FTA orders transit agency to stop school bus routes

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — On July 30, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) notified the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA) that the agency must cease its routes that serve the Rochester City School District before the beginning of the coming school year.

The notification reaffirms the FTA's original decision — which was made in January 2007 — that the RGRTA was illegally engaged in school bus operations, which stemmed from a complaint against the RGRTA last year.

In June 2006, the United Food & Commercial Workers District Local One alleged that the agency's provision of service pursuant to a subsidy agreement with the Rochester City School District was a violation of the FTA's school bus regulations, which seek to prevent federally funded transit bus operations from competing with private school bus operations.

In April 2007, the FTA reopened the case. The National School Transportation Association brought the matter to the attention of several congressmen, who wrote to FTA Administrator James Simpson expressing their concern with the agency's action.

In addition to the cease-and-desist order, on Monday the FTA notified the RGRTA that as a penalty it would withhold federal funding in an amount related to the subsidies that RGRTA received from the school district.