Zūm is a company reimagining student transportation, the nation’s largest mass transit system. The company’s integrated end-to-end cloud-based platform provides a modern service for school districts purpose-built around kids’ needs and their families’ expectations. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Zum founder and CEO Ritu Narayan to learn more about the company.
Ritu Narayan’s Background
Narayan has 20+ years of experience as a tech industry leader. And Narayan said:
“Before starting Zum, I led teams at eBay, Oracle, Yahoo, and IBM. I grew up in Delhi, India and I was the first female computer engineer in my extended family. I moved to the US to work in the technology industry in Silicon Valley and then attended graduate school at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in the US.”
Formation Of Zum
How did the idea for Zum come together? Narayan shared:
“As a working parent, I struggled to get my kids safely and efficiently to and from school and their after-school activities. I had seen my mother face the same issue 3 decades ago when I was a child in India. Thus, I originally created Zum as an ‘Uber for kids’ to solve this problem for parents. But it was during promoting this service to schools that I realized that the problem was much larger.”
“Student transportation in the US is the largest mass transit system, yet no one has tried to change it over 80 years. School districts were largely outsourcing their transportation services, an industry ripe for change. This led to a pivot in 2019 to partner with school districts to provide safe, reliable, and sustainable transportation.”
“Today, Zum works with more than 4,000 schools nationwide, with contracts across significant school districts nationwide, including in states such as California, Washington, Illinois, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, and many more coming in.”
Favorite Memory
What has been Narayan’s favorite memory working for the company so far? Narayan reflected:
“The early days when I would actually drive kids to and from school so that I could better understand the product and could improve parent and student experiences. Having your customer experience at the core of your product is critical to scaling and building something that people need. I still, to this day, take the time to ride on one of our Zum school buses so I can hear directly from the people using our product each day.”
“At every point in their journey, it was consumers who told me what they wanted and where the company needed to go. Mothers who said, “We need better ways to get our kids to and from school.” School administrators who said, ‘Our transportation system is broken.’ Today, it’s the global economy saying, ‘We can no longer operate on fossil fuels that pollute our air and ruin our planet.’”
“To have this experience has been a gift.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Narayan explained:
“Zum is modernizing student transportation through digitization and electrification.”
“Student transportation is the largest mass transit system in the US, with 27 million students commuting twice daily. But this system has not changed in 80 years. It is outdated, inefficient, low technology, and polluting.”
“Zum is the first to disrupt this massive $50 billion industry, which to date has been made up of old entrenched players.”
“Zum has the only AI-driven platform that provides connectivity and transparency to all stakeholders (e.g., parents, students, drivers, and schools), providing safe, reliable, and sustainable student transportation.”
“Through Zūm’s Parent App, parents know when and where their child was picked up and dropped off, the location of their child’s bus in real-time, and who is driving the bus. New features include an enhanced user interface for tracking rides, cancellations, and no-show students; and infrastructure updates improving performance and reliability.”
“The Zum platform enables immediate and transformational efficiencies for schools and school districts: 20% fewer assets used, 25% fewer commute hours, and 30% higher asset utilization.”
“Zum’s fleet operates carbon neutral today with the goal of transitioning the entire fleet to electric in the coming years, ultimately providing energy back to the grid through Zum’s AI-driven technology.”
Evolution Of Zum’s Technology
How has Zum’s technology evolved since launching? Narayan noted:
“Zum’s technology is fundamentally transforming student transportation:
- Efficiency: The Zum platform enables immediate and transformational efficiencies for schools and school districts: 20% fewer assets used, 25% fewer commute hours, and 30% higher asset utilization.
- Sustainability: Optimizing routes substantially cuts down mileage and reduces emissions; Zum’s proprietary Vehicle-to-Grid technology revolutionizes how EV energy gets stored and distributed. Turns parking lots into virtual power plants.
- Safety: Our industry-leading Parent App provides parents with peace of mind through real-time tracking of their child’s location
- Reliability: Zum’s on-time performance nationwide has consistently exceeded 97% over the past three years. This year alone, Zum’s national on-time performance is 98%.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Narayan cited:
“Zum works with more than 4,000 schools across the nation, partnering with major school districts like the nation’s second-largest school district, Los Angeles Unified School District.”
“In the last 12 months, the company has gained significant momentum, we have contracts across significant school districts nationwide, including in states such as California, Washington, Illinois, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, and many more are coming in.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Narayan about customer success stories, she highlighted:
“School districts and families across the U.S. are already starting to see the benefits of working with Zum: San Francisco Unified School District is on track to save $15 million over the next five years. In Oakland, the number of students spending more than one hour on a bus has dropped from 70 percent to less than 10 percent.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Narayan assessed:
“Student transportation is the largest mass transit system in the US, with 27 million kids taking the yellow school bus to and from school and over 500,000 buses on the road. We are disrupting a $50 billion industry, with transportation being the second largest line item for schools and school districts.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Narayan affirmed:
“We are leading the modernization of student transportation, with digitization and electrification at the core. Zum is committed to changing this to ensure that every student has access to safe, reliable, and sustainable transportation. This is important work that will not only improve the lives of parents, students, and school administrators but will also yield profoundly positive impacts on society.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Narayan emphasized:
“We will accelerate our growth across the nation, accelerate the transition of our multi-sized fleet to electric, and ramp up the deployment of our cutting-edge AI-driven technology to fully decarbonize the school bus industry and bolster the fight against climate change. We will not stop until every student has access to safe, reliable, and sustainable transportation.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics to discuss? Narayan concluded:
“Zum is leading the nation in building a fully sustainable school bus fleet starting here in the Bay Area. As Zum begins to transition its fleet of thousands of EV buses across the country, the ability to deploy mobile battery storage to power the city grid is closer to becoming a reality.”
“Currently, buses operate in the morning and early afternoon but are idle at peak power times (from 5-9 p.m.), making them the perfect tool for V2G charging and an integral part of a more affordable and resilient city power grid.”
