Illinois-based company Veolia Transportation gained its first school contract with Boston Public Schools to manage operations and maintenance of the school district’s yellow bus fleet.
Company officials said the five-year contract begins in July and has multiple contact extension options. Before Veolia, BPS had a contract with First Student. Based in Lombard, Ill., Veolia Transportation is the largest private-sector operator of various modes of transit in North America, including bus, rail, paratransit, shuttle, and sedan and taxi services. BPS is Veolia’s first school district client.
“We do operate other school contracts in Montreal (Canada) and we operate university shuttles in locations in the U.S.,” said company spokeswoman Valerie Michael.
District officials said under this new contract, BPS would be able to invest an additional $6 million annually into classroom learning instead of into projected transportation cost increases.
Ranked No. 35 out of 13,800 total U.S. school districts; BPS transports about 33,200 students to and from 228 public and parochial schools. The fleet includes 762 school buses, which the district will continue to own under the contract.
Veolia will manage all aspects of operations, including safety performance, training, hiring and management of employees and vehicle maintenance. All current school bus drivers will become Veolia employees, and the terms of the existing collective bargaining agreement between the current operator and the bus drivers’ union, including salary and benefit packages, will remain in effect and be assumed by Veolia.
