Victory for Bus Operators

A throng of independent school bus operators cheered outside Belleville's superior court Thursday after Justice Robert Scott signed an order quashing a brewing legal beef between operators and a trio of area school boards.

“The tension is gone,” said Rolland Montgomery, owner of Montgomery School Transit Ltd, moments after hearing the outcome. “We can get back to doing business. It's going to send a clear message to all the other boards.”

Tri-Board Student Transportation Services suddenly withdrew its unpopular tender process amid Thursday's court hearing, apparently bowing to legal pressure from operators to block the Oct. 31 deadline.

Operators have claimed the procurement process is unfair, saying it would pit smaller and medium sized entities against larger firms, who have the financial leverage to underbid in order to acquire routes and drive them out of business.

Shelby MacPherson, owner of County Bus Services Ltd, called Thursday's decision a victory for operators who fretted for weeks about losing routes some had serviced for years. Continued amicable relations with the board now weighs heavily on negotiations for upcoming contract renewals.

“There's a little bit of a fight left to negotiate a contract,” she said.

MacPherson is banking on results here to set a precedent for similar cases across Ontario, where operators are still facing new procurement arrangements like the one opposed here.

The issue landed before Scott after 15 local busing entities launched a lawsuit against Tri-Board over its contract-awarding RFP process.

Steve Wowk, CEO of Tri-Board, said his entity will be reverting to current agreements with the 55 operators serving the local boards.

Wowk said the procurement formula used to ink future deals will hinge on the boards position under government guidance.

“In the meantime, we will be evaluating the RFP process to see if that's where we want to go,” he said.

Wowk said he was pleased the legal heat has somewhat calmed, giving Tri-Board and the operators an opportunity to retain the status quo.

Operators will now work to cement deals for the upcoming year for all existing routes.

Wowk hinted the possibilities of a court battle remains on the table, but for now they have opted to kill the recently introduced RFP process until further review.

There is no indication that the cordial relationship between involved parties will be strained, Wowk said.

“I don't hold grudges,” he said.

Ted Boldrick, owner of Tweed's Boldrick Bus Lines, agreed it's time to “get back to business,” but had some lingering apprehension about ongoing relations considering that the RFP process remains on Tri-Board's agenda.

“It's over for now,” Boldrick said. “There are other battles that will pop up.”

School Bus Operators call for Osborne Report to be Released – Demonstration Planned at Queen’s Park

(Queen’s Park – Toronto) There will be 70 school buses circling Queen's Park today from 11:30 to 12:30 and they are not bringing lunch boxes to their MPPs. They are demanding the release of the Coulter Osborne Report, which they believe recommends options for procurement that do not drive them out of business.

The industry is upset that the Minister has allowed 5 transportation consortia to use flawed documents and processes for the latest round of RFPs before waiting for her own task force to report. They see this as a broken campaign promise, and another example of the McGuinty Liberals lack of support for small business.

Short-term savings for the provincial government will turn into long-term loss of businesses for rural Ontario as the McGuinty government forces school boards to change their procurement practices, with no input from trustees.

The Independent School Bus Operators Association (ISBOA) is warning school officials and parents alike that Queen’s Park is jeopardizing safe, competitive, and sustainable school bus operations. In the short run, driver retention will suffer. In the long run, rates will skyrocket.

Reacting to the abrupt end of a moratorium on RFPs while the practice could be studied, ISBOA President Steve Hull lamented, “It’s a race to the bottom in school bussing in Ontario.” Petrolia Mayor John McCharles warns “Once small businesses are driven out of the industry because of predatory and panic pricing, a few large companies will have a monopoly and dictate price and service levels.”

According to ISBOA Director Frank Healey, Ministry of Education staff is sitting on the report because it exposes the incomplete policy and economic analysis the government has done to date. “That’s the irony of the whole exercise,” explains Healey. “Competitive tendering, when applied to school bussing, will virtually eliminate the competition that already exists.”

Economist Don Drummond, in his recent report, noted that the cost of student transportation had risen 34% since 2002. A closer look at those numbers demonstrates that the entire increase can be attributed to rising fuel costs, increased vehicle costs due to environmental standards, and a 50% increase in the minimum wage for drivers since 2002. All other costs have been held at 1% per year through efficiencies and collaboration.

The ISBOA is calling on the McGuinty government to abandon the current push for RFP’s and allow school boards the option of using other forms of competitive procurement more suited to the small business environment of student transportation.

In a recent letter to the Minister of Education, CFIB President Catherine Swift shames the Minister for her treatment of school bus operators. And Chambers of Commerce across the province have joined with bus operators to call for better procurement policy than the one-size-fits-all RFPs that have been used to date.

The Independent School Bus Operators Association (ISBOA) represents over 100 school bus companies, servicing over 2000 school bus routes across the province. ISBOA has a website (www.isboa.ca) for advocacy and information. ISBOA’s goal is to involve the public and local trustees in the struggle to preserve competitive rates and funding for safety in student transportation.