Zum Driver 4+

Glad that I read the reviews only after I have been driving for Zum for 2 months. Zum must have listened and took action because it’s been good for me. The riders are awesome and the parents are very supportive. Most of my riders are on time except for a couple, which I have learned to plan for. The schedule is ideal for me. I got paid for any same day cancellation if en route or when I arrive at the pickup location.

There are still some things that need to be addressed:

1. The app freezes often
2. Allow additional travel time for rides in certain locations like SF considering traffic conditions during rush hour and compensate accordingly
3. Include the names of the school or facility on the pickup and/or drop off addresses

Zum is an awesome option for busy parents. I wish I had this option when my child was school age.

The customer service is horrible. I can never get an exact answer when I have an issue with a ride, my payment, etc. Expect to rarely get paid on time and wait literally MONTHS to get the bonuses that you are promised upon signing up. Expect parents to cancel on you when you are already at the pickup location and barely get compensated for it. Parents often leave unclear pickup instructions, and you are expected to wait up to 30 mins for a kid even if you have somewhere to be—like your real job for example. Why don’t they put a cap on the wait time so as to not inconvenience drivers and waste their time? Who knows! That’s just one of the many wonderful little surprises about this company! You have no way of contacting the child if you can’t find them, and parents rarely answer the phone if an issue comes up at pickup/dropoff. The pay for a ride is often too low because it doesn’t reflect real time traffic, so you could drive for 45 mins+ and only get paid for what showed up on your app as a “30 minute ride.” Zum is terrible and has a lot of work to do.

Never really read review until after 2 years of doing it. Some of the negative reviews here are correct but theres been quite a few updates since. As school start opening more and more, I do see the demand also increasing. Zum runs a similar system to uber/lyft where the more rides youve done and the more reliable you are the more request you get. On a bad week, I’ve gotten anywhere from 8-10 rides all paying more than $20/ride. (SouthBay area) Eventually, the app will start sending you the same rides and include a “bonus” in their package, this means that your student/pick up does become consist and essentially you become their everyday rider. Its just one of those things where you’ll start slow and inconsistent but overtime it gets easier and better.