Mayor Wu, Superintendent Skipper Announce Major Steps to Improve Transportation for Students and Families Ahead of the Start of the School Year

Mayor Michelle Wu and Boston Public Schools (BPS) Superintendent Mary Skipper today announced two new improvements to ensure BPS’ transportation experience is safe, reliable and on-time for students, families and workers. Building on efforts to improve the daily yellow bus transportation experience for approximately 23,000 students and their families and modernize its operations, BPS has awarded a three-year contract to Zūm. With this new contract, BPS will use Zūm’s technology platform for the upcoming school year district wide which will provide Boston families with improved real-time bus tracking and enhanced communication and transparency about their student’s bus. 

Mayor Wu also announced the opening of the new City Academy training facility in partnership with UMass Boston. Located at UMass Boston, the facility will be used to train participants in City Academy’s Commercial Drivers License (CDL) track, support the training of BPS school bus drivers and a new CDL water utilities track. These announcements demonstrate the City’s ongoing commitment to improving transportation for students and families through the use of new, state-of-the-art technology and eliminating barriers to entry for Boston residents, and the intentionality to grow workforce opportunities. 

“We have heard from parents and caregivers that there has to be more information and better communication when it comes to transportation. Safety, reliability, accessibility and transparency should be givens in how we get our students to school,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “That’s why today we are excited to announce this partnership with Zūm and a brand new City Academy in Dorchester. We know there are many moving pieces to building the best public schools system on the planet and with these partnerships, community engagement and energy, we are making big strides as we head into this next school year. I wish every family a successful preparation in these last few weeks and look forward to welcoming back everyone to a safe, joyful, and successful start to the school year.”

“Implementing this technology will build upon our ongoing work to improve yellow bus on-time performance across the City and provide families with real-time information and communication about their students’ buses location and timing,” said Boston Public Schools Superintendent Mary Skipper. “The BPS Transportation team has already implemented systems and reforms that improved our year-over-year on-time performance by 2.4 percentage points during the 2023-24 school year. We are confident that Zūm’s technology, which BPS has successfully piloted over the past few months, will allow us to improve our operations and gather comprehensive ridership data to drive our on-time performance higher. Coupled with the opening of the City Academy training facility at UMass Boston, today marks a significant step forward in our commitment to providing accessible, high-quality training opportunities and transportation for Boston families.” 

Zūm’s cloud-based technology provides a fully integrated student transportation solution to improve bus operations, reduce student commute times, and track children’s arrival and departure from school while connecting parents, drivers, schools and administrators in real time. Through the Zūm app, BPS parents will be able to view their student’s bus assignment, track their child’s bus in real-time, receive automated delay notifications and ETAs, and monitor their child's pickup or dropoff status. District administrators and operators with appropriate permissions will now be able to track school buses on a live map from start to finish, and ETAs  will be adjusted in real time to account for traffic conditions, road conditions, absent, or delayed students.

“We are excited to partner with Boston Public Schools. While Boston Public Schools is the nation’s oldest public school system, it has long been known for leading in innovation when it comes to education and data driven decision making,” said Ritu Narayan, Founder and CEO at Zūm. “With Zūm, BPS will now be able to provide state-of-the-art technology to improve student transportation and experience for students, families, drivers and school administrators. Our solution has made a measurable positive impact in some of the country’s largest school districts, and we are thrilled to bring our single unified technology platform to Boston.”

“Mayor Wu and BPS did a great job with implementing this new bus tracking app,” said Jasmine Mattier, BPS Parent. “The Zūm app is amazing and was a complete step up from the old app. As a parent participating in the pilot this summer, getting real-time information and communication about my child’s location was amazing. Parents will definitely be more at ease this school year with this new platform.”

Zūm’s single integrated technology platform includes routing and operations software, onboard GPS navigation tablets using the Zūm driver app, as well as Zūm’s Parent App. The Parent App will provide Boston families with improved real-time bus tracking and enhanced communication and transparency about their student’s bus. Families can learn more and download the Zūm Parent App on the BPS Transportation website.  If you are a BPS parent or guardian, you can download the Zūm App at app.ridezum.com and prepare to see your student’s bus assignment and track their rides starting this fall.  

BPS joins a growing number of innovative school districts that have partnered with Zūm to leverage Zum’s transportation services and technology platform, including Los Angeles Unified School District, San Francisco Unified School District, Seattle Public Schools, Howard County Public Schools, Oakland Unified School District and Metro Nashville Public Schools.

City Academy is an initiative managed by the Office of Workforce Development that provides Boston residents with free training to address labor shortages in targeted fields, while connecting Boston's diverse talent pool to family-sustaining jobs. The new City Academy training facility will be used to build upon the initiative's success and train participants in City Academy’s Commercial Drivers License (CDL) track and support. Previously, CDL participants had to travel to Tewksbury to receive training. The new location is easily accessible by public transit, eliminating transportation barriers to entry for Boston residents and improving program recruitment and retention. 

“Central to UMass Boston’s mission is to serve as an educational resource for learners at all levels to enhance their skills and advance their careers,” said UMass Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco. “We are for the city and welcome this opportunity to improve training in this important service area.”

The City Academy facility will also be made available to BPS and Transdev, enabling them to partner and train around 120 drivers annually – addressing a critical City workforce need. Resulting jobs will offer health benefits, retirement security, union membership, and opportunities for pay increases. 

“Over the last several years, Transdev has partnered with the BPS Department of Transportation and the City of Boston to ensure that there are enough qualified school bus operators to bring students in Boston safely to and from school each day, while also creating more great career opportunities for residents,” said Jim Folk, Transdev General Manager.​ “We are very excited about the new training space, which will allow us to efficiently and effectively train both new and veteran school bus operators. This will help ensure that we are well prepared to safely and reliably transport Boston's students." 

Additional roles that City Academy supports Boston residents in acquiring include critical positions such as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and for jobs requiring a Commercial Driver’s License and/or Hoisting License (1C/2A classifications) within the City of Boston. These City jobs pay above Boston's living wage and offer benefits and opportunities for career advancement. Additionally, City Academy prioritizes populations facing barriers to employment, including low to moderate-income residents and returning citizens.

“It will make a world of difference to have the training site in Boston…it will save people commuting time, allow for folks to take public transportation if they need to, and save wear and tear on our personal vehicles,” said City Academy CDL Participant Tremyne Bray. “I am so thankful for all that City Academy has done for me. I am working for J J Trucking and Bray’s Logistics, owned and founded by City Academy graduate Chris Bray). I’ve gotten to work on resurfacing I-95 and I-495 and learned a great deal about trucking and construction. My dream is to start my own trucking company in the near future.”

The City has also partnered with the Boston Water & Sewer Commission to expand City Academy’s CDL training pathway to include a Water Utilities career pipeline. Labor Market analysis predicts that careers in water, wastewater, and stormwater management will grow by over 10,000 positions in the Greater Boston area over the next decade. Through the Water Utilities pathway, City Academy will prepare residents for careers in water utilities, including three entry-level positions at BWSC: Operations Service Repair Person I and II, Special Heavy Motor Equipment Operators I and II. Students will receive their CDL license with tanker endorsement, Hoisting 1B and 2B, and 4E Catch Basin. 

“Boston Water and Sewer Commission looks forward to partnering with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu to create job opportunities through the City’s Worker Empowerment Cabinet and the Office of Workforce Development,” said Henry F. Vitale, Executive Director of the Boston Water and Sewer Commission. “The new Water Utilities career pipeline will provide skills training to Boston residents who are interested in a career with the Commission and our partners in the industry.”

City Academy is currently accepting applications. To be eligible, applicants must:

• Be a Boston resident
• Be 18 years or older
• Have a high school diploma or GED/HiSET
• Have a valid driver’s license
• Meet income guidelines
• Be drug-free

For more information and to apply, visit boston.gov/city-academy.