Taken For A Ride: FBI Investigating Hawaii School Bus Companies

flickr: Dave Newman (newmanchu)

Editor's note: This article is part of a series on Hawaii's runaway school bus costs. Read other articles in the series.

The FBI is investigating Hawaii school bus companies for possible collusion in setting prices, Civil Beat has learned.

Former Attorney General Margery Bronster confirmed that she was recently retained to represent the Hawaii School Bus Association.

"Because of the status of the investigation, it's difficult to get into any of the details," she told Civil Beat. "I can say that we are fully cooperating with the investigation, and we do deny having been involved in any wrongdoing."

Her firm does not represent the 10 individual companies comprising the association, but Bronster said she believes most of the contractors have retained separate counsel of their own.

FBI spokesman Tom Simon would not confirm the investigation, citing Department of Justice rules that prohibit confirming or denying even the existence of cases in which no charges have been filed.

"My understanding is that no charges have been filed in any investigation involving school buses in the state of Hawaii," he said.

Civil Beat learned of the FBI probe from Lindy Akita this week after it published an analysis revealing that there has been no competition for regular school bus contracts from the Hawaii Department of Education in the last four years. In that same time, the state's school bus contract costs have risen sharply — from $47 million per year to $72 million — while ridership has stayed steady.

Two FBI agents showed up at Lindy Akita's home about five months ago, the CEO of Akita Enterprises told Civil Beat. Akita is also the school bus association's treasurer.

"These guys came to my home at 7 in the morning, just as I was leaving for a game of golf," the 84-year-old Kauai contractor said. "They said, 'We're investigating whether there is collusion among school bus owners.'"

Akita arranged to meet the agents after his golf game. When he got to the meeting, there were four agents — two of whom said they had been to visit nearby Yamaguchi Bus Service.

An unidentified male who answered the phone at Yamaguchi Bus Service told Civil Beat that he has "been advised not to talk with anybody about that. I guess it's still ongoing."

Carolyn Tanaka, spokeswoman for Roberts Hawaii, the largest school bus contractor, emailed Civil Beat with the following statement about the investigation:

"We are aware that the federal government is looking at competition on school bus routes and we are cooperating with the investigation. Our company prides itself on providing reliable and cost-effective bus transportation for Hawaii schools and is committed to working with the DOE to improve the quality and efficiency of our service."

Akita was not hesitant to share what he told the investigators.

"I told them exactly what I'm telling you," Akita said. "Nobody's stopping anybody from bidding, and I don't know what the other guys are going to bid. That's the risk you take when you bid."

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