehicle tracking, and arrival texts to parents.
- 30 vans and a McKinney-Vento managed serviceDaily-rate capacity for students whose housing changes mid-year, set up within two school days.
- 42 vans, 31 districts, 640 students a dayEleven wheelchair-lift vans, 58 drivers, 24 monitors, and a 98.4% on-time record last school year.
Who runs the day
Four people are responsible for every route. Districts and parents get their direct lines.
- Founder and general manager
Signs every district contract and still takes the 5:30 dispatch shift one morning a week.
On the road since 2017 - Operations manager
Builds and adjusts routes, and is the single point of contact for district transportation offices.
On the road since 2019 - Safety and training lead
Runs driver and monitor certification, lift and securement recerts, and every vehicle inspection.
On the road since 2020 - Dispatch supervisor
Opens the desk at 5:30 AM, watches every van live, and calls families and schools before they have to call us.
On the road since 2021
The yard
Everything runs out of one lot in Quincy, MA 02169, near I-93 and Route 3A.
| 7D passenger vans | 42Ford Transit and Chevrolet Express, 8 to 10 seats |
|---|---|
| Wheelchair-lift vans | 11Two wheelchair positions plus 5 seats each |
| Average vehicle age | 3.1 yearsRetired at 7 years or 150,000 miles |
| 7D-certified drivers | 58 |
| Ride monitors | 24 |
| Dispatchers | 4Desk staffed 5:30 AM to 6:30 PM on school days |
| Districts and collaboratives | 31About 640 students riding daily |
What we will not do
Five things that are written into every contract and every driver's first day of training.
- Subcontract a route to another company.
- Rotate drivers to fill gaps. A substitute is introduced to the student and family before they drive.
- Leave a student at a curb. Every student is walked to the door and handed to a staff member or guardian.
- Exceed the one-hour ride limit in 603 CMR 28.00 without the IEP team's written approval.
- Bill for a ride that did not happen.
Where we work
The South Shore, Greater Boston, and MetroWest, with out-of-district runs to programs anywhere in Massachusetts.
Routes running in Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth, Milton, Randolph, Hingham, Holbrook, Canton, Stoughton, Brockton, Abington, Rockland, Dedham, Norwood, Dorchester, Boston, Newton, Waltham, Framingham, Natick, Quincy, Hudson, Bolton, Stow, Lancaster, Leominster, Lowell, Worcester, Westborough, Shrewsbury, and Plymouth.
Talk to the people who run the routes
An operations manager replies to quote requests within one business day. Drivers and monitors can apply any time of year.