Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Palm Springs Unified details new bus vendor features and approves 2026-27 transportation service areas and plan
Loading...
Summary
District transportation staff reported a vendor transition to Zoom Services, new routing and parent-app features, a TK'12 bus-pass pilot and two proposed service-area expansions; the board approved the 2026-27 transportation service areas and plan (items 17f and 17g).
District transportation director Abdul Guzrud presented an annual update on March 24 describing operational changes since the district contracted with vendor Zoom Services in June 2025 and recommending approval of service-area updates for 2026-27.
Abdul said the district is now fully staffed on the operations side and has implemented AI-driven routing software and a new digital radio system. He said the vendor has supplied newer buses (2025 or newer) and that standby drivers increased from three to seven. Abdul said the parent app that comes with the vendor's service provides real-time tracking, estimated arrival times and a customer-service channel; parents can cancel rides for curb-to-curb routes and have given about 11,000 ratings with an average of 4.97 out of 5, according to the presentation.
On a policy change, staff described a new student bus-pass system to be piloted this year for TK through 12 that uses badge scanning when students board and offboard buses. Abdul said the district is calling the first year a pilot and will allow students to ride even if they lose a badge while the system is phased in; the district plans to print replacement badges locally and is developing next-year policy for repeated badge loss. That proposed policy prompted questions from board members and students about language access, whether parents can track in Spanish, whether a student could manually enter an ID number if they forget a badge, and whether removal from service for missing badges would be used. Abdul said customer service representatives and CSRs include Spanish speakers and that staff will explore allowing manual entry or other accommodations.
Staff also presented two proposed service-area expansions that would add roughly 26 home-to-school riders for Bubbling Wells Elementary (about a 21% ridership increase for that site) and about a 20% ridership increase for Painted Hills using existing route capacity rather than adding new routes.
Votes and action: The board approved the transportation service areas for the 2026-27 school year (agenda item 17f) and approved the 2026-27 transportation service plan per Education Code section 39800.1 (agenda item 17g) by voice vote. Multiple other consent and action items on the agenda were also approved during the meeting.
Why it matters: The changes affect daily logistics for about 2,330 regular riders the presentation estimated (1,940 general-education riders and 390 special-education riders), and the bus-pass system will change how families and the district track pick-ups and drop-offs. Board members emphasized the priority of ensuring students get to school and cautioned against punitive enforcement that would prevent students from riding.
Next steps: Staff will return with implementation details and proposed policy language for handling lost badges and enforcement; service-area updates will be implemented for the 2026-27 school year following board approval.
