Stuck in school traffic one morning, Yumi looked at the long line of parents driving their children and wondered: what if we all took the bus instead? Her dad wasn’t convinced. He showed her parents’ complaints online about late pick-ups, missed pick-ups and last-minute cancellations.

That became the problem Yumi set out to solve. Parents, she realised, would only choose the bus if they could trust it.

She went home and started sketching. The idea grew into Onboard, an app that keeps parents, drivers and schools connected throughout a child’s bus journey. Parents can follow each stage of the trip, see when the bus will arrive and cancel a pick-up if plans change. Drivers can send urgent updates to every parent at once.

Yumi has been coding since she was six. A few years ago, she watched the Korean drama Start-Up with her mum and was captivated by the idea that technology and entrepreneurship could come together to make something meaningful. Onboard is that idea made real.

She worked with a developer to build a first version, then tested it for three months with one driver and four parents. Their feedback shaped what stayed. Live GPS tracking was set aside in favour of what parents valued most: trip cancellation, arrival times and journey updates. The trial also showed that drivers need proper training, which is now a bigger focus.