Mélissa Gélinas LJI Reporter
The new year is off to a bad start for the Société de transport de l’Outaouais (STO), which is being sued for more than $910,000 over the private contract concerning paratransit signed in July 2024 by Loyal Taxi.
This is a major contract worth more than $17 million over a period of five years, with two extension options of two and three years, totalling nearly $34 million.
Three Outaouais taxi companies: Groupe Transit, Aylmer Taxi and Bob Taxi, have initiated the lawsuit against the STO. All of them had contacted the transport company knowing that it was looking for a supplier for adapted transport. Meetings took place, but there was no follow-up. At the beginning of July 2024, they learned that the contract had been signed with Loyal Taxi without them being informed.
According to information from the three taxi companies, the meetings were informal and were not intended to establish an offer. There was no indication that anything was going forward.
“We cannot say that Loyal Taxi was the only one with expertise,” mentioned Serge Leblanc, president of Groupe Transit. “We were all able to respond to the call for tenders. Why haven’t we received any explanation?”
For its part, the STO emphasizes that article 83 of the Public Transportation Companies Act allowed them to take this action. (Article 83 means that recourse to a call for tenders is not obligatory.)
As a result, the STO may have to face a second lawsuit. Indeed, in 2019, before the pandemic, the STO had awarded a private contract concerning paratransit, this time with Groupe Transit. At that time, Groupe Transit was going to do business with Aylmer Taxi and Bob Taxi as subcontractors. However, once the pandemic arrived, the contract was never honoured with the company. On the contrary, the contract was awarded to Taxi Loyal, without warning. Due to this contract, taxi companies lost some competent drivers who decided to join Taxi Loyal which offered more employment.
Photo: STO Driver (March 20, 2024) (MG) Photo: STO Facebook Page