Zum - Student Transportation Reviews

As a driver, I hate Zum. The customer service is horrible. I can never get an exact answer when I have an issue with a ride, my payment, etc. Expect to rarely get paid on time and wait literally MONTHS to get the bonuses that you are promised upon signing up. Expect parents to cancel on you when you are already at the pickup location and barely get compensated for it. Parents often leave unclear pickup instructions, and you are expected to wait up to 30 mins for a kid even if you have somewhere to be—like your real job for example. Why don’t they put a cap on the wait time so as to not inconvenience drivers and waste their time? Who knows! That’s just one of the many wonderful little surprises about this company! You have no way of contacting the child if you can’t find them, and parents rarely answer the phone if an issue comes up at pickup/dropoff. The pay for a ride is often too low because it doesn’t reflect real time traffic, so you could drive for 45 mins+ and only get paid for what showed up on your app as a “30 minute ride.” this app is terrible and has a lot of work to do.

-Ride was cancelled 19 minutes before the pick up time with a brief text message that said that they might or might not pick up my 5 years old child. If parents in this circumstances go and pick up the child themselves and this app driver still shows up, they still charge the parent and don’t provide a refund or any discount. Half an hour on the call with customer service and supervisor trying to figure out a solution was a waste of my time unfortunately.
-Drivers are frequently late 15-20 minutes. According to their policy drivers are allowed to be 15min late, just be aware and plan your time accordingly.
-App has lots of limitations and doesn’t allow customer to modify monthly ride even well in advance, even if it benefits the company.
-Otherwise, it’s an excellent idea and much needed service! Hopefully they can improve their reliability, revisit their cancellation policy and communication process when driver cancels last minute, and improve user interface.

I entered my first ride 10 days ago and got a confirmation from their customer service that a driver would be assigned the day before. When I didn’t see a driver assigned the day before, I reached out to customer service who confirmed that this was normal and that the name of the driver may be released only the day of the ride.
An hour before the ride, I still hadn’t received any notification so I decided to reach out again. I learned BECAUSE I CALLED that no one would be available to pick up my son. They said it’s pretty common because they had a surge of requests lately and drivers who keep canceling.
I understand things can happen but not notifying parents that the ride is cancelled is dangerous and unprofessional. My son could have waited forever to be picked up...

We have 3 kids and love semi-rural. Everything about booking and working with this app has been a breeze— it’s such a relief to know that our son can get where he needs to go while we are home with our youngest or driving our middle child to her activities. Modern parenting can be pretty crazy but services like this make it possible—and a bit more sane!

Before the review, I just want to say that this is a great option for other single parents out there w multiple jobs and no one to help w pick up/drop off.

I’ve only had one bad experience where they showed up 15 minutes late w/o notice but otherwise if there’s an issue, speak w a supervisor and they handle it within 24hours. My girls seem happy and always arrive safe, luckily. All (but 1) have arrived on time and communicated if running behind but never too late and all friendly.

I am on hold for the past 37 minutes as I am writing this, waiting for someone at this app customer support to answer to tell me where my special needs son is! His bus hasn’t shown up after school and no one will pick up at this app to tell me where he is! Tried their live chat at the same time, but despite message saying that an agent will soon be responding, it just disconnected after nearly 30 minutes. If you are taking responsibility for the lives of people’s children you MUST get more responsive customer support!! My next call will be to the police if my son doesn’t arrive in another 10 minutes.

Because of this app I was able to go back to work. Exceptionally pleased with this app’s service, drivers and team! We use this app frequently during the week. this app makes a stop for my daughter to go to the farmers market on the way home from school. We live in Portola Valley. this app also takes my daughter to the city for her rehearsals. Love this app!

I had used this app successfully a few times. However last week my this app ride was Thirty minutes late picking up my son. What was worse was no one called him to tell him they were late and when I tried to call the driver they didn’t answer their phone. When I called help hotline they were more interested in telling me that being late was in the contract and to not expect a refund then helping me get my children taken care of. I asked to speak with a manager which was not granted and thus am left little recourse but to warn other families of the potential problems with this service.

Terrible experience, horrible customer service. They dropped my son off at a convenience store about 2 miles from our house and just left him there, without letting me know, and with his only option being to walk home! I was pretty upset about that - with good reason, I believe. But when I spoke to them on the phone to complain about it, they called me a "troublemaker" and said that my son can no longer use the this app service (not that I would've wanted him to anyway). Do not trust these people to "care" for your children!!

The service does not work unless you live in Palo Alto near a Vc firm. They don’t have drivers. They let you try to sign up and schedule…. A long process. Then drop you in a calendar with zero options. No way to schedule. And email them. And not any real help or suggestions when they can schedule rides. So not at all set up to grow in any reliable way. Might as well just shut down. Your business is not viable with no real service. And not even trying to help potential customers.

Do not use this services. I booked a pick up for my daughter to get to school on a normal Wednesday morning. She was suppose to be at school by 8am I booked pick up at 7:15am. Not only were they 45 minutes late to pick her up in the morning. I had to reach out to them to find out why my daughter was still at home. She was late to school missed her first test of the day and I had to see the Dean of attendance to prove the negligence of this service and thankfully they will allow her one more chance to make up this test.

I have two students that use this app and they have been 10-30 minutes late tens of times. They supposedly show up and wait 2 minutes and mark that the child doesn’t come out and leave without me ever knowing they were here. I have to call the school district to fix rides, they won’t fix them through their customer service. Zum doesn’t track rides half the time and I don’t know ETAs.. I’m not big on leaving reviews, but I’m so sick of this stupid agency.

I've used them for after-school activities this month and they have really saved me from rushing out of work, being stuck in traffic only to get to my son late and have him reach his class late.

My child called today that due to a schedule change at school, he can’t be picked up at the scheduled time. Unfortunately, we got completely stuck and no one would be able to pick him up today, because we won’t be able to change the schedule with a short notice, and we won’t be able to schedule another this app driver. This is not the service you are looking for with a very expensive price.

When I first started using Zum I was rightfully very anxious. They’re dealing with my most precious thing in the world. When I book a ride it is because I have. I other alternative to get my child from a school. I was out of town on business and got a message that no driver could be found literally the day of the pickup. What was I supposed to do with that??? 3000 miles away and no one to get my child?

Clearly the service is not for a parent like me. I need a dependable service.

I’m a teenager, with no parents, and i get rides through this system.
i’ve been trying to make an account since the beginning of this school year, i’ve had to cancel rides when the driver texts me and feel horrible about it because i can’t cancel them through Zum because it won’t let me make an account.
i’ve followed the steps, and i continue to not get an email from you guys.
fix. it.

Horrible experience. I got a text the night before the ride conforming and giving me the name of the driver. 15 minutes before the confirmed ride I logged into Zum and discovered that in Zum it says “looking for a driver”. Nobody attempted to notify me in advance that the initial driver cancelled.

I connected to support and they told me they will try to find a driver but it’s a 50/50 chance they will be successful. Luckily I was able to get my kid picked up by a friend. This business is a joke.

I used this service prior to Covid. I love this option when families are on the go. They helped pick up my son and take him to hockey practice or home.
This is not like Uber where you could decide on the whim to get a ride, you will need to plan the rides ahead of time.

I’ve been using this app for the last three months! I’m in love and have recommended with many of my busy friends too.

I was happy to use this service in the past, when I made orders as a parent, but after they began to do a school transportation, they a really very bad! Your school bus may not arrive and you are not informed, you call or text them and don’t receive a fast and clear information what’s going on. If I could mark them -5 stars I would do that.

It is great to have real time information on bus routes. But communication is challenging. We have been experiencing some frustration and confusion between the assigned route and the route the driver is taking - which has kids on bus for an additional hour or more in the PM. My kid comes home exhausted and nauseous. This has happened before when there is a new driver, but not sure why this is happening this time. Driver does not communicate - just that it is “her preferred route” this app rep confirmed it is unacceptable, School district also said it is not okay. But it is still happening. Hopefully this can be remedied soon, but it is troubling.

Absolutely dreadful service! This school bus company has consistently failed to meet the most basic expectations. My child has been brought to school late on numerous occasions, causing them unnecessary stress and missed learning opportunities. It's reached a point where there have been days when the bus simply didn't show up at all, leaving us scrambling for alternate transportation. Their unreliability is beyond frustrating, and it's clear they lack the professionalism and commitment required for such an important responsibility. Avoid this company at all costs if you value your child's education and punctuality!

You can see the bus on the route to pick up or drop off your children. You can actually see where exactly the bus is located at any point of time!!!