Bison wins best overall large carrier award in Best Fleets to Drive For contest

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. — CarriersEdge and the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) revealed the winners of the best overall fleets in both the large and small carrier categories at the TCA annual convention in Las Vegas today.

The best overall large fleet winner was Canada’s own Bison Transport of Winnipeg, Man. There to accept the award, sponsored by Bose, on behalf of the company was Garth Pitzel, director of safety and driver development at Bison.

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Garth Pitzel accepting the award.

“On behalf of all of our employees and contractors at Bison, I’d like to thank the TCA and the Best Fleets to Drive For sponsors,” he said. “And I certainly want to recognize CarriersEdge for their involvement and commitment in this important industry program. At Bison we never create a program to be recognized, we create it to improve the lives of our professional drivers. What’s most rewarding is it started with a driver nominating Bison and it was validated by our professional drivers.”

According to CarriersEdge, Bison won the overall award because of its outstanding range of driver programs, stellar safety performance, and low annual driver turnover. This year marks the second time Bison has been named an overall winner of Best Fleets and the sixth time it has been listed in the Best Fleets Top 20.

FTC Transportation of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, took home the title of best overall fleet in the small carrier category. EpicVue sponsored the small fleet category award.

This year marks the fourth time that FTC has been in the Top 20 list. It is the first time FTC has been named an overall winner. Additionally, it was also the smallest fleet to make the Top 20. CarriersEdge said it earned top marks for its employee benefits, combining solid health insurance coverage, 401(k), and above-average vacation allowances – all things that are uncommon for a small fleet.

Jane Jazrawy, CEO of CarriersEdge, explained the significance of the Best Fleets to Drive For program at the TCA convention.

“This year’s best fleets provide outstanding experiences for their drivers across a variety of categories, whether it’s embracing new technologies or pay models, these fleets are finding new ways to push the boundaries.”

She noted that both of this year’s overall winners are providing a winning combination of outstanding programs for their drivers, satisfaction rates above 90%, and low driver turnover under 30%. Both companies were also the 2014 grand-prize winners of TCA’s National Fleet Safety Awards.

“It’s interesting that both of our Best Fleets overall winners are also previous grand champions in the safety arena… it may well be that their safety numbers are outstanding because of all the other things that they do,” she said. “Both have taken a holistic approach to improving fleet operations and working to build a more efficient, more inclusive fleet that all drivers can benefit from. As a result, they have happier drivers, who focus on doing their jobs better, leading to better safety and more efficient operations. This, in turn, makes everyone happier… and the cycle continues.”

This was the second portion of the Best Fleets to Drive For awards. CarriersEdge revealed the Top 20 best fleets earlier this year.

The Best Fleets contest is open to any fleet operating 10 trucks or more regardless of TCA membership status. Fleets must be nominated by one of its company drivers or owner/operators. Nominated fleets are then evaluated in areas like driver compensation, pension and benefits, professional development, driver and community support, and safety record.

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Sonia Straface is the associate editor of Truck News and Truck West magazines. She graduated from Ryerson University's journalism program in 2013 and enjoys writing about health and wellness and HR issues surrounding the transportation industry. Follow her on Twitter: @SoniaStraface.


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