Zum Raises the Bar on Student Transportation Safety

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Zūm, the leader in modern student transportation, is raising the bar on safety for student transportation by adding new features to its platform. With a modern, fully integrated platform to connect students, parents, drivers, and districts, Zum's technology is built to keep students safe from the moment they leave the house and get on the bus until they are back home again. The company is introducing more safety features that further enhance its industry leading 360-degree approach to student safety and well-being.

"When it comes to our children, there is nothing more important than their safety, and the chief benefit of modernizing student transportation is greatly enhancing students' safety and well-being," said Ritu Narayan, CEO and founder of Zum. "We have built transparency into the fabric of our platform and experience, in order to offer the safest transportation option for students and their families. In adding these new capabilities, we continue to raise the bar for the industry, and take a proactive, predictive, and preventative approach to student transportation safety. " 

Before, during, and after the ride
The Zum platform is centered around a 360-degree approach to safety, which ensures student safety and well-being is the top priority before, during, and after each and every ride. Through the Zum app, parents are able to view the complete profile of their child's driver, along with real-time information about vehicle location and their child's pickup or dropoff status based on RFID technology that each student scans when getting on and off the bus. District administrators and operators are able to track rides in a map view from start to finish and routes are adjusted in real time to account for absent students or traffic issues. At the same time, drivers are able to preview all students on assigned routes, along with important, supplemental information for each student where necessary.

Additionally, all drivers are trained on and required to adhere to specific safety protocols while picking up or dropping off students and while driving. In addition to cameras on board to monitor for bullying and behavior issues, the Zum platform also supports timely reporting and escalation of issues encountered during rides. This ensures secure, centralized reporting to keep everyone appropriately informed. 

Introducing new safety features
Zum is committed to continuously innovating and building on its industry-leading student safety and well-being standards. The company is introducing several new features, including:

• Digitized daily safety checks: Zum has digitized visibility of routes, including live route adjustments to account for any cancellations or changes, live route navigation specific to school buses, as well as student check-ins and check outs to allow for safest ride experience to each child and enable the drivers to focus on the experience and driving. Beginning January 1, 2022, Zum is adding to this capability by digitizing the start and end of day safety checks. Historically drivers have had to complete a manual safety check at the beginning of each route, which can easily result in reporting errors and missed items. The Zum driver app will digitize the daily check, making it easier, faster, and safer to confirm each bus is in good condition before picking up a single child.
• Student information system integrations: Beginning next year, Zum will be the only student transportation platform that will seamlessly integrate with district student information systems. Zum technology supports student profile details, including picture, special instructions, and customized route details to allow for the safest experience for students and peace of mind for parents and districts. With this information, drivers will be better equipped to verify pick ups and drop offs, as well as provide the right support for students with special needs. Integration will also increase the Zum profile picture completion rate from 70% to more than 90%, which ensures that the driver can confirm the correct student has boarded and offboarded the bus, and provides an additional layer of security on top of the RFID card scans by the students.
• Last stop, last check: Starting in 2022, Zum will install digital tags throughout every vehicle that must be scanned as part of each driver's process at the end of the day, to ensure that no students are left on the vehicle after its route concludes. Traditionally, end of the day check has been a massive pain point with responsibility left to driver and manual reporting. A digitized confirmed check in the daily workflow for drivers ensures there are no errors in the process.

Transforming school transportation
Zum is already helping more than 4,000 U.S. schools navigate this transportation transformation with a fundamentally new way to transport students safely, reliably, and sustainably with increased visibility and personalized care.

"By modernizing student transportation, we can tackle some of the most significant societal, educational and environmental challenges of the next decade—furthering our broader societal goals of equity, accessibility, and sustainability," added Narayan. "We can do all of this while increasing safety for our children and building community among schools, families, and a trusted network of drivers."

For more information on Zum's safety features, visit www.ridezum.com/child-transportation.html.

About Zum
Zum has reimagined student transportation, the nation's largest mass transit system. Our integrated end-to-end cloud-based platform provides a modern service for school districts purpose-built around the needs of kids and the expectations of their families. Zum provides one seamless, real-time interface for parents, drivers, schools, districts, administrators, and operators, to transport children safely and with increased visibility and personalized care. Our multi-sized vehicle approach includes an electric vehicle-first commitment, reduces student commute times by up to 20%, and coupled with our marketplace, delivers added fleet efficiency and optimization. We have been driving the industry forward since 2015, and with more than 8 million miles completed to date, we are leading a new era of safe, reliable, efficient, and sustainable transportation. Learn more at www.ridezum.com.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Zūm