Standard Bus Yukon has been busy running several charters dropping off passengers right on the Whitehorse International Airport tarmac. Most recently, they completed a charter for Holland America, picking up guests at a local hotel and transporting them directly to their private flight – offering door-to-door service!

Local tours in the Yukon and into Alaska are common requests, as well as charter services for airport pickups and other events in the area. 

Standard Bus offers affordable and stress-free group travel in all of our units: School Bus, Sprinter Van or Coach. Whether it’s a small or large group, they have the experience and resources to meet your transportation needs. 

What a week, month, year it’s been! On Wednesday June 5th we celebrated Diversified’s 60th birthday and what a day it was!

Saying thank you just doesn’t seem enough – to our organizing committee, volunteers, past and present employees, this celebration would not have been possible without you. The countless hours, meetings, projects and last-minute details that provided a seamless event speaks to the volumes of teamwork and dedication by everyone. Check out the video below to see all of the highlights!

A big thank you to our clients, partners, the community and all of the residents for an amazing 60 years. We are all looking forward to what the future holds. As we officially celebrate our 60th Anniversary, Diversified is proud to debut our new company video, professionally crafted courtesy of FreshCut Studios.

This production not only showcases DTL’s rich history and our ongoing commitment to expertly serving our customers but also shines a spotlight on our community involvement and promotes the innovations and new technologies we are developing to ensure everyone gets Safely Home for generations to come.

We would also like to take this opportunity to recognize the thousands of Diversified Transportation employees who have called this company home since 1964. From the pioneers who helped launch DTL over 60 years ago to our current family of employees who ensure we remain a world-class transportation company, we can not thank you enough.

You’ve all made Diversified Transportation what it is today. Your invaluable contributions to our history, culture, and character will never be forgotten.

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 24^th 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 couple of weeks 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

On Saturday May 25 Souhtland Transportation held its annual School Bus Roadeo in Calgary for the Southern Alberta region. We had an amazing turnout of 42 contestants, 31 in the big bus category, and 11 in the small bus. Amongst those 42 were 20 first time participants that we call Rookies! 

Watch our slide show now!

The Roadeo has been a long time tradition for Southland and something our operations, safety, and training teams get very excited to host for our drivers.

Our Calgary Training and Safety Department with help from Mark Pulfer spent many hours on Friday and early Saturday morning preparing the Ogden Yard for the competition. Our local and rural Operations teams worked on organizing the event behind the scenes and ensuring our almost 200 people in attendance were fed breakfast and lunch.

With the help of 14 chaperones we were able to send 32 contestants’s children to the zoo for the whole day! They had an amazing time despite the clouds.

24 of our 42 contestants will be heading to Nisku, AB on June7 to represent Southland Southern Alberta in the annual Provincial Roadeo. If they place top 3 in provincials they have the opportunity to be heading off to Austin, Texas at the end of June to compete internationally!

Local Winners were as follows:

Calgary Big Bus:

1. Heidi Hartwick
2. Nathaniel O’Coin
3. Matthew Badiou

Okotoks Big Bus:

1. Kris (KC) Craig
2. Sara Moroski (Rookie)
3. Catina Despotopoulos (Rookie)

Medicine Hat Big Bus:

1. Clayton Orge
2. Brook Dawson (Rookie)
3. Dawn Wolf (Rookie)

Lethbridge Big Bus:

1. Anthony Rodzinyak
2. Joe Trinque (Rookie)
3. Trish Zwingli (Rookie)

Cochrane Big Bus:

1. Amy Porter
2. Ryan Flood
3. JoDana Hartwick (Rookie)

Small Bus Southern Alberta:

1. Matt Cochrane – From Medicine Hat
2. Natalie Gauthier – From Calgary
3. Erik Fehr – From Calgary

Top Rookie overall for Southern Alberta – Matt Cochrane from Medicine Hat!

Top Scorer overall for Southern Alberta – Heidi Hartwick from Calgary!

Congratulations to all of our local winners, and good luck to you and the other contestants heading to  Provincials. We will be there to cheer you on and make memories!

Can’t wait to see many more contestants out next year for the Roadeo.

On May 6^th to 8^th our General Manager, David Richards, along with a group of Edmonton region businesses led by Edmonton Global were in Ottawa to lobby the Government of Canada for the region’s share of programming and funding.  Delegates had the opportunity to share their success stories, and build awareness from federal government officials on activities happening in our region. 

Among other items highlighted one of the key messages was that the Edmonton region has been a world leader in the development of the Hydrogen supply chain, creating the potential for Canada to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. 

While in Ottawa, David met with the following: 

Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change

• Joshua Swift – Senior Policy Advisor
• Liam Olsen – Regional Advisor, BC & Prairies

Natural Resources Canada

• Michael Vandergrift – Deputy Minister
• Jeff Labonté – Associate Deputy Minister

Privy Council Office

• Paul Halucha – Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet (Clean Growth) & Deputy Minister of Public Lands and Housing

Global Affairs Canada (Trade Dept.)

• Nathalie Dubé – Director General, Investment, Innovation and Education

Transport Canada

• Arun Thangaraj – Deputy Minister
• Désirée Sauvé – Chief of Staff to the Deputy Minister 

Office of the Minister of Trade, Export Promotion and Economic Development

• Leslie Sherban – Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Operations
• Elise Wagner – Director of Policy

He also attended the House of Commons tour and dinner hosted by Mike Lake MP (Edmonton—Wetaskiwin) / Laila Goodridge MP (Fort McMurray & Cold Lake).  At that dinner he had the opportunity to sit with Mike Lake and discussed potential contacts to support our hydrogen initiative and an array of other topics. Laila is Fort McMurray born and raised and her parents rode our coaches to work every day, or as she called it  ‘The Syncrude Bus’. 

Regretfully, she is unable make our anniversary celebration on June 5^th, but we will be having further discussions on the challenges of working in Fort McMurray.   

It’s exciting to see that our Hydrogen initiative and region have made an impact to that level of government and look forward to where this is going to lead.

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 yesterday 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. In the past year, our drivers have provided incredible Customer Service to parents, school boards, and most importantly – the children on their routes.

Your Positive Attitude and welcoming smile have allowed Student Line to continue to succeed and your daily commitment to our Core Values goes above and beyond your job description.

We appreciate everything you do!

Check out this slideshow of some of the various activities found in Southern Alberta yesterday and look for more celebrations later this week!