Zum’s Team Shares Insights, Leads Discussions at 2024 STN Expo
Zūm leaders were busy last week at STN Expo, the annual conference and trade show that welcomes leaders across the student transportation industry to explore ideas, connect with other professionals and share the latest advancements in safe, sustainable transportation.
Held July 12-17 in Reno, Nevada, the Zum team was on hand throughout the event.
Highlights included:
“Charged Conversations: Accelerating the Shift to Electric Vehicles,” a group session facilitated by Zum, gathered transportation leaders to discuss the critical transition to electric school buses.
Topics included funding opportunities, building partnerships, guidance for working with utility companies and more. The timely conversation comes as Zum and Oakland Unified School District make history as Oakland becomes the first major school district in the nation to have an all-electric fleet of school buses in the 2024-25 school year.
In a second group session led by Zum, “Navigating Challenges in School Transportation: Best Practices and Innovations” explored ways to improve and enhance recruitment/retention and operations, among other challenges within the industry.
Zum was also front-and-center at Sunday’s Green Bus Summit, where Pallav Prakash, Zum’s Director of Electrification Program Management, was named the 2024 Innovator of the Year for his pioneering work to electrify Zum’s school bus fleets and deploy revolutionary vehicle-to-grid technology.
At a special breakout session titled “Oakland USD’s EV & V2G Electrification at Scale,”
Prakash and Zum COO and Co-Founder Vivek Garg joined Oakland Unified School District’s Executive Director of Transportation, Kim Raney, to share the process of transitioning Oakland’s 74-bus fleet to 100% electric buses with vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology.
And for a discussion focused on “Trends in Safety Technology,” Garg joined other leaders to highlight the latest advancements in safety technology within school transportation operations.
Finally, Zum announced its new webinar series at the event. Launching this fall, the series will feature experts who will share insights and challenges as we shape the future of student transportation. Upcoming sessions will examine topics including sustainability, safety, operational efficiency and student ridership and equity.
Thanks to everyone who attended STN Expo and supports Zum’s mission to deliver safe, reliable and sustainable student transportation!