Bradford staff and council are hoping to save some cash as the town hops on board with a regional transit provider.
Based on a report from Paul Dubniak, transportation technologist for the town, council approved the town joining the Metrolinx Transit Procurement Initiative (TPI) during the Nov. 5 council meeting.
“Paul’s out there saving us money with Metrolinx,” Mayor James Leduc said. “Way to go.”
The initiative is intended to streamline the procurement process, provide access to new projects, enhance delivery and foster innovation.
That’s mainly accomplished by bringing together small, medium and large transit providers, who can then take advantage of bulk purchasing as well as a TPI team who develop technical specifications and tender documents, evaluate and award procurement and manage contracts for the entire lifecycle, according to the report.
That’s expected to save between five and 20 per cent on contracts, and help secure vehicles “in a difficult supply chain environment,” according to Dubniak, who added the initiative can provide smaller transit agencies with goods and services which they might not otherwise be able to access.
“The TPI team oversaw purchases of buses and transit-related goods and services worth $200 million on behalf of 22 municipal transit purchasers, resulting in a savings of over $17.6 million for Ontario taxpayers,” Metrolinx president and chief executive officer Phil Verster said in the program’s 2023-24 annual report.
Other benefits can include extended warranties and enhanced price protections — all of which could be helpful as the town looks to roll out its new transit plan.
Since beginning in 2006, the initiative has reportedly conducted 27 joint procurements for 54 transit agency partners.
Duniak notes there is no cost or purchase minimums required for Bradford to join the TPI and the town will retain full discretion on which initiatives it selects through the program.
