Board told inquiry should be held before decision made on STC runs
Diane Smith is not aiming to replace the Saskatchewan Transportation Company.
“I am not STC. I am not claiming to be STC, and I am not taking over an STC route,” Smith told her five objectors at Tuesday’s second Highway Traffic Board (HTB) public hearing in Regina.
Two university professors and two lawyers were among the people opposing two companies’ applications for transportation operating authority certificates.
Smith’s Melville-based DiCal Transport was one.
“I’m not opposed to DiCal,” said Regina lawyer Larry Kowalchuk. “I’m objecting to the way everything has been handled … I’m objecting to the process.”
He and his counterparts are requesting that a public inquiry be conducted before any application is approved.
The other application subject to an HTB public hearing on Tuesday was Hasan Topal’s. His Reginabased company, 101266444 Saskatchewan Ltd., was incorporated in September 2014 to install flooring.
That was an issue for Cindy Hanson, a Saskatoon resident who works in Regina and is an activist with Save the STC.
Should the board consider giving a transportation licence to a flooring company, that “in some way makes a joke of the Highway
Traffic Board,” she said.
Three board members — Deb Mutlow, Barb de la Sablonniere and Dan Wiks — oversaw the hearing.
Ten hearings have been scheduled, one for each opposed application.
The board has 30 days to decide to grant or deny operating authority certificates.
Normally an applicant would present its case at the hearing. Topal was not present, which government spokesman Drew Wilby said was “a surprise.”
Smith and her husband Calvin started DiCal Transport in 2010. In addition to delivering goods across Saskatchewan, the company does twice-daily runs from Melville and Yorkton to Regina.
They hope to add weekday passenger service with stops in Yorkton, Melville, Balcarres, Fort Qu’Appelle and Regina in a 2017 Ford Transit van.
Safety was a major concern, as was cost of service and accommodation for vulnerable passengers, including cancer patients and people with disabilities.
STC buses were equipped with cameras and the Zonar safety system, said Hanson, which allowed drivers to easily connect with ground transportation and police, track the speed of the bus, the hours the driver spent behind the wheel, and maintenance issues.