How Zum Works

"Zūm CMX just brought the whole overall operation and experience to a whole new level."

Kim Raney

Executive Director of Transportation
Oakland Unified School District

The Most Important Commute

About the Book

Twenty-six million kids ride the school bus every day — the largest, most overlooked mass transit system in America. When it works, nobody notices. When it doesn't, the anxiety doesn't stop at the curb — it follows kids into the classroom, parents into their workday, and drivers into their next shift.

The Most Important Commute is the story of what Zūm's founders learned after talking to hundreds of parents, drivers, dispatchers, and superintendents about what's actually broken — and what a transportation system built around people, not just buses, can look like. Drawing on real district transformations in Kansas City, Oakland, Fresno, and San Francisco, the book makes the case that student mobility isn't a logistics problem. It's an education problem, and it's solvable.

What School Leaders are Saying

Praise for How Zum CMX Transforms the Most Important Commute

"Zūm's proven track record, along with its enhanced communication and equity-focused decision making, has greatly benefited our students, families, and drivers in Kansas City. We appreciate their commitment to safety, efficiency, transparency, and student-centered approach, and have been excited to partner with them."

Dr. Jennifer Collier

Superintendent
Kansas City Public Schools

"With Zūm CMX, we save about $3.5 million on a yearly basis, just by reducing the number of routes. We reduced routes by 10% immediately. All of our key metrics and KPIs improved right away."

Tomas Beccar-Varela

Transportation Director
San Francisco Unified School District

"Zūm just brought the overall student mobility operation and the experience to a whole new level. Zūm really focuses on the entire experience — not just for the students, but for the school districts as a whole. It was a no-brainer to choose Zūm."

Kim Raney

Executive Director of Transportation, Procurement, & Warehouse–Business Operations
Oakland Unified School District

"Zūm CMX gives us so much visibility and insight into what's happening in our school transportation. The software and the technology are great, but the real value is the peace of mind and communication that they provide."

Paul Rosencrans

Transportation Director
Fresno Unified School District

There is a better way. Get your copy today and join the movement to fix the most important commute in America.

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The Voices Behind "The Most Important Commute"

Meet the Authors

Co-founder & CEO

Ritu Narayan

Co-founder & CEO An engineer by training and product leader by craft, Ritu spent two decades at eBay, Yahoo, Oracle, and IBM before founding Zūm — driven by watching her own mother leave her career a generation earlier because of the same morning transportation strain Ritu later faced herself. She holds a B.E. from Delhi Institute of Technology and an M.S. from Stanford GSB.

Co-founder & COO

Vivek Garg

A former Major in the Indian Army with 11 years of service, Vivek led operations at Safexpress, one of India's largest logistics companies, before co-founding Zūm. He holds a B.Sc. from the National Defence Academy of India and an M.S. from Stanford GSB.

Co-founder & CTO

Abhishek Garg

Before Zūm, Abhishek worked as a computational biologist at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research and a postdoctoral fellow in Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. He holds a B.E. in Computer Science and a Ph.D. from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

For District Leaders

Bring The Most Important Commute to Your District

Are you a superintendent, transportation director, or district leader?
Order the book for your team and learn what a Connected Mobility Experience could look like for your district.

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