First Transit
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First Transit is a United States based subsidiary of the United Kingdom based FirstGroup. It provides contract public transit and paratransit services, transit management services and transit consulting throughout North America. First Transit is a sister company to First Student, which provides school bus services in the same geographic market.
First Transit was created in 1999 when FirstGroup acquired Ryder Public Transportation Services Inc. from Ryder. In 2007 First Transit acquired Cognisa, a company specializing in shuttle services. In 2007 FirstGroup acquired Laidlaw, and merged Laidlaw's transit operations with First Transit.[1]
As of 2007, First Transit operates in 235 locations in North America, including locations in 45 US states, in Canada and in Puerto Rico. A total of 13,000 employees operate 6,700 buses that cover over 260 million annual fleet miles.[1]
In general, First Transit either contracts to provide specific services to public sector authorities, or contracts to manage the whole transportation business of such authorities. Most transit vehicles operated by First Transit carry the brands of the contracting authority. The corporate brand of FirstGroup is therefore much less visible in the US than it is in the UK, where most FirstGroup buses operate under the First brand and carry the distinctive corporate livery.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Corporate history. First Transit. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
