Back to School 2024: Santa Barbara, Calif.

This week, Zūm kicked off the 2024-2025 school year in Santa Barbara, California. The launch event, held at Zum’s bus yard, brought together all of Zum’s employees and drivers, celebrating all the work, training, and certification they’ve done over the summer, and ensures that everyone is on the same page and ready to go on the first day of school.

This kickoff event is particularly special, because this is the first year of Zum’s partnership with Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD)—in February, the school district awarded Zum a five-year student transportation contract.

“Santa Barbara Unified School District prioritizes the safety of its students. Zum is honored to support that mission with our partnership,” said Liz Sanchez, Executive Vice President of Student Transportation at Zum. “All Zum drivers use top-of-the-line equipment and technology, including an easy-to-use platform with advanced routing software, AI technology that optimizes routes, and tablets for navigation, student attendance and keeping tabs on items left behind on the bus. Together, with SBUSD, we’re driving student transportation forward.”

“We’ve also worked tirelessly to hire and train a first-rate team and to set up new facilities,” said Lawrence Wishard, Santa Barbara General Manager at Zum. “Our drivers have deep appreciation for the role they play in students’ lives. We’re looking forward to providing next-level student transportation for this community.”

Zum’s state-of-the-art buses deliver advanced safety features and family-focused service. Through the Zum app, parents will be able to view a complete profile of their child’s bus driver, along with real-time tracking and notifications about their child’s location, and whether they’ve been picked up or dropped off at school. Zum’s platform also gives school administrators real-time views on bus performance, enabling a more transparent, data-driven, superior student transportation experience.

Zum manages and operates student transportation in 14 states and is expanding rapidly nationwide.