BOSTON – A transportation company will pay $7.3 million to settle allegations it backed out of a contract with the Mass. Bay Transportation Authority to run “The Ride,” Attorney General Martha Coakley announced last week.

The state filed an assurance in Suffolk Superior Court that resolves allegations that Cincinnati-based First Transit violated the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act when it breached a contract with the Mass. Bay Transportation Authority to operate The Ride.

The Ride is a service that provides door-to-door transportation to individuals who are unable to use the general public-transportation systems because of disabilities.

According to Coakley, First Transit submitted a $97 million bid and was subsequently awarded a five-year contract in March 2009. In April 2009, First Transit learned its bid was “significantly” lower than competing bidders. In May 2009, First Transit abandoned the contract two months before its start date, asserting that it received inaccurate information in the request-for-proposal. The state said that these reasons for breaching the contract were false. •