Background: The Challenge of Coordination

St. Charles School District in St. Charles, Missouri, supports approximately 4,600 students across a large area, 17 miles wide. The district’s student services department, which includes foster and McKinney-Vento (MKV) liaisons, is responsible for coordinating the complex transportation needs of transient students.

Before and at the start of Kelley Wilkinson’s tenure as Executive Secretary for Student Services and Foster/MKV Liaison, the district had already been working with HopSkipDrive since 2024. As the district’s need for McKinney-Vento transportation services increased, Kelley found herself coordinating all the transportation alone, which was taking up a lot of her time.

Kelley’s primary frustration was what she saw too often with other companies: a critical lack of control and visibility that seemed inherent to the broker model for alternative transportation. Communication was challenging and often included emailing requests, waiting for days for fulfillment, and then simply hoping for the best. This time-lag and lack of transparency led to unnecessary stress and missed school days for students.

Working alone, and with school starting before her day officially began, she needed a solution that would streamline her process, give her confidence, and move her from a reactive to a proactive approach.

The Situation: Proactive Planning with RideIQ

The district’s partnership with HopSkipDrive has been a success, largely due to the seamless experience provided by RideIQ: our all-in-one software solution built specifically for school districts. It lets you book, manage, and monitor every HopSkipDrive ride from a single, simple dashboard.

Instead of relying on an untrackable form submission process when scheduling rides with other third-party transportation providers, HopSkipDrive’s RideIQ allowed Kelley to:

• Book rides:  Rides can happen in as little as six hours after booking and can change a location in two hours. This can all be done in seconds, directly by Kelley with a simple edit in RideIQ – no game of telephone, waiting for confirmation, or checking for availability.  This means it takes minutes to solve a problem, not days. 

• Real-Time Ride Tracking: No need to play "where's the ride?" You see every active ride on a live map, from pickup to drop-off. Now, if you get a call, you have all the information at your fingertips. 

• Daily Queue: On-site staff at St. Charles have controlled visibility to eliminate any "Where is the ride?" phone calls to the office.  Now school staff can just look at the Daily Queue on their computer, tablet, or a printed out version to have:

  • A live list of all HopSkipDrive rides scheduled for their specific school.

  • The student's name for each ride.

  • A real-time, on-a-map ETA for every single car.

  • A temporary phone number for the CareDriver in case they need to reach them, protecting privacy and expanding visibility

• Precise Locations (with Pins): Eliminated pickup confusion for good by adding specific notes and dropping a precise map pin for exact locations—like the 'side door by the gym' or 'Door 3'. 

This shift in workflow simplified everything for Kelley, giving her a level of access and control that other solutions just don’t offer. She can now see the change happen rather than just filling out a form, which felt like she was sending it into a void. This proactive approach significantly reduced her workload and her stress. 

The Results: Consistency and Peace of Mind

HopSkipDrive has delivered clear, high-value benefits, particularly for the district’s McKinney-Vento and foster transportation needs.

• Time Savings and Confidence: Kelley expressed that RideIQ saves her so much time. More importantly, it provides peace of mind for parents. She noted, “I can come in and feel confident that everyone has rides even before I sit down at my desk,” a certainty other solutions couldn’t offer.

• Consistent, Dependable Service: HopSkipDrive is described as being “consistent and on time, and working the way it’s supposed to.” The dependability gives the students structure and consistency that they may not be getting in other areas of their lives.

• Positive Stakeholder Feedback: A Principal shared that a student’s move to HopSkipDrive was ”so smooth, so nice,” especially in avoiding long wait times for late rides. Parents feel that people care and that they can also ask questions.

• Streamlined Communication: A lot of parents are using the HopSkipDrive app, which helps with making sure pickups are smooth. The ability to just cancel a ride if a kid is sick is also helpful. 

By adopting HopSkipDrive’s technology and dedicated support, St. Charles School District moved past reactive transportation management, achieving superior consistency, dependable transportation support, and genuine peace of mind for staff, students, and families.