Private company

First Student Canada

First Student Canada is a Canadian school bus contractor based in Burlington.¹ It is part of FirstGroup plc.¹

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

HeadquartersBurlington¹
Websitewww.firststudentinc.ca

See how the biggest companies compare on our leaderboards

Corporate structure

First Student Canada is part of a group headed by FirstGroup plc. 56 entities, 5 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

FirstGroup plc Aberdeen, United Kingdom
- First Student Canada Burlington
- First Leicester Subsidiary · 94% · Leicester
- South Western Trains Subsidiary · 70%
- Aircoach Subsidiary · Dublin
- Avanti West Coast Subsidiary
- Eastern Scottish Subsidiary · Edinburgh
- Edelaraudtee Subsidiary · Türi
- First Aberdeen Subsidiary · King Street
- First Berkshire & The Thames Valley Subsidiary
- First Bus London Subsidiary
- First Calderdale & Huddersfield Subsidiary
- First Capital Connect Subsidiary
- First Chester & The Wirral Subsidiary · Oldham
- First Cymru Subsidiary · Penlan
- First Eastern Counties Subsidiary · Norwich
- First Essex Subsidiary
- First Great Eastern Subsidiary
- First Greater Manchester Subsidiary · Rochdale
- First Hampshire & Dorset Subsidiary · Southampton
- First London Subsidiary · Paddington
- First North Western Subsidiary
- First Northampton Subsidiary · Northampton
- First Potteries Subsidiary
- First Scotland East Subsidiary
- First ScotRail (2004-2015) Subsidiary · Aberdeen
- and 22 more

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

Ryder Public Transportation acquisition

In 1999, Ryder sold its school bus division to FirstGroup for $940 million, in order to focus on its truck leasing and rental business.

Laidlaw acquisition

By 2007, FirstGroup had built the First Student network into one of the largest school bus contractors in the United States; in the same year, the company acquired Laidlaw for $3.4 billion, taking over its school transportation operations as well.

FirstGroup breakup

FirstGroup, the parent company of First Student, announced that it would consider a sale of its North American school bus and transit divisions in December 2019. The North American division was valued at $3.5 billion at the time of the announcement. In April 2021, FirstGroup agreed terms were to sell the business to EQT AB. The deal closed on 22 July 2021.

Safety features

In 2010, First Student installed Zonar on all 60,000 of its school buses. These features include the EVIR Inspection System for verified pre-trip, post-trip and child-check inspections; the V2J Vehicle Diagnostic Device for tracking and managing assets and real-time transmission of vehicle subsystem data; and Ground Traffic Control, a Web-based data and fleet management application.

From Wikipedia’s article on First Student Canada, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Products and brands

Laidlaw

Laidlaw Transit Ltd., is a Canadian registered subsidiary which operates former Laidlaw school transportation services throughout Southern Ontario.

Farwest Group

The Farwest Group of companies provides transportation services in various communities in British Columbia. These companies were acquired by First Canada in 2004 and are contracted to operate public transit services for BC Transit in Victoria, Chilliwack, Kamloops, Kelowna Region and the Central Fraser Valley.

Cardinal

Several companies branded as "Cardinal" operated school buses in different locations across Canada. In 2005, Firstbus Canada acquired 471136 B.C. Limited and Cardinal Transportation B.C. Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia and Cardinal Coach Lines Limited and Focus Capital Inc., Calgary, Alberta and Cardinal Coach Lines (Ont.) Ltd., North York, Ontario.

King Transportation

King Transportation Ltd. is a Winnipeg based company that provides school bus transportation, special education transportation services, charter and maintenance services. The company was acquired by FirstBus Canada in 2008.

Read the full text

2014 Calgary controversy

In February 2014, the company was subject to criticism after it fired Kendra Lindon, a school bus driver after she used her own vehicle to pick up children from her route after her bus failed to start. Due to the extremely low temperature (-26 degrees Celsius), and due to the failure of her dispatch to send replacement buses on the previous day, Lindon decided that "it wouldn’t be right" to leave children out in the cold and feared they might suffer frostbite, since many were not properly dressed for such cold weather. Upon learning of Lindon's actions, the company immediately terminated her employment, on the grounds that it was "against company policy to pick up children in a personal vehicle." Lindon defended her decision, stating that "I was not acting as a bus driver at that point but as a concerned parent...I saw these kids I’ve known since they were five. I was acting as a parent and a concerned neighbor and friend. I couldn’t just drive past them and leave them to freeze."

When contacted by Licia Corbella of Postmedia News, the assistant location and safety manager, Mike Stiles, declined to comment and referred her to the First Student's Cincinnati headquarters, which did not return any calls for an inquiry. Three lawyers, who have offered to represent Ms. Lindon pro bono, have suggested that she may have a case against First Student for wrongful dismissal.