INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS: BRIEFS
RFP FIGHT COMING TO HEAD IN ONTARIO AS STOCK VACATES OTTAWA CONTRACTS
S
tock Transportation, the Canadi- an subsidiary of National Express Corp., is closing shop in Ottawa after contract negotiations with the Ottawa
Student Transportation Authority broke down. Stock had served the Eastern Ontario area for the past 20 years, but exits amid a controversy over a competi- tive procurement mandate from the local government. “Te operating environment in Ottawa has become too challenging due to the severe disconnect between what operators require to deliver service and what the Ot- tawa Student Transportation Association can pay for these services,” Stock Transpor- tation said in a statement. “We will con- tinue to provide the same safe and reliable service for which Stock has been known for decades and will assist our drivers through the transition.” In April, Stock wrote OSTA that the
company required a contract extension for the 2014-2015 school year to include at
least a 10-percent increase, mainly to cover driver wage increases and to address rising fuel costs. Stock’s COO Kim Worster said company contracts in Eastern Ontario had not “provided a reasonable return on invest- ed capital” nor “provided long-term security for some time.” Worster also noted the company had to spend millions to upgrade its bus fleet, while also raising driver wages by more than 15 percent in recent years to retain qualified employees. Yet company revenues increased by less than 4 percent. Instead, OSTA offered a two-percent
increase based on the money the govern- ment made available to the consortia this spring as part of the province’s new Com- petitive Procurement, or RFP, program. Tree local companies — Direct
Transportation Logistics, Roxborough Bus Lines and Campeau Bus Lines — are taking on the new contracts and hiring the former Stock drivers.
(Continued from Pg. 32)
running late and attempting to catch the bus when she was run over, apparently as the bus took off around 6:30 a.m. Another 6-year-old, Zackery Bryant, was hit and killed by a school bus at Chattanoo- ga Valley Elementary School in Flintstone, Ga., the day before. Te Georgia State Pa- trol said the kindergartner exited his school bus and turned left, stopping in front of the vehicle’s front right tire, when it struck him. Te coroner confirmed he died instantly. Eighteen-year-old Dayanna Andrea Gil
died April 14, one week after being struck before sunrise by a hit-and-run driver near her bus stop. After Gil died, police arrested the driver and charged her with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury. In Keystone Heights, Fla., 18-year-old
Shane Savoy was hit by a pickup truck while walking to his bus stop April 11 and died later that day. Police said the truck driver did not see Savoy or his female classmate in time to avoid striking them. Te girl suffered minor injuries.
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www.ewss.org | 10939B Reed Hartman Hwy. • Cincinnati, OH 45242 34 School Transportation News June 2014
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