A Calgary-based school busing company has swept in with low bids to provide students with transportation right across the Yukon for the next two years.

Standard Bus Contracting has bid $4.6 million, or $2.3 million per year, to provide services in Whitehorse, for instance.

The current busing company, Watson Lake Bus Lines, the parent company to Takhini Transport, bid $5 million.

Standard Bus is the owner of Diversified Transportation, the company which held the school busing contract for Whitehorse and several other communities for some 30 years before Takhini Transport took over in 2001.

Takhini has had the Whitehorse contract ever since, as well as the contract to provide school busing in several communities.

Of the 10 communities where busing is provided, Takhini Transport has the existing contract for seven. Norline Coaches of Whitehorse is suppling the service in Haines Junction, Carmacks and Destruction Bay.

Dea Hrebien of the Department of Education said this morning she's hoping contract award letters will go out as early as Monday.

Generally speaking, however, unless there's a problem with a company's bid, the work goes to the low bidder, she said.

Pat Jamieson, general manager of Takhini Transport, said Thursday she couldn't say much since the contracts have not been awarded.

Takhini Transport employs approximately 60 drivers, she confirmed.

Standard Bus vice-president Tom Jezersek expressed similar reluctance from the company's head office, pending the notification of the awards.

Jerzersek, however, said Standard Bus goes where the work is, and bids on these types of contracts when they come up, just as the company did when they were up for renewal in 2008.

"There are only so many contracts out there that come up for tender, so there is only so many opportunities,” he said.

Jezersek said it's premature to discuss the logistics of returning to the Yukon, but it's a full-on commitment to the territory.

"If you have a contract in the area, you have to have roots in the area, you have to set up shop,” he said.

Nor did Jezersek want to discuss any specifics about what the future has in store for current drivers and other employees of the two local bus lines providing the service.

"If we are fortunate enough to be awarded the contract, we would be very interested in meeting with the existing employee groups,” he said. "We treat our employees very fair, and we did not bid this on the backs of the employee groups.”

Hrebien said the department shortened the standard three-year contract to two years because it's beginning a comprehensive review of its busing policy, which it expects to be completed in time for the next regular three-year tender in 2013.

It did not want to ask the busing company to make adjustments to its service mid-way through the contract, said the department's officer responsible for student transportation.

The policy review, Hrebien said, will examine efficiencies of existing service.

She pointed out the department is purchasing a program that will allow it to feed in the ages and location of each student using school buses to determine if routes can be streamlined.

There's likely to be some discussion about the longstanding policy dictating that students of all ages are not entitled to busing if they live within 3.2 kilometres of their school, unless there are special circumstances, she said.

Hrebien said if the distance were to change, she doubts it would be modifed by much because there remains the desire to promote fitness, and walking counts.

A committee of representatives from each Whitehorse school board will be established to assist with the review, she said, adding an interdepartmental meeting is scheduled for next week to get the ball rolling.

"We thought two years would give us the time to look at our system, review our policy and hopefully at the end of two years we will be able to proceed with a better system and know where we are headed with out buses, literally.”

Approximately 2,100 Yukon students, almost half the total number, take the bus to school, she said.

Hrebien explained this set of contracts also contains a fuel rider which protects companies from unforeseen increases in the price of diesel fuel. The policy came into affect in 2008, after Takhini Transport was forced to surrender its contracts after one year because of the soaring cost of fuel worldwide, when the price for a

barrel of crude oil reached $110 per barrel that spring.

Today, the cost is $107.88 per barrel, and the price fixed into the Whitehorse contract is based on the Feb. 23 pump price of $127.1 per litre. Self-serve diesel was selling this morning for $133 per litre.

The fuel allowance goes up, or down, as a percentage following the fluctuations in prices, and applies only to the portion of the bid which accounts for fuel consumption, Hrebien explained.

Standard's bid to supply busing in Whitehorse for the next two years works out to be $2.31 million annually, not including adjustments to fuel prices.

In 2008, Takhini won the Whitehorse contract with a price of $2.35 million per year.

If Standard Bus is successful in winning the contract for all 10 communities, the annual cost for providing school busing in the Yukon, not including the fuel adjustment or day-time field trips, would be approximately $2.99 million per year over the next two years. The annual cost over the last three years was approximately $3.04 million annually.

Contracts for other communities, without fuel adjustments, are as follows:

• Carcross – Existing – Takhini Transport, $308,478 for all three years, or $103,000 per year: Current bid for next two years; Standard Bus, $202,792; Takhini Transport, $238,080; Steve Clare of Whitehorse, $460,190;

• Carmacks – Existing – Norline Coaches of Whitehorse, $160,880 for three years: Current bid for next two years; Standard Bus, $103,289; Norline Coaches, $141,400; Takhini Transport, $148,800; Steve Clare, $223,393;

• Mayo – Existing – Takhini Transport, $213,093 for three years: Current bid for next two years; Standard Bus, $141,400; Takhini Transport, $148,800; Steve Clare, $294,833;

• Dawson City – Existing – Takhini Transport, $346,200 for three years: Current bid for next two years; Standard Bus, $227,796; Takhini Transport, $297,600; Steve Clare, $496,800;

• Haines Junction – Existing – Norline Coaches, $197,600 for three years: Current bid for next two years; Standard Bus, $128,722; Norline Coaches, $142,410; Takhini Transport, $148,800; Steve Clare, $247,429;

• Teslin – Existing – Takhini Transport, $182,307 for three years: Current bid for next two years; Standard Bus, $120,812; Takhini Transport, $133,920; Steve Clare, $247,429;

• Watson Lake – Existing – Takhini Transport, $328,806 for three years: Current bid for next two years; Standard Bus, $211,748; Takhini Transport, $252,960; Steve Clare, $484,852;

• Pelly Crossing – Existing – Takhini Transport, $161,487 for three years: Current bid for next two years; Standard Bus, $105,171; Takhini Transport, $148,800; Steve Clare, $212,241;

• Destruction Bay – Existing – Norline Coaches, $151,696 for three years: Current bid for next two years; Standard Bus, $105,531; Norline Coaches, $142,410; Takhini Transport, $148,800; Steve Clare, $192,632.