Boston Public Schools hadn't until now fined bus vendor for thousands of 'uncovered trips'

Boston Public Schools could have fined its school bus vendor $1.5 million for missed rides, but chose not to do so. The admission outraged parents and Boston City Councilors at a Tuesday hearing.

WBUR first reported that the district had not exercised its contractual right to fine vendor Transdev $500 for each instance of a “blown trip.” That's when a bus is more than an hour late for pickup or "uncovered" — as in, no driver or vehicle is available for the ride.

Transdev operates the school bus system including the hiring and training of roughly 750 drivers and maintenance of a bus fleet of more than 700 vehicles.

More than 3,100 bus rides — or nearly 1% of all scheduled bus rides this year — have been uncovered compared to an average 0.2% in the past three years, said Dan Rosengard, the district’s director of transportation.

At-large Councilor Julia Mejia said the district’s lack of punitive action against Transdev was mind-boggling.

“In a time of budget cuts, that's almost $2 million left on the table that could otherwise be serving our students,” she said. “Families are missing work, juggling other childcare arrangements and otherwise flexing their lives around a lack of reliability for something our peers and other districts take for granted."

At-large Councilor Erin Murphy demanded answers from Rosengard regarding the current bus contract that started in July 2023.

" The punitive measures we keep talking about, these aren't new. We've always had those at our disposal,” she said. “But we chose to never use the tools we had to hold a school bus company accountable even after their lack of professionalism caused us to lose our insurance.”

After multiple bus accidents by Transdev, including the April 2025 fatal collision with a kindergartender, National Interstate Insurance cancelled the school district’s policy and it had to find another carrier, according to documents WBUR reviewed.

“If you are a student on one of the buses that is consistently arriving late, the system is failing you."

Dan Rosengard

A spokesperson for the school district had told WBUR it didn't issue the fines because it did not believe they were an effective way to improve Transdev's performance.

Rosengard said that the district will now start issuing penalties for blown trips as of March.

“We will be assessing liquidated damages for uncovered trips,” he said at Tuesday’s hearing.

The school district has paid more than $21 million in management fees to Transdev this year, according to Rosengard. Company representatives were not present during the three-hour long emergency hearing on persistent bus delays.

Roslindale parent Lori Murphy testified that her kids' bus was canceled or delayed nine times over the past five weeks. Each delay lasted more than 40 minutes.

“My fifth grader wants you to know that he’s had to miss baseball practice because of bus lateness,” she said at the hearing. “And the impact on staff needing to stay late cannot go unnoticed.”

Councilor Liz Breadon, whose district covers Allston and Brighton, said the Thomas Edison K8 school has experienced bus issues “almost every week” the past several months, including delays of three hours.

She said since early December there were 27 uncovered school rides on one route alone.

“That’s an abysmal performance,” Breadon said.

She said buses on Tuesday were late getting students to MCAS testing which impeded students’ readiness.

“And then you wonder why kids aren’t doing well on tests,” she added.

Rosengard said replacement drivers get to bid for open bus routes when the regular driver is unavailable. But that system means it's hard to cover "less desirable" routes.

“We have more routes that need standby drivers than there are standby drivers available,” he said.

Rosengard explained standby drivers bid for those routes they want after an assigned driver calls in sick or has to take leave.

Factors such as a route’s hours, pay, geographic location or “bus type preference,” he said, has made some routes less likely to get covered — leaving families in the lurch multiple days this year.

“It's often the same routes every day that are … not bid on and ending up uncovered,” Rosengard said.

Those “standby bids” take place each day starting at 5:15 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m. for afternoon rides.

Rosengard acknowledged the fallout.

“If you are a student on one of the buses that is consistently arriving late, the system is failing you,” he said.

Marie-Frances Rivera, a parent of a BPS third-grader, testified at the hearing that late and no-show buses have broader implications.

“Although transportation sounds like a logistical issue, it's a learning issue, it’s a family stability issue, and it's a school climate issue,” she said.

Rosengard said on-time performance was better this year across the district than past years, averaging 93% in the morning and 88% for afternoon pickups, as of March.

But those are still short of the school’s benchmark for Transdev of 95% on-time performance and the same expectations set forth by the state.

In 2022, poor bus performance was one of the reasons the district nearly went into state receivership. City leaders pledged to meet a 95% on-time standard for its bus routes as part of an agreement with the state to retain control of its schools.

Boston has yet to consistently meet that requirement.

At a separate event Tuesday, Mayor Michelle Wu addressed questions about bus delays. She said the district’s on-time performance was improving and that most of the problems were related to heavy traffic.

While it’s one factor for the delays, congestion is not the reason for blown trips as the result of no drivers.

Mejia said there will be a second hearing on bus delays before the end of the school year to assess progress by the district.