How newly contracted bus company plans to help Roanoke City Public Schools
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — It’s been a rough couple of years for Roanoke City Public Schools transportation. The problems were well documented in previous meetings with parents.
“Late drop-off, pick up, no show, there was two and a half months when there was no driver at all,” said one parent in a previous school board meeting.
And the previous contractor.
“The staffing has definitely been the biggest challenge,” said Durham’s Southeast Region Mager, Hale Driver in a past interview with WFXR.
And Roanoke City Schools as well.
“When we outsource any function we do so expecting a complicit bargain that they will provide skills and information and efficiency and quality,” said a member of Roanoke City School Board in a previous meeting.
That’s what they’re hoping for in their new contract with Zūm — the transportation company contracted for the next five years — and it’s exactly what Zūm prides itself on. Earlier this month, it was announced that Roanoke City public schools awarded a $77 million transportation contract to Zūm.
Reaction to Governor Youngkin’s veto of legalizing retail marijuana
It’s a student transportation service that started in California in 2016 and has since grown to operate in several states across the country. WFXR had a sitdown with CEO Ritu Narayan on how they plan to fix the staffing problem that’s being seen nationwide.
“We have built a solution where we are able to attract a new set of drivers using our digital platform and we have built a very state-of-the-art driver training program, driver onboarding program. So any school district that we go to, we not only make our best effort to hire the existing drivers, but we also bring new drivers to the population,” Narayan explained
Because of that, she says their districts have zero driver shortages. With other incentives like competitive pay, medical, and a state-of-the-art facility for drivers to rest between routes — they hope to attract the best drivers. As for parents, she says they’ll have ways to communicate with them through an app.
“They will have will have absolute information for which bus their child is riding, who is the driver, what kind of checks have been done,” Narayan said. “The driver calls in sick — our software is able to redesign which is the nearest bus and most convenient bus that the student can take, parents have the notification for who the driver is for the day, drivers routes are automatically adjusted.
The company will have a hiring event on April 9, and they’re looking to fill one hundred and thirty spots with new and existing drivers. They hope to have behind-the-wheel training and system trial runs finished a month before the start of the next school year.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFXRtv.
