Student Transportation

As part of our key work and advocacy, we are committed to following developments regarding student transportation, which affects 40% of the total student population in Ontario. More than 800,000 students are transported on approximately 18,000 vehicles daily.

April 4, 2018 – OPSBA Response to the New Vision for Student Transportation in Ontario discussion paper
April 26, 2017 – OPSBA Submission for Bill 65, Safer School Zones Act, 2017

Student Transportation RFP Process Review

On January 17, 2014, the Ministry of Education announced through a B-memo that Supply Chain Ontario (SCO), Ministry of Government Services (MGS) had been requested to undertake a procurement process review of the various Requests for Proposals (RFP) issued by transportation consortia.

That review, chaired by Colin Campbell, retired Justice of the Ontario Superior Court, examined the issues raised by the school bus operators association and identified opportunities for best practices for transportation consortia to consider in future RFP design. The two members of the review’s Expert Panel were Leo Gotlieb and Paul Emanuelli, both public procurement experts. SCO consulted directly with the school board sector and industry associations, including OPSBA.

SCO provided its findings to the Ministry of Education in January 2016 in the form of the Student Transportation Competitive Procurement Report.

Additional links and background documents

• Ministry of Education – About Student Transportation
• OPSBA Letter to Colin Campbell re: the Review
• Background on the Student Transportation Competitive Procurement Report
• The Student Transportation Competitive Procurement Report in PDF format
• ​2014 B-2 Memo re: Student Transportation RFP Process Review
• Letter from Minister Sandals to Chairs re: independent Student Transportation RFP Process Review