HopSkipDrive launches "Flexible Invoice Groups" to simplify complex school district billing. April 16, 2026 LOS ANGELES, Calif. - HopSkipDrive, the leader in safe, fast, and simple supplemental student transportation, today announced the introduction of Flexible Invoice Groups. This new self-service tool, available directly within the ride management software RideIQ, allowing transportation directors to automate and customize how they group rides - aligning them instantly with specific school budgets, grant funding, or departmental structures. In school transportation,"simple" billing is often a myth. Managing these operations is about more than just a ride; it's about navigating a complex web of budgets, grants, and departmental funding. For large districts, the reality of McKinney-Vento funds, General Ed budgets, and changing Foster Youth placements often means transportation directors end up buried in manual spreadsheets and custom workarounds. Flexible Invoice Groups is designed to simplify these complex needs by putting control back in the hands of districts and eliminating the need for manual workarounds. Every month, the system automatically generates: Custom Budget Alignment: Invoices are automatically pre-sorted into your district's specific "buckets" - such as McKinney-Vento or General Ed. Because riders are mapped to these groups on the backend, your billing arrives already aligned with your funding and departmental structures. | Total Transparency: Every invoice automatically generates a consistent Excel backup with trip-level details. Because STN Media Group maintain a direct relationship with every CareDriver, you get a verified audit trail showing exactly how each student's ride is billed. | Clear Reporting: Access clean, standardized PDFs that are pulled directly from its ride records. Its direct relationship with drivers on its platform means reports are generated directly from its data, not from a middleman's spreadsheet. These PDF reports provide the easy-to-understand documentation that procurement teams often need to share with other departments and district leadership. From a Manual Marathon to Total Accuracy Aligning invoices with internal cost centers used to be a manual marathon, especially for districts juggling multiple funding sources. STN Media Group has transformed that"spreadsheet scramble" into a centralized, automated system, slashing the time spent on reconciliation and freeing your team to focus on what matters most: getting students to school safely and reliably. Unlike unregulated brokers who can subcontract to unknown third-party fleets - leading to "middleman markups" and fragmented data - HopSkipDrive maintains a direct relationship with every CareDriver. This oversight provides the verified audit trail and transparent reporting necessary to protect your district's budget and liability, without the hidden costs. Precision at Scale The strength of Flexible Invoice Groups lies in providing the granular data needed to track every dollar. By enabling admins to create custom groupings and providing a standardized Excel backup for every billing cycle, this feature ensures that your financial reporting stays seamless and manageable, no matter how many rides you're coordinating. At HopSkipDrive, STN Media Group is committed to being a trusted partner in your district's financial health. While Flexible Invoice Groups automates the technical side of billing, it is just one part of its support ecosystem. From Shared Billing that automatically splits costs between districts, to RideIQ reports that provide the documentation needed for Medicaid reimbursements, STN Media Group is giving administrators back their most valuable resource: time. As districts continue to scale their operations, these tools ensure that your billing remains as agile and transparent as you need. About HopSkipDrive HopSkipDrive is the leader in safe, fast, and simple supplemental student transportation. Modernizing the $30 billion school transportation industry through its care-centered transportation marketplace which supplements school buses by connecting kids to highly-vetted caregivers on wheels, such as grandparents, babysitters, and nurses in local communities. HopSkipDrive also offers its industry-leading transportation intelligence platform, RouteWise AI, to address critical challenges, including budget cuts, bus driver shortages, and reaching climate goals. With this technology, HopSkipDrive has supported over 14,500 schools and over 2,000 school districts, government agencies, and nonprofit partners. Since its founding in 2014 by three working mothers, HopSkipDrive has surpassed more than 100 million safe miles driven. This record includes nearly 3 million foster and McKinney-Vento rides and 1.7 million Individualized Education Program (IEP) rides, alongside millions of additional trips for General Education, Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, and extracurricular activities.

HopSkipDrive elevates student safety standards with launch of Ride Recording: In-App. Additional features empower students to track their own rides in real-time for added peace of mind, while ensuring transparency for school districts LOS ANGELES-(BUSINESS WIRE)-HopSkipDrive, the leader in safe, fast, and simple supplemental student transportation, today announced the launch of Ride Recording: In-App. This major safety milestone enhances the company's existing ride recording capabilities, bringing school districts an even more affordable, flexible, and secure recording option than dashcams. This launch joins the new "Track My Ride" web interface designed to increase visibility and transparency. The introduction of Ride Recording: In App represents a significant development in HopSkipDrive's leadership on safety. Available network-wide across all HopSkipDrive markets, 100% of rides this Fall will feature Ride Recording: In-App. This enhances the company's existing dashcam recording solution by utilizing the native camera capabilities of the driver's smartphone. To ensure The AI Journal Ltd. meet the unique needs of every district partner, HopSkipDrive will continue to offer in-ride dashcams for districts that require them. By integrating directly into the device drivers already use for real-time navigation and ride management, Ride Recording: In App enables HopSkipDrive to consistently improve the software while preventing driver intervention or access. To ensure total security and privacy, drivers have zero access to the files, and all footage is automatically wiped from the device after the ride. This software-based innovation also allows the company to scale this feature across all districts effortlessly, meeting interior recording requirements for students of all needs without the high expense or time-consuming process of retrofitting an entire fleet with physical hardware. Captured via a direct system that ensures total security and student privacy while extending visibility and transparency to school districts and HopSkipDrive's Safe Ride Support(R) team, which helps provide human eyes on every ride. In addition to Ride Recording: In-App, HopSkipDrive is proud to announce Track My Ride, which gives riders access to a link to track their journey in real-time. While many riders use the HopSkipDrive app today to see their driver and ride details, the company recognizes that some students rely on wearables, smartwatches, or school- or government-issued devices that do not allow app installs. Track My Ride fosters digital equity by providing secure, masked SMS links that open in a standard web view. This removes the friction of app downloads and eliminates the need for manual staff coordination, creating a simpler, less stressful pickup experience for riders, caregivers, and school staff alike. By providing real-time visibility to every student regardless of their device, HopSkipDrive gives riders the peace of mind they need to feel confident on their way to school while ensuring caregivers no longer need to share access to their account credentials and the caregiver-specific permissions within that app. "At the end of the day, student transportation is built on trust," said Joanna McFarland, Co-founder and CEO of HopSkipDrive. "By introducing Ride Recording: In-App and Track My Ride, we are reinforcing that trust with even greater real-time visibility and a clear record of every journey. We want our partners to have the most reliable safety features available, along with the administrative tools that actually make their jobs easier." About HopSkipDrive HopSkipDrive is a leading technology company partnering with school districts to get kids to school more quickly, safely, and easily than anyone else. The company is modernizing the $30 billion school transportation industry through two core solutions: a care-centered transportation marketplace and an industry-leading transportation intelligence platform, RouteWise AI(TM). HopSkipDrive's marketplace supplements school buses and existing transportation options by connecting kids to highly-vetted caregivers on wheels, such as grandparents, babysitters, and nurses in local communities. RouteWise AI helps schools and districts address critical challenges, including budget cuts, bus driver shortages, and reaching climate goals. HopSkipDrive has supported over 13,500 schools across 21 states, with nearly 1,300 school districts, government agencies, and nonprofit partners. More than five million rides over 95 million miles have been completed through HopSkipDrive since the company was founded in 2014 by three working mothers.

HopSkipDrive, a student transportation company, has launched Ride Recording: In-App, a software-based safety feature that uses drivers' smartphone cameras to record all rides. The system will be available across all markets this autumn, with 100% of rides featuring the technology. The in-app recording solution enhances HopSkipDrive's existing dashcam capabilities whilst offering a more affordable and flexible alternative. Drivers cannot access recorded footage, which is automatically deleted from devices after rides. The company will continue offering physical dashcams for districts requiring them. HopSkipDrive also introduced Track My Ride, a web-based interface allowing students to track journeys in real-time via SMS links, eliminating app download requirements. Founded in 2014, the company has completed over five million rides across 21 states, serving nearly 1,300 school districts and partners.