Silicon Valley startup Zūm is launching in Chicago to give parents and school districts another option to the traditional yellow school bus.
Zūm announced Thursday that it has expanded to Chicago and six other markets, including Dallas, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Zūm, founded in 2015, was previously only operating in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Zūm allows parents to schedule rides to school for their kids, while also working directly with school districts as a transportation option for students. The startup says it now works with more than 250 school districts and 4,000 schools.
The benefit to schools, Zūm says, is a potential cost savings, noting that school buses are sitting unused roughly 80 percent of the day.
"Until now, schools have not had vehicle options outside of the 'big yellow bus,' and have relied on processes that are economically, environmentally and technologically outdated," Ritu Narayan, co-founder and CEO of Zūm, said in a statement. "Just as a school would never utilize just 20 percent of its classrooms, administrators are recognizing that the bus is not always the best solution to get children where they need to go."
Zūm also provides real-time ride tracking and vehicle dashboards for schools. Its riders undergo background checks, and all drivers are required to have at least three years or more of childcare experience, the company said. Zūm starts at $10 per child for a carpool ride and $19.50 for a single, non-carpool ride. The exact price of the ride, similar to other ridesharing apps, depends on your distance traveled and time of day.
Zūm has raised more than $70 million in VC funding from investors like BMW I Ventures, Sequoia Capital and the Volvo Cars Tech Fund.
Zūm has competition in the "Uber for kids" business, as startups like HopSkipDrive and Kango offer similar services. Shuddle, another ridesharing service for kids, shut down in 2016.
