through acquisition of ryder public transportation services headquarters 600 vine street ste. 1400 cincinnati ohio 45202 service area united states india service type fixed route paratransit shuttle bus management website 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 . in april 2016 it commenced operations in india . contents 1 history 2 controversy 2.1 crimsonride strike 2.2 employee credit checks 2.3 deborah brooks death 3 references 4 external links history edit first transit was formed in 1999 when firstgroup acquired ryder public transportation services inc. from ryder . 1 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 . 2 as of 2016 first transit operates in 242 locations in north america including locations in 39 u.s. states five canadian provinces territories and in puerto rico . 3 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 . in april 2016 first transit commenced operating a five year contract for hinjewadi techzone it park in india . 4 5 controversy edit crimsonride strike edit in 2009 drivers employed by first transit to operate the university of alabama s crimsonride shuttle service voted unanimously to join the amalgamated transit union . the drivers earned less than 10 per hour with no benefits while similarly situated drivers at the university of texas at austin also contracted to first transit could earn up to 17 per hour if they had seniority . after almost a year of negotiations atu members carried out a one day strike on march 1 2010 to improve their wages and working conditions . 6 university students walked the picket line with the drivers and rallied support across campus with slogans like students support the strike and walk or bike respect the strike . supportive students also distributed fliers to their peers . 7 in response to the service disruption the university of alabama released a statement indicating that it would search for another transit provider if first transit could not settle a contract with the drivers . the university also stated that its payment to first transit was large enough to provide the drivers with an adequate wage . on march 9 crimsonride drivers ratified their first contract securing a 1.50 per hour wage increase . however the drivers still lacked paid sick leave . 8 employee credit checks edit members of the amalgamated transit union filed a class action lawsuit against first group subsidiaries first student and first transit for violations of the fair credit reporting act in october 2009 . the plaintiffs claim that employees were illegally fired after the companies hired a third party vendor to perform credit checks . according to the act first had to notify employees of any potential adverse actions resulting from the credit check and allow employees an opportunity to dispute the accuracy of the results . the suit was filed in federal district court in illinois . citation needed deborah brooks death edit in houston texas on march 10 2010 first transit driver deborah brooks died after collapsing in a metro vehicle . co workers claimed that the driver radioed the dispatcher several times complaining of feeling ill but the dispatcher told the driver to stay on the job . first transit stated that there was no indication that the driver was seriously ill while metro originally stated that there was no evidence that the driver had contacted the dispatcher . metro is investigating the incident . 9 references edit ryder sells bus businesses to uk s firstgroup . retrieved may 10 2015 . history first transit http www.firsttransit.com about us first transit in discussions to enter indian bus market firstgroup january 20 2016 tri delta transit continues partnership with first transit first group june 22 2016 university of alabama crimson ride drivers strike . business wire . march 1 2010 . outpouring of support for tuscaloosa bus drivers negotiations resume . fight back news . retrieved march 15 2010 . university of alabama bus drivers accept new contract . tuscaloosa news . retrieved march 15 2010 . questions surround transit driver s death . ktrk tv . retrieved march 26 2010 . external links edit company website v t e firstgroup united kingdom bus companies first aberdeen first berkshire & the thames valley first cymru first essex first glasgow first greater manchester first hampshire & dorset first midlands first leicester 94 % first midland red first potteries first norfolk & suffolk first scotland east first south west the buses of somerset first south yorkshire first west of england first bristol first somerset & avon first west yorkshire first bradford first calderdale & huddersfield first leeds first york first student uk international bus companies america first student united states first student canada first transit greyhound united states boltbus with peter pan bus lines greyhound canada greyhound mexico grey goose bus lines vancouver island coach lines voyageur colonial bus lines ireland aircoach railway companies great western railway heathrow connect with heathrow airport holdings hull trains transpennine express former divisions dsbfirst 25 % danish 30 % swedish first capital connect first chester & the wirral first great eastern first great western link first london first northampton first north western first gbrf first scotrail first transpennine express 55 % greyhound uk new world first bus 26 % future divisions east coast trains retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title first transit & oldid 744263582 categories bus companies of indiabus companies of the united statescompanies based in cincinnatifirst group companiestransport companies established in 19991999 establishments in ohiohidden categories use american english from march 2014all wikipedia articles written in american englishuse mdy dates from october 2016all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 14 october 2016 at 04 27 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view