The construction of a new maintenance facility in South Porcupine can’t come soon enough for Tisdale Bus Lines.
At their current Timmins facility, mechanics and service technicians are crammed into 3,600 square feet, leaving them bursting at the seams, which is hampering future growth.
That’s why Ron Malette, the company’s former owner and long-time president, knew it was time for an expansion.
“In 2020 we were operating 20 coaches; right now we’re at 32 and we have three more coming in before year end, bringing us up to 35,” Malette said. “So that’s significant growth.”
Ground broke on the $4.1-million project in mid-September. When complete, the brand-new facility, based in South Porcupine on land adjacent to Northern College, will give Tisdale nearly triple the space, at 9,600 square feet, along with state-of-the-art amenities like better lifting equipment and more wash bays.
The average time to deep clean one motor coach is about four hours, Malette said, and on some days, they’re washing as many as 12 busses in one shift.
“We are operating the wash bay 24 hours a day, which is good,” Malette said, “but we’ll be able to double that capacity, and we’ll need it.”
A larger shop also means Tisdale will be able to bring on more mechanics, with two or three expected to start within the next six to 10 months.
Malette’s eager to capitalize on their newly established proximity to the college as well, offering students part-time work while they attend class, while also laying a foundation for a closer working relationship with the college.
“We want to work collaboratively with Northern College to build and expand on the coach and truck technician program and apprenticeship programs that we currently make use of through other community partners,” he said. “And we want to be able to provide some space to the college to help us attract the best of the best.”
After more than 60 years in operation, Tisdale is barely recognizable from its early days as a school bus company.
Big changes started happening in the early 1990s after Malette and his wife, Brenda, purchased Tisdale from founder Joe Adamo, added a motor coach division, and eventually divested the school bus division altogether to concentrate on luxury motor coach services.
Today, Tisdale offers motor coach charters, mini-bus charters, and employee transportation for industrial clients.
Mining in particular has emerged as a key industry for the company, Malette said. Tisdale is currently servicing four mining projects and doing work with Ontario Power Generation.
Tisdale provides on-site services, transporting workers from basecamp to the work site, as well as ferrying workers between airports and the basecamp.
In an effort to meet demand, Malette said the three new coaches on order will be put into service as soon as they’re ready in the new year.
This year has held a whirlwind of events — especially for a guy who was supposed to be long retired by now.
In 2018, after he sold the company to Sudbury entrepreneur Felix Lopes Jr., Malette had his exit strategy all planned out.
He vowed to stay on for two years, to help guide the company through the transition to new ownership, setting an official retirement date for 2020. He even moved to Springwater Township, just north of Barrie, to be closer to his daughter.
What he didn’t count on was the enjoyment he would get from working with Lopes Jr.
“Felix is such a great guy to work for, I ended up staying on longer,” Malette said. “He just made it so easy for me to stick around a little longer. He treats people so well that I just could not see myself walking away from them.”
Eventually, Malette said, Lopes Jr. started to make future plans of his own and began looking for ways to step back from some of his business endeavours.
In early September, Lopes Jr. sold Tisdale to Fortress Coach Partners — a platform investor group comprised of WeShall Investments, KCM Holdings, and Second Bite Capital — in a deal that included the acquisition of Great Canadian Holidays & Coaches, a long-time, family-owned Kitchener business.
Malette, who helped broker the deal, is impressed by the credentials of the new ownership group, which includes Toronto entrepreneur Wes Hall, probably familiar to most as one of the current investors on the reality TV pitch show Dragons’ Den.
“For Fortress to include both Tisdale and Great Canadian Coaches is very positive and is prompting change to be part of a broader and intentional strategy to create a family of high-performing operators,” he said.
“We're going to be better positioned to serve our customers or share resources and build on each other's strengths.”
Though Fortress currently just has the two businesses in its portfolio, Malette expects this is only the first in a series of transactions to come as the investors look for additional investment opportunities throughout Canada.
He’s optimistic the result will be better access to transportation for people in the North and the country.
As Hall said in a news release issued at the time of the acquisition, “Great Canadian and Tisdale share strengths that, together, will create something bigger than the sum of their parts.
“With both businesses, we’re building a platform that can grow faster, serve people better, and push innovation forward in an industry that touches communities every day.
“This is about more than a transaction; it’s about creating long-term value and laying the foundation for a stronger future in Canadian transportation.”
Work is steadily progressing on the new maintenance facility, with the estimated completion date set for next spring.
Malette said the goal is to pour the concrete pad before freezing this fall, and the building — a pre-engineered Robertson steel structure — is on order and should arrive in December. Assembly will take place over the winter months, and a move-in date has been tentatively set for the end of March.
Tisdale has received offers to lease or purchase the old building, although Malette said the company is still mulling options in that regard. The priority is to get the new building up and running.
With the year drawing to a close, retirement is once again on the horizon for Malette, and though he has a timeline in mind, he wants to ensure there’s a strong team in place to carry the Tisdale legacy forward before he steps away for good.
If the staff’s response to the recent changes are any indication, he’ll have little to worry about.
As news of the acquisition circulated, staff were brimming with ideas and enthusiastic about their futures and that of Tisdale, he said.
“We’ve got a great group of people that are committed every day to what we do, and they see the potential and the legacy, and they’re so respectful of the opportunities that lie before us.”