Laidlaw
 |
|
| Industry | Bus transportation |
|---|---|
| Fate | Acquisition by FirstGroup |
| Successor | First Student and First Student Canada |
| Founded | 1924 |
| Headquarters | Naperville, Illinois, United States |
|
Area served
|
United States, Canada |
| Services | School bus, transit, and charter services |
Laidlaw (/ˈleɪdˌlɔː/), organized as Laidlaw International, Inc. (with corporate headquarters in Naperville, Illinois) was the largest provider of intercity bus services, contract public transit and paratransit, and contract school bus service in both the United States and Canada. In February 2007, FirstGroup, a bus and rail transportation operator in the United Kingdom with subsidiaries in North America, acquired Laidlaw International, Inc. FirstGroup completed the acquisition of Laidlaw International on October 1, 2007, and rebranded Laidlaw services under the First umbrella. The deal combined North America’s two largest private school bus operators — Laidlaw Education Services and First Student Inc. — giving them a combined 40% of the school bus contractor market.
Laidlaw had grown primarily through acquisitions of other companies and contracting of services formerly directly provided by government entities. It was the parent company of Laidlaw Transit (which was merged into First Transit), Laidlaw Education Services (merged into First Student), Greyhound Lines and Greyhound Lines of Canada, and a number of Gray Line Sightseeing franchises in major North American cities. In acquiring Laidlaw, FirstGroup announced that the Laidlaw name would not be kept, but that the Greyhound name would be maintained.
Laidlaw began in 1924 when founder Robert Laidlaw created Laidlaw Transit, a trucking service company in Hagersville, Ontario, Canada.
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