Atlantic Express Transportation Group Wins School Bus bids in New England

Business Wire, March 21, 2001

Business Editors

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2001

Atlantic Express Transportation Group, Inc. (Atlantic) wins two new multi-year school transportation contracts in the New England area. The new contracts will commence in the fall of 2001 and will involve providing bus service to the school districts of Wakefield and Blackstone Valley Region in Massachusetts.

Domenic F. Gatto, CEO and president of Atlantic said, "We have been successfully consolidating and integrating the companies we recently acquired in New England. This meets with our strategy of growing our company through acquisition and conversion while protecting our existing markets."

Atlantic, which is one of the largest school bus transportation companies in North America, has become one of the largest school transportation providers in the New England area, entering the market within the last two years through acquisitions of several companies in Massachusetts and Vermont. It operates about 750 vehicles in the area.

Atlantic Express is the largest American-owned American-based school bus company operating approximately 7,500 vehicles from coast to coast. It is one of the largest school transportation providers in the cities of New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles. Atlantic is also one of the nation's largest providers of paratransit service and provides coach and charter, pre-kindergarten transportation as well as bus sales and bus leasing. Atlantic is co-owned by its founder, Domenic Gatto and by the majority shareholder, GSC Partners (GSCP), an investment group based in New York with $1.5 billion of committed capital. Atlantic is one of GSCP's largest portfolio companies. Gatto said that with GSCP's corporate sponsorship, "we will continue to execute our business strategy in existing and new markets."

For additional information, please contact: Domenic Gatto, CEO/President Telephone: (718) 442-7000 ext. 8060

For inquiries regarding business development and acquisitions, please contact: Noel Cabrera, Executive Vice President- Tel. (718) 442-7000 Ext. 8073 Website: www.atlanticexpress.com E-mail address: corporatehq@atlanticexpress.com

Information contained in this news release other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements subject to various risks and uncertainties. Although Atlantic believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, no assurance can be given that such expectations will prove correct. Factors that could cause the Company's results to differ materially from the results in such forward-looking statements include reduction and/or changes in contract requirements of customers.