Boston City Council Demands TransDev Accountability Over Chronic School Bus Failures

BOSTON — March 31, 2026 — Boston City Council emergency hearing exposes chronic BPS bus failures and first-ever TransDev fines. The Council's Committee on Education, chaired by Councilor-at-Large Julia M. Mejia, held a three-hour hearing Tuesday on Docket 0374, filed by Councilors Erin J. Murphy, Edward M. Flynn, and John FitzGerald, after years of persistent complaints about late and missing buses across all Boston Public Schools. BPS Transportation Executive Director Dan Rosengard disclosed that 3,171 of 361,060 scheduled trips were uncovered this school year — a rate of 0.9 percent, more than four times the prior three-year average of 0.2 percent — while afternoon on-time performance stood at just 88 percent, leaving an estimated 2,280 students stranded daily. Council President Liz Breadon presented school-compiled data showing the Edison K-8 had a bus with a 14 percent on-time rate and a maximum delay of 183 minutes. Rosengard confirmed the district is assessing $500-per-incident liquidated damages against TransDev for the first time under any contract, beginning with March trips, after notifying the vendor at the end of February; one parent-submitted written estimate put uncollected penalties at $1.7 million. The proposed FY27 transportation budget is $198 million, up $10 million from FY26, against a backdrop of declining ridership.