For Joe Pacey, the start of the 2026-27 school year also marked a new beginning for his family: His 7th grade daughter taking the bus to school for the first time.
But on the first day of school, Pacey’s daughter, who goes to Indian Hills, was 47 minutes late because of delays from Shawnee Mission’s new transportation partner, Redwood City, California-based Zum Services.
On the second, third and fourth days of school, Pacey’s daughter didn’t ride the bus at all because of delays to her bus stop — which ranged from 20 minutes to more than an hour.
Pacey said his wife and some other parents of bus riders stepped up to get the students to school on time those next several days. The parents are able to gauge delays from the Zum app, which Pacey said he finds helpful.
“We’re getting by,” Pacey said. “It’s not ideal for working families, but luckily we have enough flexibility that a one-off situation like that isn’t too detrimental and we’re able to manage it.”
The bus delays from Zum, which is under a seven-year, $21 million a year contract with Shawnee Mission, are impacting families across the district.
In a message obtained by the Post that the district sent to families on Tuesday, district staff said they’re working with Zum “to address concerns and frustrations experienced during the first 5 days of” school.
Zum posted a message to families online on Monday stating that while most “routes have gone smoothly, some routes have run behind schedule.”
The message to families also points to drivers running a high school, elementary and middle school route each morning as part of the issue.
This led to on-time arrival issues with mostly middle schools, as those students start school later in the morning. Zum ends its online message by noting that the issues should be resolved by the end of the week.
“Families should see improved on-time performance by later this week,” Zum wrote.
“It hasn’t been the best experience so far”
Families like the Paceys, who live within 2.5 miles of their child’s designated school, must pay for bus services.
Bus services cost $185 per student per semester or $370 per student per school year. An “early bird discount” costs families $160 for the first option and $320 for the second option.
Pacey said he and his wife are working parents, and while both of their daughters were in elementary school with an 8:10 a.m. start time, it made sense to drop their kids off at school.
With a 7th grader in the house now, Pacey said the 8:45 a.m. bell is too late for drop-off to make sense for their family.
“We were excited to take the bus this year, but it hasn’t been the best experience so far,” Pacey said.
The bus is scheduled to pick up Pacey’s daughter most days at 8:22 a.m., about 20 minutes before the bell rings.
On days when the bus is delayed to arrive at the stop by 20 minutes or more, Pacey said his wife and other parents in the neighborhood take the kids to school.
The delay times have decreased in recent days, Pacey said, with students at his daughter’s stop arriving at school within 10 minutes of the bell ringing.
For Diane Meyers, who cares for four grandchildren, her granddaughter’s bus getting students to school 10 minutes or so late is no big deal.
But on Monday, her granddaughter, a 7th grader at Trail Ridge Middle School, arrived home two-and-a-half hours late on Monday.
Meyers’ granddaughter and other students on her bus waited to be picked up from Trail Ridge until about 5 p.m. on Monday. Shawnee Mission middle schoolers are released at 3:45 p.m. daily.
When Meyers’ granddaughter and several other students reached their stop, the bus driver refused to let them off.
Meyers said the bus driver then drove through the Black Swan Estates, a private lake community in Shawnee with narrow streets. The driver ultimately got stuck and made all the kids walk home, she said.
“They didn’t know what was going on, why they weren’t let off the bus,” Meyers said.
Days later, at least one student was afraid to get back on the bus, Meyers said.
Drivers running three routes is part of the problem
In the Tuesday message to families, the district’s communications team said Zum is working to address bus rider family concerns and frustrations.
The plan is for Zum to increase available routes, improve transit times and “ensure safe riding conditions,” the message to families said.
Meanwhile, in the Monday message to families, Zum pointed to Shawnee Mission’s three-tier bell schedule and drivers running a route for each of the tiers as the source of the delays.
On most days, the bell for Shawnee Mission high schoolers rings at 7:40 a.m., followed by elementary students at 8:10 a.m. and, finally, middle schoolers at 8:45 a.m.
Drivers start their morning with a high school route and then run an elementary and middle school route, Zum posted on its website.
“When one route is delayed, that impacts the timing of ensuing routes,” Zum wrote.
On Monday, 98% of high school bus riders made it to school on time, compared with 85% of elementary school students and 83% of middle school students, Zum wrote.
To fix this, Zum and Shawnee Mission are working together to adjust the turnaround time between the three different routes drivers make each day.
Among these solutions, Zum is adding 15 to 20 more routes and drivers that will help reduce the length of existing routes.
Zum is also asking families who need bus transportation to register their students as soon as possible to add them into the system. The Zum team worked over the weekend to add 688 students to their routes after the school year started, according to the bus company’s post.
“Since school started, the Zum team has worked around the clock with SMSD to sharpen route performance in real time,” the post reads.
Shawnee Mission entered a 7-year contract with Zum
In January, the district’s board of education unanimously approved a seven-year contract with Zum.
The contract is estimated to cost $21 million annually, with an $18 million initial cost.
At the time of the approval, Deputy Superintendent David Stubblefield said that the school day’s start and end is marked by a school bus “for thousands of our students.”
Zum was one of three finalists for the contract, alongside First Student and Durham Student Services. DS Bus Lines was the district’s previous transportation provider.
Some of the features Zum offers includes an air-conditioned fleet of buses as well as tracking systems that are intended to both optimize routes and show parents and school officials where the bus is at all times.
The tracking system also tracks when and where students get on and off the bus.
As for the families impacted by bus delays this year, there appears to be some hope.
Both Meyers and Pacey say they have had positive experiences with Zum’s location manager for Shawnee Mission.
Pacey said he’s optimistic about the issues getting resolved.
“While it’s been a frustrating couple of weeks seeing the delays and having to scramble to get our student to school on time, I do appreciate the proactive communication from both the district and Zum,” Pacey said, “and do have optimism that they’ll get the situation corrected long term.”
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