Zum to Provide School Transportation Service for California District

Student transportation company Zum has been awarded a contract to provide transportation service for San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

The partnership, valued at $150 million over the next five years, will encompass transportation for 3,500 students across 150 school campuses starting this fall, according to a news release from the company. The partnership reportedly builds on a resolution the San Francisco District Board of Education adopted last fall to improve the district’s transportation service.

Zum will provide a comprehensive platform to manage daily transportation operations, track and plan budget use, and analyze performance and service data. Zum will also help SFUSD operate an entirely electric fleet by 2025, and perform over 2,000 field trips, reallocating its assets and deploying the best-sized vehicle, including buses, cars, and vans, to help reduce costs, according to the company. It is estimated that the technology will save SFUSD over $3 million a year, on average. 

“A major challenge we experienced in the past was gaining visibility into the location of students and buses across the district,” said Orla O'Keefe, SFUSD’s chief of policy and operations. “We hope and expect that our families will benefit from Zum's student-centered technology. Families will be able to track their child's bus in real time and to easily communicate with the driver regarding their child or any unique circumstances that may arise.”

Ritu Narayan, founder and CEO of Zum, added that the company was "inspired by the intentional goals SFUSD set to drive sustainability in an effort to make a positive impact in their community," and that it will begin deploying electric vehicles during the upcoming school year."