Growing Our School Partnerships by 35% as We Prepare for Our Biggest Back-to-School Season Yet

We’re sharing some exciting news about HopSkipDrive’s growth as we prepare for what we expect to be our biggest back-to-school season yet. Over the past six months, we’ve seen significant expansion across our platform, and we’re thrilled to report that we now support over 13,500 schools — a 35% increase since the start of the year. During this same time period, our network of partners grew by 28%, and now includes more than 1,280 school districts, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. 

This expansion in partnerships demonstrates the increasing demand for safe, reliable transportation that supports all student populations, reflecting how our supplemental student transportation platform uniquely addresses mobility needs with care.

Serving Diverse Student Populations

Our growth has been particularly strong in serving students who need reliable transportation most:

• McKinney-Vento student riders grew by 17%, with our industry-only six-hour booking window supporting students whose housing situations may change frequently.

• For students in the foster care system, ridership expanded by 22%, as our network of highly vetted local CareDrivers provides the stability and individualized care these students need. 

• Career and Technical Education (CTE) ridership grew by 67%, reflecting the nationwide expansion of CTE programming as states increasingly invest in these pathways to meet growing workforce demands. 

Behind these numbers is a growing network of CareDrivers — trusted community members with at least five years of caregiving experience — who collectively earned tens of millions of dollars in supplemental income this academic year.

Building Relationships That Matter

What sets CareDrivers apart is their deep commitment to building empathetic, supportive relationships with the students they serve, often becoming a consistent and positive presence in riders’ lives. This consistency proves especially crucial for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Over 90% of IEP rider and CareDriver pairings were repeat matches, building the trust and familiarity essential for student success. 

Expanding Access for All Students

We’re constantly expanding our offerings to meet the needs of all students. This year, we launched Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle (WAV) rides and Rider Assistants across all operating cities, while introducing our Car Seat Program — developed in partnership with our Safety Advisory Council — in select markets. We also introduced Safe Ride InSight™, our AI-powered in-ride dashcam program that combines visual monitoring with audio recording and is used alongside our advanced telematics. 

Looking ahead, we announced plans to expand into several new markets, partnering with school districts in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. 

Strengthening Our Foundation

To support this expansion, we strengthened our leadership team and operational foundation. We welcomed David Katcher as Chief Operating Officer and Tyler Baldwin as Chief Revenue Officer, bringing decades of combined experience in scaling technology platforms and driving strategic growth. Additionally, we made strategic investments to further bolster safety and operations, adding 20 new team members across our Trust & Safety, Operations, Safe Ride Support^®, Product, and Specialty Transportation teams.

This commitment to both leadership and excellence was further recognized when HopSkipDrive Co-founder and CEO Joanna McFarland was named to Inc.’s 2025 Female Founder 500 list, underscoring our innovative approach to scaling supplemental student transportation nationwide. HopSkipDrive was also recently named to the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America, ranking #667 overall and #17 in the education category. This is HopSkipDrive’s fourth year on the Inc. 5000 list, placing it among the top 13% of fastest-growing private companies nationwide this year.

Ready for Our Biggest Back-to-School Season

As we look toward the new school year, we’re more prepared than ever to serve the students and families who count on us. With our expanded network of CareDrivers, enhanced safety features, and growing partnerships with schools nationwide, we’re ready to make this our biggest and most successful back-to-school season yet. Every student deserves reliable transportation to access their education, and we’re excited to continue growing alongside the communities we proudly serve.