Hurt on a City Bus? You Have 90 Days, Not Three Years

Most New Yorkers have heard that you get three years to sue over an injury. That is true when a private driver hits you. It is dangerously wrong when a city bus does.

Claims against public agencies run on a much shorter clock, and the first deadline arrives in 90 days. Miss it and your case can be over before you have finished physical therapy.

Two deadlines, not one

Step	Deadline	What happens if you miss it
Serve a notice of claim	90 days from the date of the incident	You generally cannot sue without a judge's permission
File the lawsuit	1 year and 90 days from the incident	The case is time-barred

Between those two there is usually a third step, a sworn examination, covered below. Deadlines also vary by agency, so confirm yours rather than assuming the table below fits your situation exactly.

Who you serve depends on who owned the bus

This trips people up constantly, because the bus that hit you and the bus you were riding may belong to different agencies, and they do not forward each other's mail.

If the vehicle was	Serve the notice on	Deadline to sue
A New York City Transit bus or the subway	New York City Transit Authority, directly	1 year and 90 days
An MTA bus or another MTA agency	The Metropolitan Transportation Authority	1 year and 90 days
A City vehicle, or a City sidewalk, park, school or hospital	The NYC Comptroller's Office	1 year and 90 days
A school bus	Depends. The Department of Education requires a notice of claim; a private bus company on its own does not	90 days and 1 year 90 days against the DOE; generally 3 years against a private company alone
A private car, truck or bus	Nobody	Generally 3 years

The Comptroller's Office says plainly that the MTA, New York City Transit and NYCHA handle their own claims and should not be served through the Comptroller. School buses are their own puzzle. Most are run by private companies under contract to the Department of Education. A claim that names the DOE needs a notice of claim; one against the bus company alone usually does not.

If you are not certain who operated the vehicle, the safe move is to serve everyone who might be responsible inside the 90 days and sort it out afterward.

What the notice has to contain

State law sets out what goes in it. The notice must be in writing, sworn to, and include:

• Your name and mailing address, and your lawyer's if you have one
• The nature of the claim
• When, where and how it happened
• The injuries and losses you are claiming

"Where" means specific. A bus stop, an intersection, a direction of travel, a bus route and a time. A vague location is one of the most common ways a notice gets challenged later.

How to file it

For claims against the City, the Comptroller's Office accepts a notice of claim three ways:

• Online through its eClaim system
• By registered or certified mail
• In person at the office

For Transit and the MTA, the notice goes to that authority rather than the Comptroller. Whichever route you use, keep proof: the certified mail receipt, the eClaim confirmation, or the stamped copy.

The hearing before the lawsuit

After the notice is filed, the agency can require you to answer questions under oath before any lawsuit begins. Against the City this is the 50-h hearing named for the statute that creates it. The Transit Authority has its own parallel power to demand sworn statements about a claim, so the label differs but the experience does not. What to know:

• It usually happens before any lawsuit is filed.
• If the City demands a 50-h hearing and you do not appear, you generally cannot start your case.
• A lawyer for the agency will ask about the incident, your injuries and your treatment.
• The transcript follows the case to the end, so what you say there matters later.

The City's own process runs alongside this. The Comptroller investigates and can settle before a lawsuit is filed, but that window closes once a suit begins or once one year and ninety days have run.

If the 90 days already passed

It is not automatically over, but you need a judge.

• A court can allow a late notice, and must consider whether the agency already knew the essential facts within the 90 days.
• It also weighs whether the delay hurt the agency's ability to investigate, and circumstances like the claimant being a child or seriously incapacitated.
• Permission can only be granted up to the deadline for starting the lawsuit, so waiting makes it worse, not better.
• This is not a do-it-yourself motion. If you are past 90 days, talk to a lawyer this week, not next month.

What to do in the first week

• Write down the route number, bus number, direction, time and exact location while you still remember them.
• Photograph the scene, the vehicle and your injuries.
• Get the names of witnesses, including other passengers.
• Report it and get medical attention, even if you feel able to walk away, and ask for the incident report number.
• Start the 90-day clock in your calendar the same day.

Why the short deadline exists

Public agencies argue that they need to investigate while evidence is fresh, and the volume behind that argument is real. The Comptroller's reporting counted 18,895 personal injury claims filed against the City in fiscal 2023, accounting for $733.3 million of everything the City paid out on settled tort claims. That is the rationale. The practical effect falls on the person who was hurt, who gets far less time to work out what to do. That is exactly why the 90 days is worth knowing before you need it.

If you need help identifying counsel quickly, search New York injury firms and ask directly about the agency-specific notice deadline.

This article is general information about New York law, not legal advice for your situation.

Sources: General Municipal Law 50-e · General Municipal Law 50-h · General Municipal Law 50-i · Public Authorities Law 1212 · Public Authorities Law 1276 · NYC Comptroller, file a claim · NYC Comptroller, personal injury claim FAQs · CPLR 214