Company involved in deadly school bus crash has history of personal injury claims in Boston

Boston Globe

23-05-2025

Among the allegations: A Transdev driver, on his first day on the job, crashed the school bus he was driving into the back of a motorist's car while looking at a clipboard in 2019. After a Transdev driver exited a BPS bus, the unattended bus rolled uncontrolled across a parking lot in 2015, striking a BPS assistant principal, shattering his pelvis. Another Transdev driver crashed a BPS bus into another vehicle during a police stop in 2022.
Most recently,
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The latest crash has raised questions about the training and oversight of Boston's school bus drivers, who are employees of Transdev, an $11 billion French company with US headquarters in Illinois.
At a recent community meeting
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Marie Kelley, a resident of the Hyde Park neighborhood where Lens was killed, said she frequently saw BPS buses speeding and driving unsafely through the area before that crash.
'They don't obey the laws that much,' Kelley said in an interview. 'Matter of fact, just the other day, I saw one taking a corner, didn't have a blinker on, and didn't even hesitate to stop ... they got to slow down.'
Two city councilors — Erin Murphy and Ed Flynn — have demanded a hearing to review the hiring, training, and compliance certification of BPS bus drivers.
'Every day, thousands of families entrust BPS with their children's safety,' Murphy said in a statement. 'We must ensure that trust is not misplaced.'
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The proposed hearing was referred to the council's Education Committee, led by Councilor Henry Santana, who did not immediately respond to a question about when the hearing would be scheduled.
The driver in the Hyde Park crash, Jean Charles, resigned May 14 ahead of a scheduled termination hearing. Boston police and the Suffolk district attorney's office are investigating the crash, but have not provided any updates since the tragedy occurred.
Officials in the mayor's office, BPS, and United Steelworkers Local 8751, which represents drivers who operate BPS buses, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Transdev, in its first public statement since the crash, declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation into the Hyde Park crash.
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'This was a truly tragic accident and Transdev is fully cooperating with BPS and the relevant authorities in their investigations. Our number one priority is to continue providing safe and reliable bus services for the children attending Boston Public Schools,' Transdev said Thursday in the statement.
'In relation to any investigation of the driver, we are not at liberty to comment on an active police investigation. Transdev mourns the death of Lens Arthur Joseph and expresses its heartfelt condolences to his family during this difficult time."
Across the country, Transdev has been involved in four fatal crashes in the past two years, and 69 others with injuries,
Transdev
BPS contracts with Transdev to maintain the district's fleet of about 740 buses, manage three bus yards, and hire and manage school bus drivers, according to the district. The company employs about 1,000 staffers in Boston, including about 750 bus drivers, BPS has reported.
The case filings in Suffolk Superior Court provide insight to some of those crashes that resulted in injury. Of the 15 cases — the earliest filed in 2015, the latest in March — at least 10 ended in settlements, records show.
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Among the cases that ended with settlements was a lawsuit filed by John Switlekowski, who was the assistant principal at the McCormack Middle School in Dorchester when, in March 2015, an
The driver had stepped off the bus to use the bathroom and was not on board at the time of the crash.
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According to court records, Switlekowski sued Transdev, the city, and the bus driver. The case was settled the following year. Switlekowski did not respond to a request for comment.
Three other personal injury cases, including Caldwell's, are pending against Transdev in Suffolk Superior Court.
In Caldwell's case, filed in August, she is suing Transdev, the city, and the school bus driver, Thony Pierre-Louis.
Her lawyer, Kelsey Rose, told the Globe Wednesday that Caldwell had to have one toe amputated and underwent surgery. The driver said he wasn't responsible, Rose said.
'The driver denied that he ran over her foot despite the physical evidence showing that he did,' Rose said. 'The EMTs reported blood and an 'obvious deformity' of the right foot when they removed her shoe.'
In court papers, the defendants denied Caldwell's allegations.
Gareth Notis, an attorney representing Transdev, the city, and Pierre-Louis, said he could not comment on current litigation. The sides disagree about the facts in the case, he said.
'The facts are in great dispute about what happened and who is at fault,' Notis said in a brief phone interview.
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Last week, on Boston 311, a BPS school bus was reported
On April 30, just two days after the fatal crash,
'I was just at the red light at Freeport in Dorchester Avenue when a yellow school bus took a left-hand turn onto Freeport Street from the right hand lane at accelerated speed,' the poster said. 'And we wonder why five year-[olds] are killed by school buses.'
Christopher Huffaker, Marcela Rodrigues, and Jeremiah Manion of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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