A school bus contractor is a private company or proprietorship that provides student transport services to a school district or non-public school. Of the 450,000 school buses operating in the United States , it is estimated that approximately 39% are operated by school bus contractors . In Canada (with some still operated by the school boards) and the United Kingdom , almost all school transportation is performed by contractors.
32-407: First Student, Inc. is a North American provider of school bus services . The company works with districts in 38 states and 7 Canadian provinces, carrying approximately 5 million students daily. In addition to its regular routes, First Student also provides special-needs transportation, field trip services, and charter bus rentals. With a workforce of 50,500 employees, and a fleet of 44,050 vehicles,
64-492: A "transformation plan geared toward managing costs". Later that day, Postmedia said it had also sold the Calgary Herald building for $ 17.23 million to U-Haul Co. after trying to sell it for nearly a decade. In July 2023, Postmedia Network Canada Corp. and Nordstar Capital LP announced that merger discussion between the two newspaper publishers will not continue. On May 27, 2024, Postmedia announced that it would sell
96-579: A U.S. private equity firm , the Manhattan-based hedge fund GoldenTree Asset Management —which owns 35 per cent—as well as IJNR Investment Trust, Nyppex and other investors. The group completed a $ 1.1 billion transaction to acquire the chain from Canwest on July 13, 2010. On October 6, 2014, Postmedia's CEO Godfrey announced a deal to acquire the English-language operations of Sun Media . The purchase received regulatory approval from
128-611: A court evaluation contesting Postmedia's claims of solicitor-client privilege, for records seized by the bureau during raids at the company's offices. In March 2018, the Competition Bureau issued a court filing accusing Postmedia and Torstar of structuring the deal they made together with no-compete clauses in an effort to reduce competition in the newspaper industry in violation of the Competition Act . According to Marc Edge, author of The Postmedia Effect ,
160-609: A digital presence for the three publications. As well, the High River Times in High River, Alberta will go from being published twice a week to once a week. During the COVID-19 pandemic , Postmedia laid off approximately 80 employees and permanently closed 15 community publications while navigating the financial strain of COVID-19. While the company utilized government subsidies, they claim they were unable to offset
192-400: A net loss of $ 99.4 million, or 35 cents per diluted share, in the fourth-quarter ended Aug 31, compared with a $ 54.1 million net loss, or 19 cents per diluted share, in the same period a year earlier. This resulted in 90 newsroom staff losing their jobs. On November 27, 2017, Postmedia and Torstar announced a transaction in which Postmedia will sell seven dailies, eight community papers, and
224-402: A parcel delivery business and "proprietary distribution software". In 2023, Postmedia announced it would be moving a dozen of its Alberta community papers to digital-only platforms, aiming for more outsourcing deals and laying off employees. The announcement was made January 18, 2023, during an internal memo to staff that was obtained by The Canadian Press , describing the measures as a part of
256-552: A revamp and redesign of the Ottawa Citizen , which debuted in 2014. Two-thirds, or 66%, of Postmedia is currently owned by American media conglomerate Chatham Asset Management . The ownership group was assembled by National Post CEO Paul Godfrey in 2010 to bid for the chain of newspapers being sold by the financially troubled Asper family's Canwest (the company's broadcasting assets were sold separately to Shaw Communications ). Godfrey secured financial backing from
288-584: A single bus, to a small company serving a single school or district, to a large multi-national company with as many as 60,000 buses. Major school bus contractors currently operating in the United States and Canada include First Student , National Express , and Student Transportation Inc. This bus-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Postmedia News Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network , Postmedia News or Postmedia )
320-591: A union drive at the paper earlier that year, taking charge of all political reporting and analysis in Postmedia newspapers to ensure the newspapers became more "reliably conservative." In June 2019, Kevin Libin, comments editor and editorials editor of the National Post and Financial Post and a founding editor of Western Standard , was assigned “executive editor of Postmedia politics". The role focuses on
352-411: 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. 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
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#1732776732024384-791: Is a foreign-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest , with primary operations in English-language newspaper publishing, news gathering and Internet operations. It is best known for being the owner of the National Post and the Financial Post . The company is headquartered at Postmedia Place on Bloor Street in Toronto. The company's strategy has seen its publications invest greater resources in digital news gathering and distribution, including expanded websites and digital news apps for smartphones and tablets. This began with
416-927: Is a major contractor of school bus services and public transit systems. The company provides services in Canada comparable to those delivered by First Student in the United States. The component parts of the operation consist of the former Laidlaw services and subsequent new acquisitions by First Canada. Laidlaw Transit Ltd., is a Canadian registered subsidiary which operates former Laidlaw school transportation services throughout Southern Ontario . 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 Chilliwack , Kamloops , Kelowna Region and
448-608: Is identified as a source on all of its subsidiary newspapers. The news agency provides news, sports, entertainment, photography, financial and feature information and data to Postmedia Network's Canadian newspapers, online properties and a number of third party clients in Canada and the United States. In October 2018, it was reported that CEO Andrew MacLeod had declared the company "insufficiently conservative ". That resulted in Kevin Libin, who had played an active role in defeating
480-1225: The Camrose Canadian in Camrose, Alberta , Strathmore Standard in Strathmore, Alberta , Kapuskasing Northern Times in Kapuskasing, Ontario , Ingersoll Times in Ingersoll, Ontario , Norwich Gazette in Norwich, Ontario and Petrolia Topic in Petrolia, Ontario . It will also cease printing the Portage Daily Graphic in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba , the Northern News in Kirkland Lake, Ontario , and Pembroke Daily Observer in Pembroke, Ontario while maintaining
512-572: The Vancouver Sun and The Province , have had common ownership for over 30 years, as evidence that the deal would not be anticompetitive. The purchase did not include Sun Media's now-defunct Sun News Network . The acquisition was approved by the Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015, and closed on April 13. In 2016, the company sought to restructure its compensation plans and reduce spending by as much as 20%, after reporting
544-582: The Winnipeg Sun , the Portage la Prairie Graphic Leader , Kenora Miner and News , and company's Winnipeg printing operations to politician and former Sun publisher Kevin Klein . In July 2024, the company entered into an agreement to acquire SaltWire Network . Postmedia News is the news branch of Postmedia Network, providing similar content to all of its subsidiary news outlets and websites. It
576-498: The Central Fraser Valley . 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 Ltd.,
608-489: The Postmedia Network effectively concentrates more than 90 percent of all Canadian dailies and weeklies in one company, a fact lamented by J-Source, a Canadian media watchdog, in a 2015 online article. Margo Goodhand , a former Edmonton Journal editor-in-chief , wrote in a 2016 Walrus article that Postmedia executives were behind the outsourcing of Postmedia content to a site within an office in Canada for
640-546: The Toronto and Vancouver 24 Hours to Torstar, in exchange for 22 community papers and the Ottawa and Winnipeg versions of Metro . Except for the Exeter Times-Advocate , St. Catharines Standard , Niagara Falls Review , Peterborough Examiner , and Welland Tribune , all acquired papers will be closed. On June 26, 2018, Canadian Press reported that, by the end of August, Postmedia will be closing
672-503: The United States; in the same year, the company acquired Laidlaw for $ 3.4 billion, taking over its school transportation operations as well. 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
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#1732776732024704-513: 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 . School bus contractor A school bus contractor may range in size from an individual driver with
736-632: The business to EQT AB . The deal closed on July 22, 2021. 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. First Student Canada
768-430: The company's fleet of buses drives over 550,000,000 miles combined every year. Formerly a division of FirstGroup , First Student was sold to EQT Infrastructure on 21 July 2021. In 1999, Ryder sold its school bus division to FirstGroup for $ 940 million, in order to focus on its truck leasing and rental business. By 2007, FirstGroup had built the First Student network into one of the largest school bus contractors in
800-520: The company’s community presence in the province. For Ontario, the closures included the Kingsville Reporter, Lakeshore News (Windsor-Essex area), LaSalle Post, Napanee Guide, Paris Star, Tecumseh Shoreline Week, and Tilbury Times. On February 17, 2022, Postmedia announced a definitive agreement to acquire Brunswick News Inc. (BNI). As well as several New Brunswick daily and weekly newspapers and "digital properties", BNI's assets included
832-484: The coverage of federal politics in the National Post. In addition, it focuses on the coverage of federal and provincial politics in all of the dailies owned by Postmedia. In November 2019, Postmedia announced that 66% of its shares were now owned by Chatham Asset Management , an American media conglomerate which owns American Media, Inc. and is known for its close ties to the Republican party. The creation of
864-481: The decline in revenue. Postmedia closed 15 community newspapers in Manitoba and Ontario’s Windsor-Essex area as the publications were no longer financially sustainable. The publications included Manitoba’s Altona Red River Valley Echo, Carman Valley Leader, Gimli Intertake Spectator, Morden Times, Selkirk Journal, Stonewall Argus & Teulon Times, Winkler Times, and The Prairie Farmer, leaving Portage La Prairie as
896-406: 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
928-520: The federal Competition Bureau on March 25, 2015, even though the company manages competitive papers in several Canadian cities; while the Sun Media chain owns numerous other papers, four of its five Sun -branded tabloids operate in markets where Postmedia already publishes a broadsheet competitor. Board chair Rod Phillips has cited the Vancouver market, in which the two main daily newspapers,
960-437: 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 ,
992-463: The network received $ 9.9 million in government financial assistance in 2022. In the same year, Postmedia's operating income was only $ 13 million. In 2016, Paul Godfrey took a $ 900,000 bonus during a time when Postmedia laid off staff company-wide. CFO Doug Lamb received $ 450,000, COO Andrew MecLeod $ 425,000, legal and general counsel Jeffrey Harr $ 300,000, and National Post president Gordon Fisher $ 200,000. Unions representing Canadian journalists wanted
First Student - Misplaced Pages Continue
1024-580: The sake of producing “ Regina Leader-Post sports pages, Arts fronts for the Montreal Gazette , editorial pages for the Vancouver Sun ”. In a 2020 article by The New York Times, it was reported journalists had attested that since Chatham Asset Management took over, Postmedia had centralized operations and cut staff so that its 106 newspapers were essentially clones of one another. On November 27, 2018, The Competition Bureau applied for
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