Bus company owner responds to Elizabeth Forward order

By CHRISTINE HAINES
chaines@yourmvi.com
The president and owner of Pennsylvania Coach Lines says his company will do its best to comply with a court order to continue to provide transportation to students in the Elizabeth Forward School District.
David Sunstein says, however, that it is putting his company in a difficult situation.
“We are upholding this unreasonable and untenable situation because we care about the children getting to school and because we are deeply aware of the hardship on families when transportation is not reliable,” Sunstein said in a prepared statement. “As the owner of a company that has been entrusted to safely transport thousands of children to and from school each day all throughout Pennsylvania, my foremost concern is and has always been the safety and security of the students and families I serve.”
Elizabeth Forward School District solicitor John Rushford said the recent court order should mean that transportation remains uninterrupted for district students for the rest of the school year. Rushford said he is still reviewing the ruling, which was issued late Friday by Judge Christine Ward and received by the district Monday.
“We’re reviewing where we are,” Rushford said.
The district filed a complaint against Pennsylvania Coach Lines on Aug. 16, after learning the company did not intend to provide bus service for the 2019-20 school year just four weeks before the start of classes. The complaint sought an injunction to require the company to provide transportation until the remainder of the case was settled. It also alleged breach of an implied-in-fact contract. That portion of the suit has not yet been settled, Rushford said.

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