Contract awarded to Ontario company to operate specialized transit services for North Bay

Voyago is the successful bidder to take over operation of specialized transit buses in North Bay for the next five years.

PHARA (Physically Handicapped Adult’s Rehabilitation Association) announced in April that it would no longer be providing specialized transportation services.

The awarding of the $2.6 million contract follows a lengthy evaluation process involving proposals from five companies.

“They do transportation services, both for conventional systems, specialized services, school buses, medical transportation. They have a very diverse background in the transportation industry. They’ve been doing it for quite some time, “ explained transit manager Remi Renaud.

“So what that will mean for us now in moving forward is, they will take over the service much like PHARA use to do for us. So they’re going to provide both the driver operators of the vehicles, as well as the dispatch services which includes people booking appointments and rides,” said Renaud.

“An RFP (request for proposal) went out for an interim provider, and STOCK Transportation  won that. So it was on a contract basis for the duration it would take us to find a proponent. So once Voyago takes over, then the contract with STOCK at that point would end.”

Renaud would like to see the change-over happen in early October.

“The goal has been ever since this all started, to try and make it as seamless as possible for our passengers, to keep the amount of disruption in their lives to a minimum.  So other than seeing maybe a new face behind the wheel, that would have been the only disruption that they would see. The service was the same, securement processes were the same, the booking was the same,” said Renaud.