On Wednesday, two leading Democrats in the U.S. Senate committee that oversees transportation safety demanded from the country’s bus regulator to provide evidence that it can identify disturbed private companies that provide services to municipalities and schools.
The email is from Sens. Adds mass to issues that elected officials have about Transdev and federal laws, according to Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. One of the largest operators of public transportation in the country, the company, was found to have been missing dozens of fatal collisions in a WBUR and ProPublica research.
The email was addressed to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s mind. The lawmakers requested documents from the organization explaining how to ensure that the school bus safety data is accurate, what direction it offers law enforcement regarding how to report individuals or businesses involved in crashes, and why FMCSA data shows that under the Trump administration, enforcement actions against businesses have drastically decreased.
The senators even requested information from FMCSA, which is a division of the Department of Transportation, regarding Transdev, the subject of WBUR and ProPublica’s research. The publications discovered no indication in national health records that Transdev, which operated the vehicle, was involved in the accident, which is how the newsrooms began reporting after the Boston kindergartner’s death in April 2025 was being investigated by the publications.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transportation said in a statement on Wednesday that it” shares the Senators ‘ commitment to the safe transport of America’s children.” WBUR and ProPublica asked the company for comment on the letter and its monitoring.
The Senators ‘ email has been received, and we are now looking into the matter in order to provide a complete response, the statement continued.
In a statement in response to the legislators ‘ letter, Transdev said that the company takes security seriously and that “every incident is carefully investigated.”
Transdev abides by all applicable laws and regulations, including federally mandated reporting norms, in every jurisdiction in which we operate, according to the statement. It is crucial to point out that we have always adhered to federal laws and restrictions, as required, and will continue to do so in the future.
Difficulty another fatal crashes related to Transdev were the subject of the news investigation, which did not involve its history. The vehicle individuals were charged with criminal offenses after Lins Joseph’s death and at least two people led to their arrest.
In an ongoing criminal involuntary manslaughter event, the driver in the Lens case has entered a not-guilty plea. The bus drivers admitted misdemeanor careless activity of a motor vehicle in a 2017 collision in Taunton, Massachusetts, which resulted in the death of a woman. Another Transdev bus drivers entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor vehicular homicide after the van she was operating struck and killed a man in Las Vegas in 2023.
The two lawmakers request a list of all the inspections and crashes involving the French company by August 12 and records explaining why the national firm’s records did not contain at least 42 fatal crashes involving the business over the past ten years.
Because the company lacks the crucial information needed to determine whether a company is uncomfortable, it is difficult for FMCSA to effectively target enforcement on illegal companies, according to the senators in the letter.
It is obvious that the U.S. DOT lacked the authority to carry illegal truck and bus companies accountable, according to Markey. Senator Cantwell and I are asking the Trump DOT to explain how it doesn’t keep track of truck and van firms with ominous, unsettling, and unidentified track records.
After the publication of the June story, WBUR and ProPublica sought comment from the Democratic administration of both the House and Senate committees accountable for transportation safety, but they were unsuccessful in getting responses.
Best Democrat on the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, has argued that having up-to-date information is essential to putting together sound plan.
According to Larsen,” We can’t keep lives if we don’t have accurate information,” which is why recent reports from WBUR and ProPublica about the database’s gaps were so alarming.
Boston Public Schools ‘ travel safety health was the subject of a letter from Boston City Councilor Erin Murphy to the country’s school regulation on July 17. She expressed concern that Boston Public Schools might not have been able to reveal the whole scope of Transdev’s fall issues.
Ayanna Pressley, a Democrat representing the Boston area where Lens, 5, was killed, has also called for FMCSA to launch an investigation into Transdev.
In a written statement, Pressley wrote that” we should not have any business or company running without a full finance of their security record.” ” The safety of our children must be the best goal,” he said.
The second article on ProPublica: Senators Push Federal Regulator to Show School Bus Safety Data Is Accurate.
