Press Release  AG's Office Secures $440,000 Settlement With School Bus Company For Anticompetitive Collusion, Raising Prices For Municipalities

BOSTON — The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) today announced a $440,000 assurance of discontinuance with JSC Transportation Services, Inc. (“JSC”) to resolve allegations that the company colluded to allocate contracts—raising prices—and made false statements regarding school bus transportation contracts in the City of Lynn and Towns of Dedham and Saugus. 

In addition to the $440,000 monetary payment, which will largely be distributed to the affected municipalities, the settlement requires JSC to maintain an antitrust compliance program for at least five years, to notify the AGO of any acquisitions of other transportation companies for five years, to cooperate with the AGO in future investigations, and to notify the AGO of any efforts by a competitor to enter into or enforce any agreement to allocate contracts, fix prices, rig bids, or share competitively sensitive information related to student transportation contracts in Massachusetts. 

JSC is a student transportation services company headquartered in Waltham that provides special education transportation services to school districts in Massachusetts and also operates through related companies, including YCN Transportation, Inc. and MassTran Corp. 

Through the Assurance, the AGO alleges that in 2022, JSC colluded with another student transportation services company, Beacon Mobility Corporation (“Beacon”), to raise prices on school districts by allocating contracts for the transportation of special education students in Saugus, Lynn, and Dedham. JSC did so by agreeing not to compete with Beacon for contracts in certain towns in exchange for not facing competition from Beacon in other municipalities. The AGO also alleges that JSC made false claims for payment by concealing its collusion and signing a certificate of non-collusion in Saugus.   

In July 2026, the AGO announced a $2.4 million assurance of discontinuance with Beacon for its role in the collusion. 

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Katherine Krems and Division Chief Anthony Mariano of the AGO’s Antitrust Division.    

If you are aware of anticompetitive agreements to fix prices, allocate markets, rig bids, or share competitively sensitive information in restraint of trade, please reach out to the AGO’s Antitrust Division at antitrust@mass.gov or by calling (617) 727-8400. 

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