Local News in Brief : Hart District to End Laidlaw Contract Early

William S. Hart Union High School District trustees have decided to end their $800,000 contract with the troubled Laidlaw Transit school bus company in June.

The contract was not set to expire until 1990, but Laidlaw officials offered to end it early following months of complaints about sloppy bus service in the Hart and Newhall school districts. Hart trustees voted Tuesday to terminate the contract when the fiscal year ends in June.

It was the second setback that the school bus company faced in the Santa Clarita Valley this year.

Last month, Newhall officials told Laidlaw that they would seek new bids when their $300,000 contract with the company expires in June. Laidlaw has run its valley bus fleet as one operation, but held separate contracts with the Hart and Newhall districts.

Laidlaw hopes to persuade Hart and Newhall district officials to offer a joint contract for school bus service, said Dave Daley, a Laidlaw vice president. The company plans to bid on any such contract.

Meanwhile, Hart Supt. Clyde Smyth said Laidlaw’s problems have become well-known in the school bus industry. Other companies are hoping to win the district’s bus contract. “We’ve already been contacted by other contractors,” Smyth said.