HRCE School Bus Providers starting September 2020

*** HRCE Media Release HRCE School Bus Providers starting September 2020 Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE) has awarded contracts to three (3) service providers that will begin transporting students in September. Student Transportation of Canada Inc., Southland Transportation Ltd., and National Passenger Services (Canada) (also known as Stock Transportation Ltd.) are the successful providers for student transportation in the Halifax region starting in September 2020. HRCE issued a Request for Proposals, RFP #4031, in July. Current routes serving HRCE schools were divided into four (4) packages consisting of geographically linked Families of Schools. Special Needs Transportation routes formed a separate package and were bundled as a single package for the entirety of HRCE. Below are the service providers that will begin busing students in the fall.

• ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​Student Transportation of Canada Inc.will provide bus service to the following Families of Schools: Citadel High, Duncan MacMillan, Eastern Shore, Halifax West, J.L. Ilsley, Millwood, Lockview, Musquodoboit Rural, and Sir John A. Macdonald.
• ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​Southland Transportation Ltd.will provide bus service to the following Families of Schools: Auburn Drive, Bedford and Forsyth Education Centres (BFEC), Charles P. Allen, Cole Harbour District, Dartmouth High, Island View, Prince Andrew and Sackville High.
• ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​National Passenger Services (Canada)will provide bus service to all HRCE schools for Special Needs Transportation.

Families can identify their school and school bus service provider for the 2020-21 school year at: http://hrce.ca/transportation/2020 ​ Under the new contracts, the providers will be focused on getting students to school safely and on time. As of September, HRCE will be responsible for routing and communications with families. If a parent/guardian has a question or concern about their child’s route, bus driver or schedule, they now call the HRCE. Under the current contract, communications and routing are handled by the service provider, which is not a common practice. ​ “We are confident that the new contracts position us well to provide all students, families and schools with an overall better student transportation experience for the 2020-21 school year and moving forward into the future.” – said Elwin LeRoux ​ Busing through the remainder of this school year (June 30, 2020) will continue to be provided by Stock Transportation. HRCE has already initiated the development of a new Transportation Team and continues to provide greater support to families and schools through improved communication and routing. ​ Families will receive an email communication from HRCE today to inform them of the student transportation announcement. HRCE will be communicating with families regularly of any updates about their child(ren)’s transportation between now and September. Families can expect to hear from HRCE on their child(ren)’s routes in the summer.   The HRCE Transportation Team is the primary contact for families about student transportation. If you have any questions or concerns about busing, call 902-431-4723 (HRCE) or email transportation@hrce.ca. For more information about HRCE Student Transportation, visit http://hrce.ca/transportation. Quotes: “HRCE is committed to supporting safe transportation to students to and from school.” – Elwin LeRoux, Regional Executive Director “We are delighted to be selected by HRCE.​ We have visited the area numerous times to prepare for September 2020 and have been warmly received by everyone we have met.​ At Student Transportation of Canada (STC), our people are committed to student safety and community involvement. We look forward to fulfilling these commitments in the HRCE community.” – Chris Harwood, President, Student Transportation of Canada “Southland Transportation is excited and honoured to have been selected by the Halifax Regional Centre for Education to provide student transportation service to many of the communities they serve. We look forward to immersing ourselves into the culture of these communities and fulfilling our Safely Home promise to the newest members of our Southland family.” – Murray Glass – Vice President of Student Transportation, Pacific Western Transportation ​ “Last year we began a journey to alter the way we bussed students in our community. With the focus of our experienced transportation team, we have achieved many of the successes we have strived for and look forward to completing our transformation and servicing our community with dedication and safety excellence.” ​ – Darryl E. Amirault​ – Area General Manager, National Passenger Services (Canada)