If a bus hurt you or your child in San Antonio, the most important thing to know has nothing to do with your injuries. It has to do with a deadline that can expire in six months instead of two years.
The San Antonio bus accident lawyer team at George Salinas Injury Lawyers handles claims against VIA Metropolitan Transit, Bexar County school districts, and private charter operators, and the first thing we do is protect that deadline.
Texas law treats buses differently than cars. Some are run by government bodies with legal immunity that has to be pried open. Others are private companies carrying millions in federally required coverage. Knowing which one you are dealing with changes everything that follows.
Call (210) 225-0909 for a free case review.
Resources On This Page
- Was It a VIA Bus, a School Bus, or a Charter Bus?
- Why Does a VIA Metropolitan Transit Claim Have a Six-Month Deadline?
- What Are the Damage Caps on a Texas Government Bus Claim?
- Can You Sue a School District After a School Bus Crash in Bexar County?
- Charter, Tour, and Shuttle Bus Crashes Follow Different Rules
- What Happens If You Are Hurt as a Bus Passenger?
- What Should You Do After a San Antonio Bus Crash?
- San Antonio Bus Accident Questions, Answered
- Six Months Goes Faster Than You Think
Was It a VIA Bus, a School Bus, or a Charter Bus?
Your answer sets your deadline, your damage limit, and your defendant. These three are not variations on one claim. They are three different bodies of law.
| Type of bus | Legal status | Deadline to give notice | Damage limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIA Metropolitan Transit | Governmental unit | 6 months | $100,000 per person / $300,000 per crash |
| School district bus | Governmental unit, motor vehicle claims only | 6 months | $100,000 per person / $300,000 per crash |
| Charter, tour, or private shuttle | Private company | 2 years to file suit | No statutory cap; federal minimum coverage of $5 million for buses seating 16 or more |
Missing the six-month notice window in the first two rows generally ends the case, no matter how serious the injury or how clear the fault. That single fact is why a bus claim should never sit on a kitchen counter for a few months.
Why Does a VIA Metropolitan Transit Claim Have a Six-Month Deadline?
Because VIA is a government body, not a bus company. Texas Transportation Code Section 451.052(c) states that a metropolitan transit authority “is a governmental unit under Chapter 101, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,” which is the Texas Tort Claims Act.
Under Section 101.101 of that act, a governmental unit is entitled to written notice not later than six months after the incident, describing the injury, the time and place, and what happened. Formal notice is excused only when the agency already has actual knowledge of the death, injury, or property damage, and arguing about actual notice after the fact is a losing position.
VIA operates roughly 511 buses across a 1,210-square-mile service area and carries close to 29 million passenger trips a year. That volume produces collisions with cars, with cyclists, with pedestrians at stops, and injuries to passengers standing when a driver brakes hard.
What Are the Damage Caps on a Texas Government Bus Claim?
They are lower than most people expect, and lower for a transit authority than for the City of San Antonio itself. Section 101.023 sets the limits:
- State agencies and municipalities: $250,000 per person, $500,000 per occurrence
- Other units of local government, which include transit authorities and school districts: $100,000 per person, $300,000 per occurrence
- Property damage is capped at $100,000
Those caps are why a serious VIA injury case often turns on finding a second defendant. If another driver contributed to the crash, that driver’s insurance is not capped. If a maintenance contractor or a parts manufacturer played a role, neither is theirs.
Our role is to look past the obvious defendant to every party who shares responsibility, because the capped one may not cover a spinal fusion and a year out of work.
Talk to us before the six-month window narrows. Call (210) 225-0909.
Can You Sue a School District After a School Bus Crash in Bexar County?
Yes, but only for the bus itself. Texas gives school districts unusually broad immunity. Section 101.051 provides that, except as to motor vehicles, the Tort Claims Act does not apply to a school district at all.
Read plainly: a claim arising from a district employee’s negligent operation of a school bus can proceed. Most other claims against the district cannot. The same six-month notice deadline and the same $100,000 and $300,000 caps apply.
Bexar County runs some of the largest bus fleets in the state. Northside ISD alone enrolls more than 98,000 students across 127 campuses, making it the fourth largest district in Texas, with North East ISD and San Antonio ISD close behind.
The injury pattern is worth knowing. Across the most recent decade of NHTSA school transportation data, more pedestrians were killed in school-transportation-related crashes than school bus occupants, and roughly half of the school-age pedestrians killed were children between five and ten years old. Many of those children were struck in the loading zone, not on the road.
Charter, Tour, and Shuttle Bus Crashes Follow Different Rules
Private bus companies get no immunity and no damage cap. They also carry far more insurance than a city bus.
Federal law under 49 CFR 387.33 requires interstate passenger carriers to maintain:
- $5 million for vehicles seating 16 or more passengers, including the driver
- $1.5 million for vehicles seating 15 or fewer
Whether a given vehicle clears the federal passenger thresholds is covered in our guide to what counts as a commercial motor vehicle.
Charter operators are also subject to federal safety regulations: hours-of-service limits on how long a driver may be behind the wheel, driver qualification files, drug and alcohol testing, and vehicle inspection and maintenance records. Every one of those requirements creates a document, and every document is a place a case can be won.
You have two years to file suit under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 16.003, but the maintenance logs and electronic records will not survive that long without a preservation demand.
What Happens If You Are Hurt as a Bus Passenger?
You are owed a higher standard of care than an ordinary driver owes you. Texas treats buses as common carriers, which means the operator has a heightened duty toward the passengers riding it.
The Texas Supreme Court addressed this directly in VIA Metropolitan Transit v. Meck in 2020, holding that the Tort Claims Act’s reference to negligence includes a common carrier’s elevated duty of care to its passengers. A transit agency does not shed that standard by being a government body.
Passenger injuries in bus crashes have their own character. There are no seat belts on most transit buses, standing riders have nothing to brace against, and a hard stop that barely dents a bumper can throw someone into a stanchion. Those injuries are real, and they are frequently dismissed by adjusters because the vehicle looks fine.
What Should You Do After a San Antonio Bus Crash?
Start with medical care, then protect the record. The steps below matter more here than in an ordinary crash because of the notice deadline.
- Get evaluated the same day, even if you feel able to walk away
- Write down the bus number, route number, and driver description before you leave
- Ask any witness for a phone number. Riders scatter quickly
- Photograph the interior if you were a passenger, including where you were standing or sitting
- Request the crash report. Under Texas Transportation Code Section 550.062, an investigating officer must file it with the state within 10 days
- Contact a lawyer well before the six-month mark, not near it
San Antonio Bus Accident Questions, Answered
My child was hurt at a school bus stop, not on the bus. Does the district still answer for it?
It depends on whether the injury arose from the operation of the bus. A child struck by the bus itself, or injured because of how the driver operated it during loading, generally falls inside the motor vehicle exception. A claim based on stop placement or supervision usually does not. Have the facts reviewed quickly, because the same six-month clock applies.
Does the six-month notice deadline apply if my child is a minor?
Treat it as though it does. Texas courts have applied the Tort Claims Act notice requirement strictly, and a minor’s status does not reliably extend it. The safe course is to give notice early and argue about tolling only if you have to.
What if the bus driver was not at fault and another car caused the crash?
Then your claim runs against that driver and their insurer, with no government cap and the full two-year filing period. Passengers often have claims against more than one party at once, which is why you shouldn’t accept the first explanation you are given about who caused it.
Can I recover if I was hit by a bus while walking or riding a bicycle?
Yes. Pedestrian and cyclist claims follow the same rules described here, and the injuries tend to be more serious. Blind spots, mirror coverage, and right-turn procedures become central issues.
Is a bus claim handled like other commercial vehicle claims?
Partly. The evidence work overlaps with other commercial vehicle accident claims, including driver files, maintenance records, and telematics. The immunity rules and the six-month notice deadline are what set government bus claims apart.
How much does it cost to have a bus case reviewed?
Nothing. The consultation is free, and there is no fee unless we win.
Meet Our Top-Rated San Antonio Bus Accident Attorneys
Six Months Goes Faster Than You Think
Right now you are dealing with appointments, a child who is scared to get on a bus again, and paperwork from an agency that handles this every week. The legal deadline won’t announce itself.
George Salinas began his career representing insurance companies before he started suing them, which is how he learned what a claim file looks like from the inside. He is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a group that requires attorneys to have actually tried cases before juries, and his local credibility runs through the Bexar County courthouse.
Call George Salinas Injury Lawyers at (210) 225-0909 in San Antonio or (512) 851-1004 in Austin. The consultation is free; there is no fee unless we win.