Back to School 2025: Palm Springs, CA

It’s back-to-school time in Palm Springs!

Last week Zūm was thrilled to launch the 2025-26 school year with special kickoff events at our Palm Springs bus yard for drivers and staff. This marks the first year of Zum’s partnership with Palm Springs Unified School District (PSUSD), which serves more than 20,000 students in 28 schools. 

“We’ve had a busy summer here, where we’ve been hiring and training drivers and staff and making sure our hard-working teams and state-of-the-art facilities in Palm Springs are ready to go on the first day,” said Eric Huegerich, Senior General Manager at Zum. “Families and schools deserve the safest, most efficient student transportation, and we are eager to deliver on that promise.” 

In the months since PSUSD awarded a 5-year transportation contract to Zum, Huegerich and Zum’s team have focused on solving a longstanding driver shortage in the district. Today, the district is fully staffed with over 80 drivers and 30 attendants in addition to mechanics, operations staff and the rest of the Zum team. 

“Drivers are the first contact the students come across in the morning, so we want to make sure their ride to the school is smooth and they can get to school fresh and ready to learn,” PSUSD Transportation Director Abdelhak Bouzroud told news station KESQ.

In addition to highly trained drivers and state-of-the-art school buses, Zum integrates data-driven routing, driver tracking and enhanced safety measures, offering families real-time updates through a mobile app.

“They can be notified when their kids get on and off the bus, and one of the features that I really like is the ability to rate and comment on (their kids’) previous trips,” Bouzroud said.

Within the first few days of school, Zum’s Parent App has achieved a 4.92 rating (out of 5), with parents sharing positive feedback about Zum’s drivers, technology and service. “Perfect start to the school year,” wrote one parent. Another expressed gratitude for their child’s driver: “Anahi, thank you for being so kind and patient with my son. We appreciate you!” Another parent review highlighted Zum’s “courteous, informative and professional” service.

We are delighted to serve this welcoming school community and look forward to a great year! Here are some photos of Zum’s team in Palm Springs: