Laidlaw

Laidlaw International, Inc.

Industry	Bus transportation, Solid Waste
Founded	1924
Defunct	2007 Solid waste, 1996
Fate	Acquisition by FirstGroup Solid waste by Allied waste Industries
Successor	First Student and First Student Canada Allied waste Industries
Headquarters	Naperville, Illinois, Toronto, Ontario , United States, Canada
Area served	United States, Canada
Services	Solid Waste, Recycling, 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.^[1][2][3] 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—Education Services and First Student Inc.—giving them a combined 40% of the school bus contractor market.^[4]

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 it would not retain the Laidlaw name, but that it would maintain the Greyhound brand.