Parents believe their school bus system can be improved, want a mobile app to track their children’s location and are interested in transitioning to electric school buses, according to Zum’s 2024 Student Transportation Report Card, a survey that examines parents' views. 

Other findings from the survey commissioned by the all-electric school bus fleet: 

• Environmental concerns – 80% of parents surveyed expressed concern about environmental issues that stem from the harmful fumes that diesel school buses emit into our communities. 64% said they believe it is important to convert diesel school buses to electric, an increase from 52% in 2023. 

• Need for tech-enabled solutions – Most parents surveyed are interested in using a mobile app for student transportation: 81% said they would use a mobile app to stay informed of their child's location on the school bus, and 83% said they'd use a mobile app to know their child's bus arrival time. 

• Reliability and transparency – More than half of respondents (53%) said their child has missed the school bus because they did not know when it was arriving. Out of those who don't use the school bus to transport their children, 40% said they would reconsider if they could track their child's arrival and departure. 

• Safety first – When asked to name their biggest concern about their child while riding the school bus, the majority of parents said safety, which was also the top concern in 2022 and 2023. The second-biggest concern was lack of tracking or visibility (i.e. not knowing if or when their child gets on or off the bus). 

• Better treatment for drivers – 70% of parents surveyed said they think teachers and school bus drivers should receive better compensation. 40% say they believe being a school bus driver is one of the most underappreciated jobs in the country. 

• Impact on families – Nearly half of parents surveyed say their ability to work or perform well at their job has been impacted by school transportation issues for their children, an increase from 2023. 43% say their child has been negatively impacted by unnecessarily long bus commutes or failures in the school bus system.

"This new survey shows that most parents are looking for increased safety and transparency on the school bus, as well as healthier, more sustainable rides for their children," said Ritu Narayan, Zum CEO and founder. 

Zum's 2024's Student Transportation Report Card is available here. Zum conducted the survey via the platform Pollfish from June 26- 27. In total, 1,500 parents with school-aged children were surveyed.