Two main Democrats on the U.S. Senate committee that oversees transportation security pressed the nation’s regulator of buses on Wednesday to supply proof it will probably detect troubled personal firms that present providers to colleges and municipalities.
The letter, from Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, provides weight to issues voiced by elected officers about federal rules and Transdev. A WBUR and ProPublica investigation discovered that dozens of lethal collisions had been lacking from the security report of the corporate, which is among the nation’s largest operators of public transit.
The letter was despatched to the pinnacle of the Federal Motor Service Security Administration. The lawmakers requested the company for paperwork displaying how they guarantee college bus security knowledge is correct, what steerage it offers to legislation enforcement on find out how to report which organizations or firms are concerned in a crash, and why FMCSA knowledge exhibits the variety of “enforcement actions” towards firms has dropped dramatically underneath the Trump administration.
The senators additionally requested FMCSA, which is a part of the Division of Transportation, for information particular to the corporate Transdev, the main target of WBUR and ProPublica’s investigation. The newsrooms started their reporting after the April 2025 dying of a Boston kindergartner who was run over by his personal college bus; the publications discovered no sign up federal security information that Transdev, which operated the bus, was concerned within the crash.
The Division of Transportation didn’t reply WBUR and ProPublica’s questions in regards to the letter or its reporting, however a spokesperson wrote in an announcement Wednesday that the company “shares the Senators’ dedication to the secure transportation of America’s kids.”
“Now we have acquired the Senators’ letter, take the security issues raised very significantly, and are at the moment investigating the matter to supply a complete response,” the assertion continued.
Transdev stated in an announcement responding to the senators’ letter that the corporate takes security significantly and that “all incidents are completely investigated.”
“Transdev complies with all relevant legal guidelines and regulatory necessities in each jurisdiction through which we function, together with federally mandated reporting requirements,” the assertion stated. “It is very important emphasize that now we have all the time adopted federal rules, as prescribed, and can proceed to stick to all necessities for reporting incidents.”
The information investigation uncovered dozens of different lethal crashes related to Transdev that had been not a part of its report. Lens Joseph’s dying and at the very least two others resulted in prison expenses towards the bus drivers.
The motive force in Lens’ case has pleaded not responsible in an ongoing felony involuntary manslaughter case. In a 2017 crash in Taunton, Massachusetts, that left a lady lifeless, the bus driver pleaded responsible to misdemeanor negligent operation of a motorcar. And one other Transdev bus driver pleaded responsible to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter after the bus she was driving struck and killed a person in Las Vegas in 2023.
The 2 senators search by Aug. 12 a listing of all of the inspections and crashes associated to the French firm and information explaining why the federal company’s information didn’t embrace at the very least 42 deadly crashes linked to the corporate over the previous decade.
“With out correct and full knowledge, it’s inconceivable for FMCSA to correctly goal enforcement on unsafe firms, as a result of the company lacks the vital knowledge wanted to conclude they’re unsafe,” the senators stated within the letter.
“It’s clear U.S. DOT failed in its accountability to carry unsafe truck and bus firms accountable,” Markey stated. “That’s why Senator Cantwell and I are demanding solutions from Trump’s DOT about its lack of oversight of truck and bus firms with harmful, alarming, and unknown monitor information.”
WBUR and ProPublica sought remark from the Republican management of each the Home and Senate committees answerable for transportation security after the June story was printed, however didn’t obtain responses.
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, the highest Democrat on the U.S. Home Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has stated correct knowledge is vital to creating good coverage.
“We are able to’t save lives if we don’t have correct knowledge — which is why the current reporting from ProPublica and WBUR in regards to the gaps in our database was so disturbing,” Larsen stated.
On July 17, Boston Metropolis Councilor Erin Murphy despatched a written request to the state’s faculties regulator for an impartial evaluation of Boston Public Faculties’ transportation security. She stated she was involved that Boston Public Faculties might not have revealed the total extent of Transdev’s crash issues.
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat who represents the Boston neighborhood the place 5-year-old Lens was killed, has additionally known as for FMCSA to research Transdev.
“We should have no firm or contractor working with no full accounting of their security report,” Pressley stated in a written assertion. “The protection of our youngsters have to be the highest precedence.”
