In the wake of a bus crash in Queens that left three people dead, Mayor de Blasio spoke out against the charter bus industry Wednesday, saying it is “exploitative” and forces drivers to take on unusually long shifts without providing benefits. De Blasio didn’t blame the charter bus company for the crash, and instead is pushing for regulators on both the federal and state levels to mandate higher wages for bus drivers so they are less likely to take on gruelingly long shifts. Queens representative Grace Meng said that while she still needs a better understanding of exactly what happened in the crash, she is going to work with her colleagues in Washington to draft legislation for better industry regulations in the hopes of preventing crashes like this in the future.
See "Queens crash sparks call for labor reforms in charter bus industry by de Blasio", Vincent Barone, AM New York, September 21, 2017