155 Layoffs Announced for Dairyland Buses

Layoffs for 155 employees of Dairyland Buses were announced Tuesday after the company lost its transportation contract with the Waukesha School District last month.

Seven office employees and 148 drivers will no longer be employed by Student Transportation of America, according to a letter sent to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. The layoffs will begin June 6.

The ability to use propane fuel and GPS monitoring caused the Waukesha School District to select First Student as its transportation provider after the contract went out to bid. Dairyland Buses employees tried to fight the move at the March School Board meeting, but they were unsuccessful.

First Student’s bids came in at $6.33 million for diesel fuel and $6.14 million for propane fuel with an assumption that 50 percent of buses are run on propane fuel. Dairyland Buses’ bid $6.2 million to run buses on diesel fuel.

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