Five Town yeshiva parents receive their Rivlab bus refunds

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After learning that Far Rockaway-based Rivlab Transportation Corporation was terminating school bus service on Nov. 1, parents of Five Towns yeshiva students, along with their respective schools scrambled to find other bus companies.

To add to the problem, Rivlab had promised in an Oct. 7 letter that prorated refunds would be forthcoming. More than a month passed and there were no refunds. Parents such as Hewlett resident Stephanie Ulmer, who has one child on a bus going to and from the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway school in Lawrence, was upset.

Ulmer, like many parents, already paid for a full year of service — September to June — $2,800. There was also a weekly payment option. “I’m pretty sure Rivlab waited until October to tell parents because October was mostly (Jewish) holidays, and an easy way to make the month’s worth of money,” she said.

Former owner Alex Edelman, who also serves as may of Lawrence village, previously told the Herald that the company spent upwards of $500 per month during the summer running ads on Facebook looking for drivers. Edelman, who owned the company for the past 18 years, sold Rivlab to Bronx-based Total Transportation Corp. in September.

“All the checks went out, except a handful that have some discrepancies,” Edelman said on Nov. 14. “I don’t need their money.” He added that the nationwide school bus driver shortage hit Rivlab hard as the smaller company could not keep pace. Rivlab serviced roughly 12 private schools spread across the Five Towns, Brooklyn and Queens.

According to parents who contacted the Herald, most had received their refunds, as of press time. Before that more than 50 HAFTR families had not gotten their money back,

“So the way our school is structured, we entered into a contract with Rivlab and paid them directly,” Ulmer said. “The school has been reaching out to Rivlab and their calls have been ignored. They set up conference calls to which Rivlab doesn’t answer, so their hands are tired as well.”

Valley Stream resident Guy Nussbaum, another HAFTR parent, said he received the refund. His frustration motivated him to call a lawyer, who said he had a case and sent a letter to Rivlab. “I feel like we got scammed out of our money and we have no control over it,” Nussbaum said, before getting his refund. He noted that several of the parents’ checks were dated Oct. 10.

Yossi Zarfati, a former North Woodmere resident who recently moved to Holliswood, said his refund money remains “missing in action” as of press time and noted that when dealing with Rivlab there was “nastiness and it was a nightmare.” “I called the accounting department and they said they were working it,” said Zarfati, an attorney. That was Nov. 13, he said.

HAFTR, which has roughly 50 children affected, according to Executive Director Ari Solomon found a new bus company. The Far Rockaway company will prorate the fee to $2,400 per child, according to Solomon.

“We interviewed multiple bus companies, and found Elmer & Jennifer Transportation that have the drivers, the equipment and manpower to take over our routes,” Solomon said. Before the refunds were released he said, he was “very optimistic” that the money would be returned to the parents.

Rivlab going out of business also affected the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, which includes Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys in Woodmere and Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls in Hewlett Bay Park, Rambam Mesivta High School in Lawrence and Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway.