Zum Releases Vision For Student Transportation Through 2025 And Beyond

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Zūm, the leader in modern student transportation, today published its vision for reimagining student transportation for 2025 and beyond. Student transportation, which is an essential component of public education in the United States, has remained unchanged for over 80 years despite the technology existing and fundamentally changing every other industry. Zum believes that it doesn't have to be this way any longer.

"At a time when transparency and agility rule the day in other industries, busing remains opaque. Parents have no visibility into where children are at any given moment or—often—who is driving them. Bullying and other safety incidents can take months to come to light. These and other problems translate into thousands of wasted hours and unnecessary stress for students and parents, millions of wasted dollars for already underfunded districts and many metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from a still primarily fossil-fueled school bus fleet. It doesn't have to be this way," begins the manifesto.

Zum believes there are six key pillars that will be critical in the coming years in order to achieve its vision through 2025 and beyond:

• Flexibility - Transforming the Most Inflexible Part of Our School System
• Equity - Better Access for All
• Efficiency - Redirecting Money From Buses to Classrooms
• Safety - Tech and Transparency Can Make Our Buses Safe Spaces
• Sustainability - Respecting the Environment
• Community - Creating Connections: Schools, Families and a Trusted Network of Drivers

"During this period of unprecedented transformation and disruption, we have an opportunity to rethink one of our country's most iconic institutions—the yellow school bus," writes Zum Co-Founder and CEO Ritu Narayan. "Let's act now to reinvent student transportation for the future that we want to live, learn and travel in. We owe it to our children. We owe it to ourselves."

To read the full Zum vision, visit: https://www.ridezum.com/our-vision.html and for more information on Zum, visit: www.ridezum.com.

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