By Andrea Leinfelder
Houston Chronicle
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Female founded “HopSkipDrive,” helps parents juggle the logistics of work, school drop-offs and after-school activities. Think Uber for busy moms and dads.
Houston
One kid has soccer practice. Another is late to ballet lessons. And you’re stuck on a conference call.
A service to help solve such parental predicaments has come into Houston, offering a ride-hailing platform to pick up the kids when you can’t. The company, HopSkipDrive of Los Angeles, hires vetted caregivers to drive children 6 and older at the click of an app.
HopSkipDrive, now operating in 10 U.S. markets, aims to help parents juggle the logistics of work, school drop-offs and after-school activities and get everybody where they need to be when they need to be there.
The company, founded in 2014, hires drivers with at least five years of caregiving experience and vets them with a 15-point certification process that includes fingerprinting, driving record reviews and background checks using FBI and Department of Justice databases.
Rides are booked at least eight hours in advance or by 7 p.m. the night before for morning rides. Parents receive a photo of the driver to show their children and to share with the school. Drivers are given a code word that the child will recognize to know it’s safe to get in the car. And parents can track the ride in real time with a mobile app.
