Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Save Ontarios Independent School Bus Operators

WHEREAS the Ontario Ministry of Education in collaboration with the School Boards of Ontario is entertaining or proceeding with a Request for Proposal (RFP) to obtain transportation services, with the intention of eliminating the current process;

AND whereas this concept strongly favours large international operators who are in a position to underbid local, small, existing independent operations;

AND whereas independent school bus operators form an integral part of the communities in which they operate, and contribute to the social and economic well-being of the community;

AND whereas local school bus operators support other local businesses such as insurance brokers, gas station operators, farming operations, financial institutions, retail outlets, and professional services such as dentists, chiropractors and doctors;

AND whereas school boards already utilize a procurement process where they set the price for school bus services, and this process has proven to be cost-effective;

AND whereas the outcomes of the RFP pilot projects have proven that local bus operators will lose their routes in an RFP process based on price first and quality second;

AND whereas the experience in other jurisdictions has proven that, while there may be short-term cost savings to an RFP process, in the long run the process reduces competition and costs eventually go up when there are only one or two large operators left to tender;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the undersigned Ontario parents, students, community leaders, education professionals and business owners call on the Ontario Government to address the concerns of the Independent School Bus Operators Association (ISBOA), abandon the RFP process, and adopt a process that ensures small and medium-sized school bus companies continue to be able to do business in their communities.