They may have local names, however they are owned by American or European companies.
The Physical Planning, Finance and Building Committee Meeting of the Hastings Prince Edward District School Board hosted TriBoard Transportation CEO Jeremy DaCosta Monday, where he discussed busing contracts on Monday.
Trustee Ernie Parsons says some of those companies awarded contracts are American or European owned.
“I know for a fact some of the local operators have sold out to a company that’s been bought out by another company. The ultimate owner of the buses that are on the roads in our county, is in fact an American corporation. The profits don’t remain in Ontario.”
Parsons is not wrong.
Voyago is one of TriBoard’s busing providers for next year.
The London, Ontario based company is owned by Transdev Canada Inc. out of Montreal, which is owned by Caisse des Depots in France and Rethmann Group in Germany.
Meantime, Switzer Carty Transportation, which has a Belleville office, has owners in Toronto, New York, and Germany.
CEO DaCosta says there is a public procurement process and they evaluate bids based on safety, delivery, and price.
They also have to stay within provincially mandated guidelines that are transparent and open.
“When we conducted the evaluation for the request for proposals and for the proposals we received, the evaluation was not solely focused on price. The evaluation was weighted 75 -per cent on the technical elements, or the delivery of service, and 25 per cent on price. Approach to safety and reliability, things that are really important in terms of transporting our students.”
He says the public process demands certain criteria and the best operators are chosen based on that.
“Is making sure that it is done safely, to make sure that the operators can deliver the service for our students reliably. That is the primary focus and that’s what we’re aiming to strive for and that’s what we’re focused on for next September.”
Parsons says he is not questioning whether or not TriBoard did things by the book.
“Just for the record, I’m not happy. TriBoard pays the money to what appears to be a local company. I have no doubt that TriBoard met the requirements, but the bottom line for me is, the money that our taxpayers pay in many cases for busing, is in fact going south to American corporations.”
Eleven different bus operators submitted proposals and DaCosta says five were chosen.
TriBoard Student Transportation buses students for HPEDSB, the Limestone District School Board, and the Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic District School Board.
There are 617 routes with 31,032 riders, taken to 138 different schools, with buses travelling nearly 62,000 kilometres of roadway.
