First Transit

First Transit is a United States based subsidiary of 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.

As of 2007, First Transit operates in 235 locations in North America, including locations in 41 U.S. states, 5 Canadian provinces/territories and in Puerto Rico. A total of 15,500 employees operate 7,100 buses that cover over 260 million annual fleet miles.

First Transit generally 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 are owned by and 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.