Zum Services

Zum Services, Inc. (stylized Zūm) is an American student transportation services company headquartered in Redwood City, California. It provides contract transportation services to school districts across the United States, spanning student transportation, school bus operations, fleet management and vehicle-to-grid energy services. Its products include the Zum platform and Zum CMX (Connected Mobility Experience).

The company was founded in 2015 under the name Liftee by Ritu Narayan, Vivek Garg and Abhishek Garg, and was initially modeled on ridesharing platforms, offering parents an app to schedule vetted drivers for trips to school and after-school activities. It was renamed Zum in January 2016 and began operations in California in early 2016. Over time it shifted toward full-district contracts, taking over bus operations for districts including San Francisco Unified, Oakland Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Seattle Public Schools, Spokane Public Schools and Howard County Public Schools. Its company materials describe turnkey transportation for districts in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Utah and Virginia.

Zum also pursues fleet electrification: in August 2024 it deployed an all-electric fleet of 74 school buses with bidirectional chargers for the Oakland Unified School District, described as the first major U.S. district to transition to a fully electric school bus system.

Founding story

Zum was founded in 2015 by Ritu Narayan with Vivek Garg and Abhishek Garg. Narayan, previously a product manager at eBay and Oracle, has said she was motivated by her own experience as a working mother and by her mother's career sacrifices in India. The original service, launched as Liftee, was modeled on ridesharing and let parents book vetted drivers to take children to school and activities.

Business model

Zum contracts with public school districts and charter school networks to operate home-to-school transportation, typically under multi-year contracts of three to five years (examples cited include $150 million with San Francisco Unified, more than $400 million with Los Angeles Unified, $68 million with Seattle Public Schools, $71.8 million with Spokane Public Schools and $27 million with Howard County Public School System). It combines software (the Zum platform and Zum CMX apps, dashboards and routing/dispatch tools) with operations, drivers, depots and vehicles, and also offers charter service, software-only offerings and fleet electrification including vehicle-to-grid energy.

Revenue derives from multi-year district transportation contracts with disclosed values ranging from tens of millions to more than $400 million, alongside software, charter and electrification/energy-as-a-service offerings described on the company website.

Traction

The company reports serving more than 5,000 schools and districts and 68 million rides in 2025. Disclosed district contracts include San Francisco Unified ($150 million, five years, awarded July 2021), Los Angeles Unified (more than $400 million, June 2022), Seattle Public Schools ($68 million, three years, July 2022), Spokane Public Schools ($71.8 million, five years, March 2023), Howard County Public School System ($27 million, three years, June 2023, extended in April 2026 by five years and $120 million), plus partnerships with Oakland Unified, Saint Louis Public Schools and LEAD Public Schools. Total disclosed funding reached $430 million at a $1.7 billion valuation following a $100 million TPG investment.

Latest developments

Zum announced a $100 million investment from TPG, raising total funding to $430 million and valuing the company at $1.7 billion. It launched Zum CMX (Connected Mobility Experience) and published national survey research (conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, 2026) reporting that 54% of parents say their child has expressed worry about school transportation and 39% report late arrivals due to transportation issues. LEAD Public Schools, a Nashville-area charter network, selected Zum for the 2026-2027 school year, and Howard County Public Schools approved a five-year, $120 million contract extension through June 2031 in April 2026. Zum also published a book, "The Most Important Commute."