LOS ANGELES, Calif. -HopSkipDrive today announced innovative new offerings and products designed to meet school districts’ most complex transportation needs for the upcoming school year.
HopSkipDrive’s innovative technology continues to deliver industry-leading solutions, addressing the evolving and individualized transportation needs of students and schools. In direct response to feedback from school leaders, the company has developed a suite of purpose-built products designed to streamline the school pickup and dropoff experience. These innovations ensure the utmost safety, convenience, and efficiency for school staff, CareDrivers, and riders.
Daily Queue, which empowers school staff to see HopSkipDrive ride details, giving school staff the visibility transportation teams have, making pickups and dropoffs an even more seamless experience;
New secure, direct communication between CareDrivers and school staff; and
New in-App CareDriver Enhanced Digital ID.
In addition, HopSkipDrive will power rides in select markets for students requiring wheelchair-accessible vehicles as part of the company’s commitment to meet all student transportation needs.
“HopSkipDrive’s industry-leading safety and transparency is always complemented by our technology-led approach to solving challenges in student transportation,” said Corey McMahon, Chief Product and Technology Officer of HopSkipDrive. “Our tools not only help address the challenges caused by underutilized routes and a national bus driver shortage, but also the increased need for more personalized transportation offerings. We do this while delivering what school leaders, parents, caregivers, and communities rightly expect: nothing less than safe, reliable rides to and from school.”
HopSkipDrive continues to demonstrate its commitment to innovation, building on the numerous industry-first products announced just this year aimed at elevating the standards of safety, efficiency, and equity within the student transportation sector. Building upon the success of last year’s back to school launch of five innovative products and services including advanced routing technology, expanded offerings for students with disabilities, and a new ride pooling solution HopSkipDrive once again delivers first-of-their-kind solutions designed to meet the needs of schools, districts, students, families, and CareDrivers, just in time for back to school.
Offerings to streamline school pickup/dropoff and CareDriver communication
The following new updates deliver comprehensive visibility to, and contact with, CareDrivers and on-site school staff.
Daily Queue
School transportation organizers can now empower school staff managing car lines with RideIQ access, HopSkipDrive’s leading ride management platform. The new Daily Queue feature provides staff with the same real-time view that school transportation teams have of which students have been matched with which CareDriver, as well as CareDriver and vehicle details. This heightened visibility allows on-site staff to efficiently manage car lines and the school drop-off and pick-up areas, while ensuring that each child finds their driver seamlessly. Daily Queue provides real-time status updates and arrival ETAs for each CareDriver.
Daily Queue is also viewable in a printable list, which is crucial for accessibility, especially in cases where there are challenges with service reception or accessing Wi-Fi on mobile devices. It can also be accessed via a mobile device or traditional desktop; removing the need for school staff to have district-provided devices or needing to download apps onto personal devices.
“Daily Queue has enabled me to fully focus on my role as a ride organizer by saving me valuable time and allowing me to focus on ride management,” said Marcy Phelps, Director of Transportation of Littleton Public Schools. “With onsite staff seeing real-time ride data, they can efficiently track rides heading to their school and coordinate directly with CareDrivers. This seamless integration has significantly streamlined our operations, ensuring smoother and more responsive service for our students.”
Direct Connections to CareDrivers During the Ride
Users of RideIQ can now directly call CareDrivers – the vetted local caregivers providing safe rides in their vehicles – to help answer questions and quickly resolve issues like location confusion or a traffic delay. Phone numbers will appear as masked data during a ride, and RideIQ users will only have access to the CareDriver’s masked phone number for the duration of the ride.
“HopSkipDrive’s strong relationship with both CareDrivers and school districts – unlike traditional transportation brokers – allows us to design products that create more seamless and integrated end-to-end experiences,” said McMahon. “This not only makes the process of arranging transportation easier and more efficient, but it also enables us to deliver more innovative solutions.”
Enhanced Digital IDs for CareDrivers
HopSkipDrive is introducing Digital ID within the CareDriver app, enabling CareDrivers to seamlessly identify themselves to school staff at arrival, helping onsite staff verify the CareDriver’s identity and further streamline pickup and dropoff.
This new feature includes the CareDriver’s name, photo, and vehicle info, complementing HopSkipDrive’s existing protocols such as required multi-factor verification to begin a ride and RideIQ’s privacy standards.
Supporting students with Wheelchair Accessible Vehicles
HopSkipDrive is introducing the ability for school districts to book rides through the HopSkipDrive platform for students requiring wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Recognizing HopSkipDrive’s unwavering commitment to safety, reliability, and exceptional support, many school districts have long expressed their desire to partner with the company to address the unique transportation needs of their students who use wheelchairs.
“HopSkipDrive has been a strong partner to DPS for many years, and we’re glad to be able to work with HopSkipDrive to meet the vital needs of students in wheelchairs,” said Albert Samoa, Executive Director of Transportation of Denver Public Schools. “HopSkipDrive’s approach to safety and technology make arranging transportation convenient and reliable, and we’re looking forward to the school year ahead.”
Initially available in select cities in California and Colorado, the company intends to expand access to this offering more broadly.
To learn more about HopSkipDrive, visit hopskipdrive.com.
About HopSkipDrive:
HopSkipDrive is a technology company that solves complex transportation challenges where there is a heightened need for safety, equity, and care. HopSkipDrive is modernizing the $30 billion school transportation industry in two ways: HopSkipDrive’s marketplace arranges care-centered transportation to supplement school buses and existing transportation options by connecting kids to highly-vetted caregivers on wheels, such as grandparents, babysitters, and nurses. HopSkipDrive also builds software and offers advisory services that solve the biggest transportation challenges facing schools and school districts around the country, including budget cuts, bus driver shortages, and reaching climate goals. HopSkipDrive currently partners with school districts across 13 states, supporting more than 10,000 schools. More than three million rides over 61 million miles have been completed through HopSkipDrive since the company was founded in 2014 by three working mothers.
