NEW HAMPTON, N.Y. — A longtime pupil transportation veteran here recently announced his bid for the New York State Senate.  

Mike Martucci, the former owner and founder of Quality Bus Service and past president of the New York School Bus Contractors Association (NYSBCA), who is known locally as “the school bus guy,” made the announcement last week not far from the location of the school transportation company that he had founded in 2007 and sold to National Express in 2018, according to a news release from Martucci’s campaign staff, Friends of Mike Martucci. 

“I’ve been traveling throughout the district for the last few months meeting with friends and neighbors, and the common theme I am hearing is that people feel New York state is headed in the wrong direction and our current state senator is out of touch with the needs of the people of the 42nd Senate district,” Martucci said. “This is why I have decided to run for New York state Senate.”

Martucci started his school transportation company by purchasing a school bus at the age of 22 with his life savings, a small business loan, and his grandmother by his side. He later drove the same school bus for his first customer: Greenwood Lake Union Free School District in Orange County. Martucci eventually grew Quality Bus Service to over 500 employees and 350 school buses serving school districts throughout the area. In an interview with School Bus Fleet in 2017, Martucci discusses efforts to crack down on illegal passing of school buses and expand random drug and alcohol testing for school bus drivers in the state, and his approach to recruiting drivers.

“I began my career driving a school bus; parents and families trusted that I would get their children safely to and from school each day. It was a responsibility that I took very seriously and a trust that I always honored,” Martucci said when announcing his intent to run for the state Senate. “Should I earn the support of the voters of the 42nd state Senate district over the next 10 months and win the election, I promise to exercise that same care and sense of commitment as their state senator.”

Martucci’s campaign is focused on putting families first, and he will meet as many people as possible in the district to learn more about their concerns and hopes for the future, according to the news release.

In particular, Martucci is campaigning to change a law that he said, according to the news release,  “eliminates bail for a number of horrible crimes against children, families, and even animals.”

“We should not be putting the rights of criminals over the rights of our families — especially if it threatens public safety,” Martucci added.

As a board member of the NYSBCA and citizen advocate, Martucci worked with Democrats and Republicans to help pass a law that aims to protect children from criminals, according to the news release. The legislation, which was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2011, disqualifies a person from driving a school bus if he or she was convicted of sexual offenses.

Martucci is also a part-time farmer and philanthropist. He and his wife Erin own a small family farm in the Town of Westtown.

The couple has also established a family foundation to support local women and children in need, educational opportunities, job creation, and agricultural initiatives, according to the news release.

Martucci earned his MBA and Bachelor of Science at Marist College and graduated with honors from SUNY Orange. He is also a board member of the SUNY Orange Foundation, which provides college scholarships for students.  

For more information about Martucci’s campaign, go here.