Rarely do politicians tread on the grounds of their contemporaries elected elsewhere. It’s a matter of respect and also a matter of not encouraging reciprocal criticism.
At the last county council meeting, however, a resolution was endorsed to support Wellington North council, which is asking for consideration for local bus companies when filling tenders for school bus routes.
Many local companies have served students and the board well for decades. Searching for savings today, the Ministry of Education and the school board opened up the tendering process with little regard to those smaller operators.
Much has already been said about American owned companies winning bids in Wellington County. One of the companies in question was a local operator before being bought out. It provided good service before and still runs a good show and should not be vilified for simply doing its job and doing it well.
The problem though, involves a Request for Proposal bidding process that seemingly does not provide transparency and, we would argue, sets the ministry and board up for problems down the road.
No one can expect local bus operators to retain their capital for a tender event in the future. When that future rolls around only the larger companies will be left to bid. At least one county councillor noted there is little savings dealing with a monopoly.
The risk is that with no competition, prices will rise when that time arrives – and there go the savings that were gained in this round of bids.
