Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into contracts awarded to private companies that operate New York City’s $1.2 billion yellow school bus system, sources say.
The FBI recently served a subpoena on the contracts division in the education department’s pupil-transportation office. City investigators also seized bus contracts and records related to several key employees of that office, sources said.
Sources said the probe may relate to a 2015 call by city Controller Scott Stringer to investigate collusion by the bus companies in trading lucrative routes back and forth. But others speculated the investigation may be tied to pressure to approve potentially dangerous hires to work on the buses, a practice that whistleblowers reported to city investigators and police in September.
An education department spokesman said the department is helping auditors and investigators with the probe.
