Our Safely Together Culture
At Parkview Transit, we believe safety is an ongoing effort where everyone works together to deliver. Our Safely Together culture starts with hiring for the right mindset, includes training to the highest standards, and requires ongoing reinforcement: supported by strong monitoring of compliance and quality control. We also maintain ongoing engagement and safety campaigns to reinforce safe practices every day.
Your Students Are Our Priority
As a leader in student transportation, we will never compromise the care or safety of our passengers. We believe that a positive experience on the school bus carries into the classroom and nurtures a rewarding experience at school. We work closely with our customers to create constructive student safety programs. Every day, we work Safely Together, with our drivers, families, schools, and communities, to ensure students arrive at school and return home safely.
Driver Qualifications and Training
We believe that the success of our company is determined by the quality of our employees, and we are committed to hiring only the best and most qualified drivers. To help carry out this commitment, we require a rigid set of candidate qualifications including police clearance and criminal checks, reference checks, MTO medical requirements, driving history and training requirements, and more. These standards and procedures have been developed to ensure that our drivers share our values and goals of operating in a safe, legal, and professional manner.
Our drivers are trained to operate and behave in a safe manner, manage student needs with care, and follow proven procedures that protect every child. As part of this commitment, drivers perform a mandatory child-check at the end of every route, every time, physically inspecting the bus to ensure no student is left behind. When buses return to the location lot, a subsequent DOUBLE check is conducted of all our vehicles. All vehicles are also equipped with electronic reminder systems to support this process.
Special Needs Transportation
Students with special needs represent a growing portion of the student population, often requiring specially equipped buses and specially trained drivers who are sensitive to the passengers they serve. The qualified employees of Parkview Transit have experience and specialized training to ensure an attentive and caring service for all passengers with special needs.
In addition to industry-leading classroom and behind-the-wheel training, all of our drivers receive supplemental training through our innovative, web-based learning management system. Our catalog of online courses features comprehensive training that includes Autism Awareness, Seizure Disorders, and Special Needs Bus Evacuation Procedures.
Accident Review Process
In the unfortunate event of an accident, our Accident Review Committee, which is made up of managers, mechanics, safety personnel, and school bus drivers, will create a report of recommendations on how to prevent future accidents of the same nature. All drivers involved in a preventable collision undergo mandatory retraining in the applicable area by an approved trainer prior to being permitted to operate another company vehicle.
Safety Programs and Partnerships
We deeply value our partnerships with the communities we serve, and believe that together with our drivers, managers, mechanics, and safety team, we are carrying the future safely. To support this, we actively engage with a variety of civic organizations to better protect and serve our communities.
Ontario Provincial Police: We have teamed up with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in a unique community awareness partnership by donating a school bus that has been converted into a mobile classroom. The OPP uses this vehicle to visit local communities in an effort to promote awareness about road, property, and personal safety. Parkview also partners with our local police for school bus evacuation training in areas, as well as First Rider Programs for our youngest students prior to their first days of school.
Good Neighbors Award: We received the Good Neighbors Award in 2011, thanks to our drivers and staff for donating and collecting over 1,880 pounds of food for the local food bank, as well as our Relay for Life Team which raised $7,700.00 for cancer research.
Support for Students: Parkview has started a fundraiser in the hopes of raising $4,000 for scholarships to our local high schools. Additionally, our team members participate in “Coats for Kids”, a collection drive where we collected over 450 coats to help keep our communities warm.
Safety Awards Program
We have our own in-house safe driving awards program, which provides annual recognition of all drivers who achieve or maintain an accident-free record. We are very proud to work with drivers who have attained more than 40 years of accident-free driving with Parkview Transit. Our commitment to safety is reflected in our drivers’ years of safe driving.
Community Associations
To further enhance our commitment to safety, we are very active members of the following groups and associations.
- WSIB Safety Groups Association
- Council of Driver Trainers
- Ontario Safety League
- Ontario School Bus Association
- Sponsors of the New Tecumseth Road Watch Program
