Baltimore is suing Transdev Services Inc., the company that runs the Charm City Circulator, alleging it overbilled the city $20 million for the free bus service.
The city’s complaint, filed Wednesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, alleges the company billed the city for thousands of hours during which the free bus service was not operating since 2010. The city is seeking compensation for the alleged overbilling.
“They overbilled us, and we overpaid,” City Solicitor Andre Davis said. “We want some money back from them.”
Scott Hagen, the communications manager for Transdev North America, responded Wednesday night, saying in a statement: “We are extremely disappointed that the City of Baltimore elected to pursue this meritless litigation.
“This issue began when Transdev won the bid to operate the Charm City Circulator in 2010. The City was required to provide the full fleet of buses but was unable to do so because it selected non-functioning vehicles with unproven technology from a company that ultimately went bankrupt. Because the City was unable to meet the terms of the contract, Transdev agreed to the City’s request for a new contractual and invoicing structure. For months, Transdev has actively engaged city officials to address their concerns and provide them with the relevant facts and documents, which makes this baseless lawsuit a complete and utterly non-productive surprise.”
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Colin Campbell over at the Baltimore Sun