Our Story
KidHop was born from a problem millions of working families face — and one mother's refusal to accept that there was no solution.
JodyAnn Baker
Founder, KidHop
In school districts across the country, transportation is one of the most overlooked barriers to a child's education.
Parents work during school dismissal hours. Students attend magnet, charter, private, or transfer schools miles from home. Traditional bus routes stop short of their neighborhood — or never cover them at all.
Families patch together solutions: a friend who can help on Tuesdays, a grandparent who leaves work early on Thursdays, an expensive rideshare when nothing else works. It's fragile, stressful, and unsustainable.
JodyAnn Baker knows this struggle firsthand.
When her daughter Savannah was accepted as a transfer student to a school that better fit her academic goals, the family was thrilled. But the acceptance came with an unexpected consequence: as a transfer student, Savannah no longer qualified for school bus transportation.
Like millions of working parents, JodyAnn suddenly faced an impossible question:
How is my child going to get to and from school every single day?
JodyAnn made it work the only way she could: she personally drove Savannah to school every morning and picked her up every afternoon.
She was fortunate to have the flexibility — but it came at a real cost. Missed meetings. Rearranged schedules. The quiet, persistent fear that one bad traffic day on Houston's freeways could put her job at risk.
Her days revolved entirely around the school schedule. And while she was grateful to make it work, she couldn't stop thinking about something bigger.
"While making those trips, I kept wondering — what do parents do when they don't have the flexibility to leave work every afternoon? What happens to the kids whose parents simply can't be there?"
That question stayed with her. It grew into something she couldn't ignore. She began talking to other families and discovered she was far from alone.
Across Houston, parents were making impossible choices — turning down promotions, cutting back hours, leaning on unreliable arrangements — all because there was no dependable way to get their child between school and home.
JodyAnn didn't see a complaint. She saw a problem worth solving.
Instead of building a fleet from scratch, she envisioned something smarter: a coordination marketplace that connects families with vetted transportation providers who are already on the road — licensed companies and independent drivers with the right vehicles, insurance, and experience. They simply needed the right clients to fill their routes.
KidHop would match students traveling in the same direction with the same provider, creating small, consistent groups. No chaos. No strangers every day. Just a dependable ride with someone families come to know and trust.
Every provider is vetted, licensed, and experienced in transporting children.
Consistent routes and familiar drivers, not a different provider every day.
Small groups mean less chaos and more accountability.
Direct communication — parents always know who's behind the wheel.
KidHop isn't simply about rides. It's about giving families the freedom to choose the right school — without transportation standing in the way.
Today, KidHop is building a growing network of trusted transportation providers throughout the Greater Houston area. But the vision goes further.
JodyAnn imagines a future where transportation is never the reason a child misses out on the right school — where working parents don't have to choose between their job and their child's education, and where every family has access to safe, dependable rides they can count on.
Every child deserves a safe ride home.
Every parent deserves peace of mind.
That's why KidHop exists — and that's what we're building, one trusted relationship at a time.
KidHop is more than a transportation service. It's a growing community of Driver Partners, Chaperones, families, and schools — all working together to make sure every child can access the opportunity they deserve.
JodyAnn Baker founded KidHop with a simple belief: every child deserves dependable access to education, and every parent deserves peace of mind.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University at Albany and is currently pursuing her Master of Business Administration (MBA) at William Jewell College.
Early in her career, JodyAnn worked with children in a variety of settings, including detention centers and foster care programs. Those experiences provided firsthand insight into the importance of stability, consistency, and supportive adults in helping young people succeed.
Years later, when transportation became a daily challenge for her own family, she realized many other parents faced the same struggle. That experience inspired the creation of KidHop.
Today, she combines her background in sociology, business, and lived experience as a parent to build a trusted transportation network that helps students safely access school while giving families greater confidence in their daily routines.
"KidHop was built on the belief that dependable transportation helps create opportunity — for students, for families, and for the communities they call home."
"Every child deserves the opportunity to learn. Every family deserves a transportation partner they can trust."
"KidHop started with one family and one question. Today, it's a growing community of parents, students, Driver Partners, and Chaperones who believe that getting to school shouldn't be the hardest part of a child's education — and that every family deserves trusted relationships they can count on."
— JodyAnn Baker
Founder, KidHop
If your family needs reliable transportation between school and home, we're here to help.