The Passenger Transportation Board (Board) publishes a summary of the applications it receives on its website. 

Anyone can provide a submission supporting or objecting to an application within the submission deadline. Most submissions are from industry competitors who object to an application or prospective passengers supporting a new or expanding service.

The Board considers submissions received when deciding on an application.

Making a submission

The Board will read your submission in support of or objecting to an application if you meet the submission deadline detailed in the application summary and pay the $50 fee. There is no fee for local governments and First Nation governments making submissions. 

Once received, Board staff forward copies of submissions to applicants for their comment. Submissions must be complete. The Board may not accept follow-up or supplemental material sent in after the submission deadline has passed.

Making submissions does not entitle submitters to participate any further in the application process or to obtain any further information or disclosure from the Board about the application.

Submission requirements

Submissions are an opportunity to give information to the Board to help make a decision about an application. Submitters who are licensees can tell the Board about their business, transportation opportunities in their communities and how the application could affect their services.

Submissions should be relevant to one or more of the factors that the Board considers when reviewing an application. This includes:  

• Is the applicant fit, proper and capable of providing the service?
• Is there a public need for the service the applicant proposes to provide under any special authorization?
• Would granting the application promote sound economic conditions in the passenger transportation business in B.C.?

Submissions must:  

• State the outcome you seek (i.e., approval of an application or refusal of some or all of an application)
• Tell the Board why you object or support an application

Specify details and facts as well as independent evidence that object to or support an application

Submitters must state their case and provide factual details to confirm the claims that they are making. Avoid making general statements. For example, saying that an application should be refused because “there is no public need” is not informative. 

Submitters may wish to review the Board’s public need and sound economic conditions policies, as well as guidance on indicators, as these principles are applicable to submissions too.

Submitting social media

The Board expects submitters to analyze social media and tell the Board what it shows or proves. Copies of raw data, such as strings of posts, may not be meaningful to the Board. Putting raw data into a table or chart may show trends or common responses. Include a sample of the raw data for reference.

The Board must know the identity of people who post on social media sites in case it has follow-up questions. When social media evidence is submitted, the person who submits it is expected to document and authenticate it. The Board does not accept unsolicited social media posts. Find out how the Board uses social media as evidence in its decision-making.

Confidential submissions

In certain circumstances, the Board may accept a part of a submission in confidence. If submitters want to submit evidence to the Board in confidence, they must make a request to the Board and copy the applicant on the request. The request must include:

• A summary of the evidence the submitter is proposing, and  
• Why the proper administration of justice requires that the evidence be submitted in confidence
• An applicant may comment on the submitter’s request.  

The Board will make the final decision on whether it will accept information in confidence. It may also set some rules for what and how it will accept confidential information.

Send a submission

All submissions must be provided in writing to the Board and received by email or mailed and received in to the Board office by the submission date specified in the application summary. Submissions must be provided by either:

1. Email - Submissions@ptboard.bc.ca
   • Once the Board has received your submission, you will be emailed by Board staff with next steps to complete payment of the $50 submission fee for the submission online. 
2. Mail
   •  PO Box 9857 STN PROV GOVT
      Victoria, BC 
      V8W 9T5
   • All physical submissions must be accompanied by a $50 fee (payable by credit card(58 KB), cheque or money order, and payable to the Minister of Finance)