A school bus company run by a former Adams aide has signed up for a pilot program in New York

When New York City wanted to test cameras on city school buses, they asked two vendors to pilot the technology.

One of them was Verra Mobility, an Arizona-based smart transportation company that works with the city’s transportation department. The second was BusPatrol, a Florida company run by a former senior official in Mayor Eric Adams’ office.

BusPatrol’s president and chief innovation officer is Justin Meyers, who served as chief of staff to Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks until last September. Earlier this month, federal agents seized the phones of both Banks, his brother, Outbound Schools Chancellor David Banks, and a third brother, consultant Terence Banks, as part of a federal investigation into Adams’ inner circle. Adams was indicted last week on bribery and fraud charges stemming from another investigation. He pleaded not guilty.

City officials unveiled a pilot program with BusPatrol Monday during a City Council hearing on school bus service. Cameras are mounted on the shoulders of school bus stops and take pictures of the license plates of cars that illegally drive past stopped school buses.

Officials did not say when the pilot program began or whether the city paid for it. But the pilot program, which started with 30 buses, has proven so successful that City Hall and the education and transportation departments recently agreed to expand it to 250 buses, said James Sarkis, executive director of contract operations for the city’s Office of Transportation Students.

During his time at City Hall, Meyers was closely involved in the city’s efforts to introduce new technologies to support law enforcement, including a failed pilot operation in which a robot patrolled the Times Square subway station.

Officials will solicit new offers from companies under the expanded program, Sarkis added.

Neither City Hall nor the Department of Education immediately responded to questions about the school bus camera pilot program.

A BusPatrol spokesman said that “Justin Meyers has not lobbied the City of New York on behalf of or participated in discussions with the City of New York” about the pilot or request for expansion proposals. The spokesman added that BusPatrol does not have a current contract or understanding with the city and said the company complies with all city lobbying rules.

Chancellor Banks’ public schedule, obtained by Chalkbeat through a public records request, included a meeting with “Justin Meyers” on November 28, 2023, just months after Meyers, the chief of staff, left City Hall for BusPatrol. Banks’ schedule also includes a Zoom meeting with “Bus Patrol” in May 2022.

The city’s ethics rules prohibit top government officials who recently left their positions from appearing before their former agencies on behalf of a private company for a year. But officials working in the mayor’s office can often appear before other city agencies on behalf of private companies, said John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, a good government group.

But the revelation still raised eyebrows among some lawmakers and ethics watchdogs – especially as Adams and members of his inner circle face scrutiny following the unprecedented indictment of Adams by federal prosecutors.

“This is a disturbing example of a revolving door that desperately needs to be closed,” said Councilmember Lincoln Restler, a Democrat from Brooklyn. Restler said he has introduced legislation that prohibits former officials in the mayor’s office from contacting other city agencies after they leave. “It is inappropriate to trade public service relationships in favor of immediately making money outside on behalf of corporate interests.”

Federal investigators are reportedly looking into contracts and pilot programs for companies linked to the Banks brothers. This includes Saferwatch, a company that makes a panic button app for schools and hired Terence Banks, a former MTA employee, as a lobbyist to try to get its product into city schools.

According to THE CITY, Saferwatch targeted Meyers and Chancellor Banks in its lobbying efforts, ultimately winning a $67,000 pilot program, although city officials ultimately declined to sign the full contract.

Another company formerly owned by Banks, the deputy mayor, won a $145 million contract to provide fire services to the New York City Housing Authority, according to The New York Times.

As Politico recently reported, pilot programs are often subject to less scrutiny than formal contracts, which must be made public and invite multiple bids.

BusPatrol lists many large counties across the country as its customers. Its website advertises artificial intelligence cameras that can be mounted on school buses to photograph the license plates of cars illegally passing stopped buses and share the information with law enforcement.

In a recent interview with a radio station in Buffalo, New York, Meyers said the company works with about 450 school districts and that the cameras could reduce the number of cars passing stopped school buses by about 40%.

Michael Elsen-Rooney is a Chalkbeat New York reporter covering New York City public schools. Contact Michael at [email protected].