Pacific Western Group of Companies

09/17/2024

On the Road to Leadership: Meet Lisa Pointon!

Lisa’s journey with Student Transportation of America (our parent company) began as a bus driver, and through her dedication and passion, she quickly rose to become the General Manager for Southern New Jersey. Her leadership style, inspired by her mentor, emphasizes growth, patience, and supporting her team every step of the way. Lisa’s story shows that with hard work and a love for learning, the possibilities at STA are endless!

Read more about Lisa’s inspiring journey here: https://bit.ly/47yKnam

Lisa Pointon discusses her journey from school bus driver to being a member of STA's leadership team, now serving as General Manager.

08/03/2024

These types of family-oriented events are always a lot of fun! Great to see such a wonderful turnout!

08/03/2024

Great looking recruitment ad!

07/15/2024

Earlier this month, Century Transportation was announced as one of the top winners of the Student Transportation Services of Central Ontario (STSCO) Request for Proposal (RFP) award. STSCO is the organization responsible for planning school bus routes for several school boards in the area.

Regional director Steve Collins placed much of the praise for the win on Century employees, saying in an email “We want to express our sincere appreciation for your loyalty to the company. Your dedication and hard work have been instrumental in our success, and we look forward to many more years together.”

One of those celebrating Century’s recent good news is Ruth Mathews. She has been a school bus and charter driver with the company since 1981. Ruth is in her 44th year and is a role model for our new drivers!

And a lot has changed in the time she’s been driving. “We didn’t even use log books back then,” she says, laughing. When she became a mother, her three-month-old son began riding the bus with her because back then, “that was all we had (for mat leave) three months!”

When asked why she’s stayed at Century for nearly a half-century, she doesn’t waste a second to respond.
“There’s no way I’d go somewhere else because we have the best boss ever, Steve (Collins). I keep saying, ‘if you leave Steve, I’m leaving.’”

Thankfully, beyond Steve, she appreciates Century’s culture. “We have barbecues and breakfasts and stuff. I usually try to attend, and I like to go to the safety meetings and, you know, start-up meetings and all that stuff. And Raise The Bar. I really like that.”

And we like your attitude, Ruth! Thanks for being a loyal and cautious school bus driver for all these years, Ruth. Century has been lucky to have you.

07/05/2024

Prairie Bus Lines Driver Brings Home 2nd Place in Small Bus at the International Road-eo in Texas!

On June 29th and 30th, the 2024 NSTA School Bus Driver International Safety Competition was held in Austin, TX with 53 drivers competing in three separate vehicle classes - Small Bus, Conventional Bus and Transit Bus.

After winning 2nd in the Alberta Bus Road-eo last month, Claudia Christen from Prairie Bus Lines flew down to Austin Texas, USA to compete at the International Bus Road-eo!
“It was tough competition”, says Claudia. “The Bus Drivers have been practicing for months for this event. We’re the Best of the Best and we all should be proud to have gotten this far.”

Claudia gave an outstanding performance and brought home 2nd place in the Small Bus category. This is a significant accomplishment and Prairie Bus Lines is very proud of her!
CONGRATULATIONS Claudia on your success! We admire your hard work and dedication!

07/04/2024

For the second year in a row, SOUTHLAND Saskatchewan rolled into the annual Summer Sizzler Parade in Humboldt on June 29th. This was a great opportunity to promote our services, engage with the community, and highlight our partnership with George Gordon Developments Ltd. – namely Wicehtowak Employee Transportation. www.southland.ca/wicehtowak-transportation/

Staff from the Humboldt office pitched in to show off three different units in the parade, walk the parade route and hand out treats to the crowd. We want to send a huge shout-out to Pam Saretsky, Laura Peters and son Mattix, Dave Therres, Gail Reuve, Terri Carothers, Doug Hazelwood, Loretta Malic, Wanda Radcliffe-Smith, Ron Lang, Darren Schatz and kids Olivia and Danny.

Our team cheerily interacted with parade watchers, handing out over 700 pieces of candy with cards featuring a QR code with information on applying for work or booking a charter with SOUTHLAND. Everyone had a blast, and we are already looking forward to next year’s event!

07/04/2024

Prairie Bus Lines Brings Hawaii to the Drivers!
On June 27th, Prairie Bus Lines in Red Deer, celebrated the End of the 2023-24 School Year with bringing HAWAII to the drivers! Ho’onanea!
Drivers were greeted with an “Aloha and Lei” and were able to enjoy the Beach Haven by laying under the palm trees and playing ukuleles.
Many were caught up in the tropical paradise, even wearing grass skirts! Prairie Bus Lines also brought in a local Food Truck to help celebrate the season-ender, with proceeds going to The Red Deer Food Bank. The food was good, and everyone had a feast!
Happy Summer Everyone! Maholo nui loa 🌺

06/21/2024

Today is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada! The Pacific Western Group of Companies acknowledges the history, heritage, traditions and experiences of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples within the communities we serve across Canada.

National Indigenous Peoples Day is for everyone to celebrate in the deep culture of Canada's three Indigenous groups - the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Falling each year on the summer solstice, this significant day recognizes the importance of Indigenous Canadians and their contributions to our history.

You can share in the celebration by checking out this link to view a list of events happening all across Canada! https://ow.ly/toSF50SnkiQ

05/29/2024

Approximately 30 bus drivers from across Central Alberta put their skills to the test on May 25th during the annual local School Bus Road-eo held in Red Deer, AB.
Throughout the day, drivers from Prairie Bus Lines, Red Deer Catholic, Chinook’s Edge and Wolf Creek participated in a day of friendly competition and skillful driving. Drivers engaged in a variety of skill-testing events, including railroad crossing, diminishing clearance, back-up stall and offset alley.
We had seven participants from Prairie Bus Lines driving in the local Road-eo and Prairie Bus Lines achieved 1st Place in the “Large Bus” category and 1st Place in the “Small Bus” category!
Congratulations Jordon Freerksen for winning 1st Place in the “Big Bus” category!
Congratulations Claudia Christen for achieving 1st Place in the “Small Bus” category!
Winners from the Local School Bus Road-eo will advance to the Provincial School Bus Road-eo, which is scheduled for Saturday, June 8th in Leduc, AB.

05/28/2024

On Friday, SOUTHLAND Halifax paid tribute to School Bus Driver Terrie Brown for his swift response in steering clear of a gravel truck that had careened off a highway overpass, narrowly missing his bus.

Terrie was presented with the Safety Championship Belt and a cheque for this year’s SOUTHLAND Halifax Community Hero Award. The gathering was held at Rocky Lake Junior High on May 24th and had Terrie’s family in attendance, representatives from the school, the Halifax Regional Centre for Education, the media, and of course, some of his driver colleagues from Rocky Lake Junior High.

SOUTHLAND Operations Manager Coady MacNeil kicked off the ceremony with some well-deserved accolades.
“Terrie, you’re the reason we’re all here, and we can’t thank you enough for your actions that you took last week – saving not only your own life but the lives of the 23 passengers on board.”

Terrie was gracious in accepting the mountain of praise and attention the last week had brought him.
“I’m kind of overwhelmed! I wasn’t expecting all of this publicity and all of that. I’m OK, but it’s going to take some time to completely get right back to normal again because it was quite the ordeal. It really was.”

Terrie, you are a true Community Hero, and we thank you for ensuring your students all arrived Safely Home that fateful day nearly two weeks ago.
*photos courtesy of CTV Atlantic

05/23/2024

SOUTHLAND Halifax School Bus Driver Hailed a Hero for Averting a Potential Crash

A Halifax School Bus Driver says he’s still processing a dangerously close call that occurred on a highway last week — as a tractor-trailer tipped over an overpass and came metres away from colliding with his bus full of students.

Terrie Brown, who’s been driving buses for nine years, said he was driving on Highway 102 near Lower Sackville, N.S., on Thursday afternoon after completing a pickup at a nearby elementary school in Bedford. As he was driving under an overpass, he saw a large truck crash into a guardrail and fall over another overpass ahead.

“I was as hard as I can get on the brakes,” he explained during an interview with Global News on Wednesday.
“For a few seconds, I wasn’t sure if I was going to even stop in time, if I’m being honest with you. It was pretty scary.”

Coady MacNeil, Halifax Operations Manager, said Brown’s actions “saved lives” in that fateful moment.

“I think he’s a hero, absolutely,” he said.
“We looked at the GPS system after the fact and he was about 100 metres away from where the incident could’ve occurred. Travelling 100 kilometres per hour and took six seconds to stop, which is hard enough in a compact sedan, let alone a 13- to 14-tonne bus.”

*story and photos courtesy of Global News

05/14/2024

Two weekends ago, Standard Bus Yukon Operations Manager Sebastian Gabriel took some team members on a fun road trip as part of Employee Appreciation Day. It's the second time Standard Bus has hosted the trip, and it hopes to make it an annual tradition.

They loaded up one of their coaches for the 2.5-hour trip to Skagway, Alaska. There, the crew enjoyed a getaway that featured shopping, dining, and overall frivolity. All employees and families were invited to come along (as space permitted) to enjoy a lovely, spring day trip!

05/11/2024

"A mother teaches us that there is no end at all to what love can do." Keely Chace

Wishing all mothers a very happy .

05/08/2024

May 6th has been designated School Bus Driver Appreciation Day for a very good reason. It gives teachers, students and families a wonderful opportunity to thank school bus drivers and to show them how much they value their service. It also gives PWT the opportunity to show our appreciation and on Monday, we saw several fun celebrations across multiple Student Line locations!

Thank you School Bus Drivers!

There are not enough words to describe your impact on your communities and passengers. Your continuing Dedication to ensuring every student makes it Safely Home is inspiring. Click on the video below and look for more fun celebrations as continues!

04/24/2024

This week is Employee Appreciation Week at the Pacific Western Group of Companies. We asked employees for kind words for others and shout outs to fellow employees. And boy have our employees responded! Here are just a few:

"I appreciate Matt D. He always comes to work with a smile and puts up with all of my apprentice questions. I appreciate him greatly because I would not be the mechanic I am today if it wasn’t for all of the valuable knowledge he’s taught me, about busses but even with life and coaching me to be a better person."

Linda
Medicine Hat, Alberta

"I appreciate Lisa G. She is always there to help. She has supported all of my efforts from my first day. She helps with directions, timing, a good morning and with overall procedures. Cheers to Lisa! I also appreciate Max W. He has always been there to assist with safety concerns. He addresses them and gives feedback on the concern. Max makes you feel supported when you need to ask a question. Cheers to Max!"

Thomas
Prince George

"I would like to send out appreciation to my whole training team here in Calgary and the support they've provided over the past few months. In particular, I need to shout out to Jason and Jimmy for stepping outside of their day to day duties and learning new responsibilities and roles to further support our department. My team is awesome!"

Sarah
Calgary

04/16/2024

Prairie Bus Lines is thrilled to announce that one of our own has been recognized by the Student Transportation Association of Alberta. We want to extend our sincerest congratulations to Don Strandquist for being named the 2023 School Bus Driver of the Year.

Working out of Stettler, Alberta, Don recently marked 50 years of consecutive service transporting students to school and Safely Home. His experience navigating the rural country roads and local highways is unmatched, and Don is humbled by the unexpected recognition.

“I’m tickled pink about it, actually! You know, when you’re doing something that you really enjoy, it’s never really work, and I truly believe that. In all of those years, I can never remember a morning when I said, I wish I didn’t have to drive today.”

Over the past five decades, Don has witnessed three generations of school kids in the Stettler community grow up before his very eyes. Some of his current bus students have parents or even grandparents who also rode on Don’s big yellow school bus.

“Yes, I’ve seen a third generation of families in a few places! I’ve seen a lot of kids come and go over the years. You don’t do something for this long unless you love it!”

Don will be presented with his award at the STAA’s Supervisor’s Meeting on April 26 in Stoney Plain, Alberta. There, he will officially receive the School Bus Driver of the Year for the province of Alberta and a cheque for $500.

Congratulations, Don, on receiving this well-deserved honour and on your unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of the students in your care.

04/10/2024

To our employees and our friends celebrating the end of Ramadan, we wish you a joyful -al-Fitr.

04/10/2024

Pacific Western Transportation is deeply committed to growing our people. Recently, we brought together over one hundred and fifty leaders across our four divisions for “Education Days,” our company’s most important corporate learning event.

This annual conference consists of two days of intensive workshops, speakers, collaboration and celebration. It unites leaders from across Canada and our parent company, Student Transportation of America, in the United States.

Over these two days, we intensified our already robust approaches to safety, customer and student care and learned new practices and procedures to help us return people Safely Home as quickly as possible. In particular, we discussed strategies for managing complex change and supporting our teams through these transitions as well as plans to ensure the knowledge and skills we developed at Education Days will be shared with all of our employees to help us establish better ways of working.

Learning for PWT is not a once-a-year event for us. It’s a way of life. We believe investments in learning and development are fundamental to providing exceptional customer service to anyone who rides with us.

04/02/2024

Today is World Autism Awareness Day and April is Autism Acceptance Month! At PWT, we're committed to fostering a safe and inclusive environment for all students and our employees. 💙

03/31/2024

For the entire month of March, we've been spotlighting women in transportation for Women's History Month! From coast to coast, across North America, women have been driving change in transportation for more than a century! In our final installment, we honour Marilyn Jorgenson Reece, who paved the way in 1948 as California's first female engineer for Highways.

03/30/2024

Wishing you a safe and Happy Easter. 🐰🐣 May your weekend be filled with joy, family and rest.

03/30/2024

Wilma Russey: taxi driver, mechanic, and pioneer! She hit the streets of NY in 1915, breaking barriers along the way. 🚖🔧

03/30/2024

Clearing the view ahead! Mary Anderson's windshield prototype in 1903 revolutionized car safety.

03/28/2024

Turning the wheels of progress! Margaret Wu developed synthetic-based oil in the 1980s, powering transportation forward.

03/27/2024

What started as a simple social media post nearly five years ago has turned into a real passion project for Southland's Calgary North Supervisor Nancy Hardy. Nancy started capturing sunrise photos because "our Alberta skies are so big and beautiful. I began by just sending the pictures to my parents, sisters, daughter, and niece to say GOOD MORNING from Alberta."

She started posting her photos to the Southand Alberta drivers page for a very simple reason, "the sunrise views I post to the drivers page are the exact views they all see every morning. They can’t take the pictures because they are driving, so I share mine... it makes my heart happy sharing these pictures."

Check out a sampling of Nancy's sunrise collection by clicking on the slideshow below.

03/27/2024

Stay warm on the road, thanks to Margaret A. Wilcox, who invented the first car heater in 1893!

03/25/2024

Employees from across the Pacific Western Group of Companies travelled to Calgary this past week for a special night.

They were there to recognize Rashid Osman, a coach driver and lead trainer with Diversified Transportation Ltd of Fort McMurray in northern Alberta. Rashid is the recipient of this year’s R.B. Colborne Award of Excellence, which celebrates an employee who goes above and beyond all others in the service of customers. Rashid was selected from thirty-one other employees for this award due to his deep devotion to others and for living our company’s values daily.

The R.B. Colborne Award is named after Pacific Western’s founder, Robert Colborne, and is the company’s most prestigious employee award. It has been running since 1999. Nominees are selected by their peers and then evaluated by a committee that chooses the top nominees in each business line. From this list of names, the Board of Directors chooses a single recipient to receive the R.B. Colborne Award of Excellence.

We salute Rashid, our other R.B. Colborne Award nominees, and all our employees across the Pacific Western Transportation Group of Companies. It is important to celebrate excellence among our employees and thank our team members for their dedication to others. It is vital that we continue to celebrate all of our employees, and it was an honor to have met with Rashid and many of the R.B. Colborne nominees on this special night.

03/21/2024

Pacific Western Group of Companies Recognizes 2024 Transit Driver Appreciation Week!
Every March 18th marks the beginning of Transit Driver Appreciation Week, a time when everyone is encouraged to show appreciation to the thousands of transit operators who work tirelessly to keep our communities running smoothly.

The Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) is extending its recognition with a full week of gratitude until March 25th. Each year, transit systems, businesses, riders, and elected officials recognize and thank Canada's dedicated public transit staff. In Calgary alone, there are nearly 2,500 Calgary Transit operators who transport millions of Calgarians around the city each year.

Take a moment to thank and appreciate your transit driver for a job well done. As you know, transit drivers make an important contribution to the communities they serve.

For starters, they ensure the safety of transit travellers, keep track of the stops, inform passengers of delays, collect fares, and have the ultimate responsibility of dropping passengers off at the correct location. Moreover, these transportation professionals also perform basic vehicle maintenance to ensure their vehicle is in good working order at the start of their shift.

It's hard to imagine a world without them! Navigating our towns and cities would be much more challenging without transit drivers and public transportation.

Transit Driver Appreciation Week is a wonderful opportunity to show them how grateful we are for the service they provide.

03/21/2024

Celebrating Women's History Month with a trailblazer at our parent company, Student Transportation of America! Check out National School Transportation Association's The Bus Stop podcast as they shine a spotlight on Shelly Hall, SVP of Health and Safety. 🎙
Hear about her incredible journey, from winning the prestigious NSTA Golden Merit Award to championing women in transportation.
🔗Don't miss this episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/277232/14730991-nsta-the-bus-stop-with-shelly-hall-svp-health-and-safety-student-transportation-of-america