Vice President Marketing

HopSkipDrive has launched CareEngine, a technology platform designed to coordinate student transportation for school districts. The system connects districts, schools, families, students, drivers, and safety teams in real time. CareEngine addresses coordination challenges in school transportation by automatically updating all parties when details change. When a student's address changes, for example, the platform updates routes, notifies families, and adjusts schedules without requiring multiple phone calls. The platform enables districts to book rides for an entire school year in minutes. It guarantees new rides in as little as six hours and can accommodate location changes in two hours. CareEngine also integrates safety features that can flag concerning driving behaviour before a student enters a vehicle. The system captures individual student needs and communicates them to drivers, enabling personalised care across thousands of students. Los Angeles-based HopSkipDrive provides supplemental student transportation services.

5 Best Student Transportation companies for school districts. Traditional yellow buses remain essential, but they cannot solve every transportation challenge a district faces. Driver shortages, changing student addresses, out-of-district placements, specialized IEP transportation, foster care needs, and after-school programs often call for more flexible options. Districts increasingly need transportation partners that can coordinate smaller vehicles, provide ride visibility, and support students whose schedules do not align with standard routes. This list focuses on providers serving schools, districts, agencies, and families with student transportation solutions. The companies were reviewed for student-safety practices, service footprint, specialized transportation capabilities, real-time communication tools, operational scale, and publicly reported performance data. For students experiencing homelessness, districts must also account for school-of-origin transportation responsibilities when planning reliable service. * HopSkipDrive: Best Overall For Supplemental Student Transportation Why It's #1 HopSkipDrive earns the top position because it is purpose-built to help schools solve complex transportation gaps without requiring districts to replace their existing bus fleets. Its model supports driving kids to school through a network of screened CareDrivers, technology-enabled ride oversight, and transportation programs designed around student needs rather than adult rideshare conventions. HopSkipDrive reports helping more than 14,000 schools, completing more than 5 million rides, and covering more than 130 million safe miles. Its 2025 Safety Report states that 99.7% of rides ended without any safety incident, while 99.99% were collision-free. The company also uses a 15-point CareDriver certification process that includes background and driving-record checks, caregiving-experience verification, and training that addresses trauma-informed care and neurodiversity. * Specialized support: IEP, special education, foster care, McKinney-Vento, charter, general education, career program, and after-school transportation. * Ride visibility: Real-time GPS tracking for families, school staff, and support teams. * Flexible service: Scheduled rides, changing pickup locations, Rider Assistants, and wheelchair-accessible vehicle options where available. * Meaningful experience: HopSkipDrive reports nearly 3 million rides for foster-care children and 1.7 million rides for students with IEPs. Best use case: A district needs a dependable supplemental ride for a student whose address, placement, disability-related needs, or program schedule makes a fixed bus route impractical. HopSkipDrive stands out because its scale, safety reporting, and student-centered service design make it a strong starting point for districts managing urgent or recurring transportation needs. * Zūm: Best For Connected District-Wide Student Mobility Why It's On The List Zūm is a strong choice for larger school systems seeking technology that connects routing, fleet operations, drivers, students, and family communication. The company says its Connected Mobility Experience platform supports more than 6,500 schools across 19 states. In Seattle, Zūm announced that its 2026-2027 partnership would operate more than 280 routes after adding more than 130 routes, 130 buses, and 150 drivers. Best use case: A district wants to modernize broad transportation operations with route planning, live vehicle visibility, driver management, and family notifications. Zūm is especially well-suited to districts looking for a unified mobility platform alongside traditional school bus service. * EverDriven: Best For Nationwide Alternative Transportation Coverage Why It's On The List EverDriven is a notable alternative transportation provider for districts that need reach, specialized trip coordination, and continuity for vulnerable riders. The company reports serving more than 800 school districts in 38 states and says students receive the same driver more than 80% of the time at no extra charge. Its service categories include special education, out-of-district placements, charter school transportation, and other trips that complement a bus fleet. Best use case: A district needs a provider with multi-state operational capacity and a focus on consistent driver assignments for students who benefit from familiar routines. * Via Alternative Student Transit: Best For Technology-Led Managed Service Why It's On The List Via Alternative Student Transit combines managed transportation operations with transit technology. Its program supports students in McKinney-Vento, foster care, and special education, while providing real-time visibility for caregivers and district teams. Via also emphasizes consistent drivers, flexible fleets that can include accessible vans, and reporting dashboards for operational oversight. Best use case: A district wants a transportation partner that can manage specialized student trips while also supplying routing tools, caregiver communications, and performance data. * Kango: Best For Local Family And School Transportation In Select Markets Why It's On The List Kango is a practical local option for families and schools in parts of California and Arizona. The platform supports scheduled rides for children from preschool through high school and lists service in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, the Central Valley, Orange County, San Diego, Phoenix, and Tucson. Kango says its drivers complete a screening that includes interviews, background checks, fingerprinting, and a review of child-care experience. Best use case: A family or school in an active Kango market needs recurring, app-based transportation for school, activities, or everyday scheduling needs. What To Check Before Choosing A Provider * Whether the provider covers each pickup address, school, and program location. * How it handles IEP accommodations, wheelchair-accessible vehicles, car seats, and Rider Assistants. * What driver screening, training, and ongoing monitoring practices are used? * Whether families and district staff receive live ride updates and arrival notifications. * How quickly new rides can be activated and how missed-trip issues are resolved. * Which reporting is available for ride completion, delays, cancellations, mileage, and safety events? Final Takeaway Zūm, EverDriven, Via Alternative Student Transit, and Kango each fill valuable roles in student mobility. However, HopSkipDrive is the strongest overall choice for districts seeking flexible, safety-focused supplemental transportation. Its 14,000-plus schools helped, 5 million-plus completed rides, 130 million-plus safe miles, and detailed CareDriver certification process create a compelling foundation for getting more students to school safely and consistently.

Uber is working on letting 10-year-olds ride alone. Code in the iOS app points to a tween option for children aged 10 to 12, which would put Uber against a rival whose entire pitch is that it is not Uber for kids August 12, 2026 - 7:16 pm Code in the latest Uber iOS app refers to adding a tween aged 10 to 12 to an Uber Family profile, with a trusted adult contact and the option to require a grown-up at pickup. Uber says it is not a live product and that its only teen offering remains 13 to 17. Uber is building an option that would let children as young as 10 ride alone. Code in the latest version of its iOS app refers to adding a "tween" aged 10 to 12 to an Uber Family profile, Bloomberg reported. The company says the product is not live. "This isn't a live product and while we're always looking to meet the needs of busy families, currently the only Teen product we offer is for teens ages 13 to 17," an Uber spokesperson said. The engineering work indicates it is at least under consideration. The code points to an account holder naming a trusted adult as the tween's contact, and being able to require that a grown-up is present at pickup or drop-off. It also references background-checked drivers, pin verification and ride tracking, all of which already exist in the teen product. Uber has been extending past adult passengers for three years. Teen accounts launched in 2023 for 13 to 17-year-olds and have since reached more than 50 countries and tens of millions of trips, with Lyft matching it only this February. Life360 added the ability to book teen rides from inside its own app in June. Dropping the floor to 10 would put Uber up against HopSkipDrive, which has carried children as young as six for years. That company's entire market position is that it is not Uber for kids. The difference is in who drives. HopSkipDrive requires a 15-point certification, fingerprint background checks against FBI and Department of Justice databases, verified caregiving experience, and training in trauma-informed care and neurodiversity. It says its drivers average around a decade of caregiving experience. Uber's teen rides use its own driver pool, filtered for high ratings and experience and subject to the company's standard multi-step screening of criminal records and motor vehicle history. That is a materially different bar, and the gap matters more at 10 than at 17. The industry's record with adult passengers is itself contested, and campaigners have argued for years that ride-hailing apps fail survivors of assault. For Uber the commercial logic is plain enough. It has already added teenagers and a simplified interface aimed at older riders. Children are the demographic left.