CityBus: Purdue ‘misrepresented’ negotiations, no deal signed for off-campus rides

Internal memo indicates CityBus rejected terms weeks earlier, only to have a $2.39M contract go to a Purdue trustees vote on a deal to subsidize off-campus rides for students and staff

(Photo: Dave Bangert)

The terms of what Purdue touted as a negotiated contract for off-campus bus transportation for students, staff and faculty for the 2024-25 academic year had been rejected weeks earlier by CityBus and a deal has yet to be reached, according to internal memos obtained by Based in Lafayette.

A $2.39 million agreement Purdue trustees approved Aug. 2 contained provisions for a subsidized bus pass system that CityBus officials say were different than those negotiated over the summer and that they had told the university they weren’t prepared to accept, according to a timeline laid out in a memo written by CityBus CEO Bryan Smith days after the trustees’ vote.

According to the memo, CityBus and Purdue had agreed in July to an arrangement that would have kept off-campus rides free for the coming year – instead of the $99 per semester CityBus announced in April – until the university returned with a plan to cover $74 of each semester pass and have students, staff and faculty pay the $25.

The memo calls the information shared with Purdue trustees ahead of their Aug. 2 vote “misrepresented” negotiations with CityBus.