Latest news with #HopSkipDrive
Associated Press
08-05-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
HopSkipDrive Deepens Commitment to Youth Safety Through Expert Advisory Council
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2025-- HopSkipDrive, a technology company that has raised the bar for safety, access, and care in supplemental student transportation for more than a decade, today announced the formation of a dedicated Safety Advisory Council, bringing together a diverse group of six safety experts to help guide the company's ongoing innovation in youth transportation safety. Their insights will directly inform HopSkipDrive's product development roadmap as the company continues to launch and expand services for students with specialized transportation needs. The Safety Advisory Council represents the company's deepened commitment to remaining at the forefront of safety innovation and transparency, and will enable HopSkipDrive to set new industry standards for specialized transportation products and features that support the diverse needs of all students. Recognizing that comprehensive safety encompasses multiple factors–from road safety to interpersonal safety–HopSkipDrive has assembled the council to address every aspect of the safe ride experience. Comprising of experts from across essential safety disciplines, the council brings together the following leaders: 'Safety is a multifaceted challenge that requires diverse perspectives and specialized expertise,' said Jen Brandenburger, SVP of Safety at HopSkipDrive. 'By assembling this council of respected leaders, we're ensuring that our safety features, policies, and educational initiatives benefit from the latest research and best practices from across disciplines. Our goal is to keep aiming higher for what's possible in youth transportation safety, so that families and schools can focus on helping students thrive.' The council's formation comes on the heels of HopSkipDrive's 2024 Safety Report and the announcement of new features which bolster its suite of over 50 safety products and initiatives. The company's annual Safety Report–which includes metrics on road safety, interpersonal safety, and violations of its Community Guidelines–highlights the scalability of the company's industry-leading safety record and outlines its work to build safety into everything it does. Last year, 99.7% of the 1.7 million HopSkipDrive rides ended without a safety concern of any kind, with CareDrivers completing an unprecedented 34 million safe miles while serving students across 14 states. These metrics demonstrate that the company's multilayered safety systems work effectively across diverse regions, from dense urban neighborhoods to rural communities, and everywhere in between. 'As an organization dedicated to keeping children safe, Safe Kids Worldwide recognizes that transportation safety requires a comprehensive approach that addresses all aspects of a child's journey. Through the Safety Advisory Council, we're combining expertise across multiple disciplines to advise on products and policies that help protect all children, particularly those with specialized needs,' said Cass Herring, Senior Director of Road Safety and Child Occupant Protection at Safe Kids Worldwide. 'Working with HopSkipDrive, a company purpose-built for facilitating safe rides for children since day one, we're establishing new benchmarks for youth transportation safety that will not only benefit the students and districts who use HopSkipDrive, but will ultimately elevate standards across the entire industry.' The Safety Advisory Council will bring fresh perspectives and specialized insights to HopSkipDrive's robust safety ecosystem. By collaborating with leading voices in road safety, interpersonal safety, child development, and youth advocacy, HopSkipDrive will continue to refine and enhance its approach to innovating in safety. The council will play a crucial role in guiding HopSkipDrive's expansion of wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV) rides, elevating its support for all students with diverse transportation needs, and further strengthening the company's Safe Ride InSight™ technology, its programmatic AI-powered dashcam recording technology with advanced telematics. This expert-informed approach will help ensure that as the company grows to serve more diverse student needs, its commitment to safety scales alongside its expanding capabilities. This initiative represents another milestone in HopSkipDrive's unwavering commitment to create opportunity for all through mobility. By bringing these leaders together with its team of experienced safety professionals, HopSkipDrive is continuing to redefine what safe, reliable student transportation can help achieve, ensuring every student has access to the educational opportunities they deserve, while giving schools and families the peace of mind that comes with truly exceptional safety standards. About HopSkipDrive HopSkipDrive is a technology company that solves complex transportation challenges where there is a heightened need for safety, access, and care. HopSkipDrive is modernizing the $30 billion school transportation industry through two core solutions: a care-centered transportation marketplace and industry-leading routing software, RouteWise AI™. 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 10,000 schools across 17 states, with over 600 school district 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. View source version on CONTACT: Media Contact: [email protected] KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: OTHER TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY CHILDREN TRANSPORT SOFTWARE CONSUMER DATA MANAGEMENT PRIMARY/SECONDARY EDUCATION ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SOURCE: HopSkipDrive Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/08/2025 10:00 AM/DISC: 05/08/2025 09:59 AM
Business Wire
05-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
HopSkipDrive Welcomes David Katcher as COO and Tyler Baldwin as CRO
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- HopSkipDrive, a technology company solving complex transportation challenges where there is a heightened need for safety, access, and care, today announced the appointments of David Katcher as Chief Operating Officer and Tyler Baldwin as Chief Revenue Officer. Katcher and Baldwin bring extensive leadership experience across transportation, care, and marketplace companies. Their appointments reflect HopSkipDrive's continued investment in scaling its operations and expanding its national footprint to ensure all students have access to safe, reliable transportation. David Katcher joins HopSkipDrive after serving as COO at Rula, where he led a broad portfolio of go-to-market and operational teams. Under his leadership, Rula expanded from 11 markets to national coverage and launched several new service offerings. He previously held executive roles at Lyft and AvantStay, overseeing global operations and field teams of 600+ employees. 'I'm energized by HopSkipDrive's mission to create mobility for all, and I'm excited to build the systems and services that allow us to scale with quality,' said Katcher. 'Transportation is a gateway to opportunity, and we are here to make sure that access is never out of reach.' Tyler Baldwin joins from CharterUP, where he served as CRO and led the revenue organization through a period of rapid growth, increasing gross bookings from $120M to over $200M. He has also served in executive roles at Reali and LinkedIn, building high-performing teams and launching scalable go-to-market strategies. 'I'm thrilled to help drive the next phase of growth for HopSkipDrive,' said Baldwin. 'This is a company with demonstrated product-market fit, an inspiring mission, and a platform that truly makes a difference in communities. There's a massive opportunity to support more school districts across the country, and we're just getting started.' 'David and Tyler are incredible leaders with a deep commitment to impact, and their expertise will be instrumental as we continue to grow and expand our footprint,' said Joanna McFarland, Co-Founder and CEO of HopSkipDrive. 'Their appointments reinforce our focus on quality, safety, and service at scale as we partner with more districts and solve the complex challenges of student transportation.' HopSkipDrive's announcement follows a string of recent milestones, including new district partnerships, the launch of the new RouteWise AI™ planning platform to help schools optimize their transportation networks, and the announcement of new safety products, features, and initiatives. About HopSkipDrive HopSkipDrive is a technology company that solves complex transportation challenges where there is a heightened need for safety, access, and care. HopSkipDrive is modernizing the $30 billion school transportation industry through two core solutions: a care-centered transportation marketplace and industry-leading routing software, RouteWise AI™. 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 10,000 schools across 17 states, with over 600 school district 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.
Business Mayor
01-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
New Technology Provides Data to School Bus Routing
Despite hesitancy with artificial intelligence, Denver Public Schools learned with partner HopSkipDrive to optimize its school-bus routes with AI-driven software. 'I think that there's a nervousness that AI will take over the world and get rid of the need of routing,' said Tyler Maybee, director of operations for transportation services at Denver Public Schools. 'I honestly think this is just seen as a time saver and a way to create a really functional base level of understanding for a particular routing team. I think it's meant to be a support tool. It's never meant to replace … I'm not looking to reduce my staff because I use RouteWise AI.' Maybee explained that during the pandemic, DPS formed a partnership with HopSkipDrive's alternative transportation services for McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act transportation. He explained that busing students protected by the federal law is sometimes inefficient because they are often located far from their home schools. It was around early 2022 that the company brought up its idea of an AI solution to DPS. Advertisement 'We're a very innovative district, and we always jump on board any type of chance to help push the boundaries of transportation,' said Maybee, who has a data background. Before joining DPS, he served as a data analyst for a non-profit, One Earth Future Foundation. He explained that when HopSkipDrive presented the RouteWise idea, he thought it could work well for the district. 'We partnered with them, signed an agreement to share data, and we worked with them on parts of the tool that would be beneficial for our business. We created basically the whole thing together,' he added. Corey McMahon, chief product and technology officer at HopSkipDrive, said RouteWise AI officially launched in 2023 and the software 'is a planning tool that helps districts make smarter and faster transportation decisions. 'What it does is it analyzes all their data, ridership, vehicles, traffic policies and it gives them customized routing scenarios that can save them time, money, reduce emissions, reduce student time in transit, whatever their district priorities are,' he continued. He explained that when districts sign on, they're paired with the RouteWise AI team of experts, consisting of former directors, routers and consultants from the industry. McMahon said the experts sit down with the district to understand constraints, policies and goals. From there, they build out a custom AI model specifically to represent their transportation system. 'That AI model generates thousands of scenarios, and from those produces optimized results based on their priorities,' he said, adding that districts can then adjust, tweak or tune them through their existing tools. The software is routing software agnostic and integrates with the district's existing routing software. A new function is the insights dashboard, which compares data points on a national level. It launched at the start of the year and McMahon said it serves as a spot for district leaders to see all their data in one place. Recently, a national benchmark function was added, which gives district leaders a chance to compare student ride times, cost per student, and bus utilization rates against their peers. HopSkipDrive insights dashboard Maybee explained that one of the data points DPS looks at on the dashboard is the utilization percentage. 'For us, that's kind of an important thing, making sure that our buses are full and that our buses are being well utilized,' he said. Another function is its new feature for on-time arrival. 'It kind of gives us the overall picture of which segments (segment is one run of service for a school) in our in a route package that are a potential risk for running late, based on the number of students that are on there … depending on the variability of traffic.' McMahon said the lateness factor is determined by looking at how tight the routes are. 'If everything has to go perfectly for a bus to be on time, it has a high lateness risk,' he explained. 'If there is flexibility in the system for unexpected events, student comes out late, late traffic, etc., then your lateness risk is lower.' By implementing the software, DPS has saved more than $500,000 annually. Maybee said the software is primarily being used to evaluate start times and adjust bell times. He explained that all secondary schools recently moved to an 8:20 a.m. or later start time, and DPS used the tool to inform decisions around bell time adjudgments, which resulted in the savings. Related: Report Highlights Shift in Federal Policy from EVs to Conventional Fuels Related: C-V2X Technology Promises School Bus Time, Cost Savings Related: Canada Becomes First Country to Mandate External School Bus Surveillance Feeds 'We've worked with them a couple more times to look at our current state route packages, and they've given us a couple suggestions on merging some routes together, or putting bus packages together into one bus and taking a bus off the road that has saved us money,' he said, adding that the software will also recommend taking one student off a particular route to save time. 'Their tool is pretty service agnostic. It's not going to favor putting students on a vendor over putting them on a yellow bus. Their philosophy is generally, if we make a school district's transportation system healthy, then there's a natural spot for [alternative transportation] to exist, because there's always going to be students that are inefficient in the overall system.' Maybee added that the software is not meant to replace an existing routing provider or routers. 'We're never going to lose routers because of this software,' he said. 'It's meant to be an additional set of eyes and a starting point to build routes. There are always going to be things that our routers know that that system does not. I have kids that are better suited to be on a yellow bus, and we put them on a yellow bus, even if it's quote, unquote not efficient, but it's the right thing to do for that student's needs. And that's something that our routers know and that our computer system is never going to know, but it at least gives you an 85 percent solution to get you in the right direction, to provide you the space that you need.' Data Driven As for the safety element of using RouteWise AI, Maybee related back to the lateness factor of the program. 'In terms of buses running on time, you're reducing your risk of danger zone infractions, as students aren't running to get on the bus quickly or crossing a dangerous street.' He said the software understands the factors that a router inputs, such as right-side only picks up that eliminate the need for students to cross the street, no highway travel, etc. 'It manipulates routes with the data that you provide, so it wouldn't put a bus stop, for example, in the middle of a busy street,' he said. McMahon said the challenge for increased safety is the entire ecosystem from the strain of the school bus driver shortage to inefficient routes. 'You have a lot of chaos at pickup and drop off, where you have late routes, you have overcrowded busses or underutilized busses, etc. And so, reducing that chaos, minimizing ride times, and making sure that people are where they need to be, when they need to be there,' he said of elements that make pupil transportation safer. 'If you have busses arriving late, you have students waiting in unsafe areas. And there's a number of safety implications, as you can imagine there.' Read More Shortage of auto mechanics creates career opportunity - Maybee added that by using the software, the amount of time it has taken for the routing team to get the entire school year up and running has been significantly reduced. 'We kind of have a starting spot with the solution presented for RouteWise AI, that we can then implement as our base layer and build from there,' he said. 'We have massive time reductions within our routing team, which allows them to pay attention to detail better, and allows them to take care of the accommodations and take care of the students that need to be taken care of at the highest level, really providing better equity in terms of our service.' McMahon said one of the greatest elements of the insight dashboard is the availability of more data. 'What we're really trying to do is build a transportation intelligence platform that allows leaders to look at data from all of these sources as they deploy new technology, whether that's cameras or telematics or ridership tracking or anything out there, they need a way to make sense of it all, and so that's really where the dashboard is trying to fit in.' Maybee concluded by saying there is a fear about AI in student transportation. But he cautioned other districts to not feed into the misconception. 'We're the content experts, and a computer is never going to fully know what we know,' he said. 'And I agree with that statement, but I also think that a computer has a better sense of being able to understand the entire picture and giving a solution that has at least the context of the entire picture that you can then kind of manipulate from there. We were surprised with some of the combinations that it came up with. …It never makes sense to just turn on RouteWise AI have it create things and then just like, spit it out and say, okay 'Driver, go do this.' That's not going to lead to beneficial day-to-day service.'
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tech-powered rides offer a lifeline as Va. schools grapple with bus shortages
A CareDriver with HopSkipDrive is looking over their ride details. (Photo courtesy of HopSkipDrive) A tech company is stepping in where school buses can't. HopSkipDrive, a national ridesharing company focused on 'safety, equity and care,' is expanding its supplemental school transportation services to Virginia Beach — aiming to help students with complex needs get to class while creating new job opportunities for local drivers. The company's network of 'CareDrivers' — highly vetted caregivers trained to provide transportation in communities with unique challenges, such as students experiencing homelessness, in foster care or with disabilities — has already been operating in Northern and Central Virginia, and other parts of the country. 'Transportation should never be a barrier that keeps the student from accessing their education, and we're committed to removing those obstacles,' said Cindy Hamilton, a spokeswoman for HopSkipDrive. 'We're really committed to removing those obstacles, and we're glad to be able to do so now in Virginia Beach.' The company also announced in February that wheelchair-accessible vehicles would become available in Northern Virginia, with plans to expand that offering to other cities nationwide for the 2025-26 school year. School districts typically arrange the service directly through the company. Shortly after HopSkipDrive's establishment in 2019, Virginia began seeing its list of bus drivers dwindle following the pandemic. Some of the reasons for the decline include low pay and an increase in driver retirements. The company also found that many drivers contracted COVID-19 or left for jobs in the private sector. The company surveyed schools nationally about the bus driver shortage and found little improvement. About 91% of respondents reported the shortages had constrained their school transportation operations, an increase from the 88% in 2022. According to the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), the rate of unfilled bus drivers has decreased to 8.7% this school year, compared to 13.6% during the 2021-22 school year. CareDrivers has also provided opportunities for people living in and around partnership schools. Drivers include parents, grandparents, nurses and former teachers, to name a few. 'Caregivers who tell us they choose to drive with HopSkipDrive do so because of the flexibility it offers and the value of helping kids – or anyone who needs a little extra care – get where they need to go,' Hamilton said. She said applicants go through a 'rigorous' 15-point certification process before driving on the platform and can earn income while creating their own schedules. They also must comply with existing state and local laws and regulations, as well as the platform's safety features and community guidelines. 'We have designed our platform to be easy to use, enabling CareDrivers in Virginia Beach and across the state to provide safe, reliable rides for students, schools, and families when it works for their schedules,' Hamilton said. In Virginia, leaders have taken additional steps to help students get to and from school. Last month, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law a proposal carried by Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt, to create a two-year pilot program allowing school divisions to explore alternative transportation options. Schools could partner with nearby colleges or private companies to help transport students. The legislation states that vehicles must comply with state and federal safety regulations and undergo regular inspections. School boards would also be required to hold a public hearing before adopting the program and must submit an annual report detailing ridership, costs, and bus routes to the Virginia Department of Education. Austin told the Mercury the bill offers another option for schools in rural areas to cut costs while ensuring students are transported efficiently. Last summer, the VDOE also amended its school bus specifications to state, 'smaller capacity fleet vehicles are some options that can be used in conjunction with customary methods to provide a flexible, efficient, and comprehensive public school pupil transportation solution.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
