NAMPA — In past years, afternoons at the Brown Bus Company vehicle lot would have been characterized by drivers in action, preparing for their after-school routes. But this September, the lot remains still.
“Typically during the school year, things are just boom, boom, boom,” Operations Manager Brent Carpenter said.
Carpenter has officially worked for Brown Bus since the 1990s, but this serves more as a technicality. Carpenter’s family began the business in 1959 with the Nampa School District as their first client.
For the first time in 64 years, Brown Bus is not driving Nampa School District students after the company’s contract was not renewed. With this loss, Brown Bus has lost 80 routes normally covered by 100 buses. This has resulted in employees going to First Student — the busing company the district is now partnering with instead of Brown Bus — and additional layoffs.
“That is probably one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do in a business scenario,” Carpenter said. “Because at that point, you’re messing with people’s lives.”