Gatekeeper Systems Inc. announced new contracts with school district customers in Canada.
Under the new contracts, school buses in certain school districts in Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia will be equipped with mobile data collectors and video under the company’s Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) business model. The contracts have an aggregate value of approximately $450,000.
“We’re excited by our continued school bus market share penetration in Canada." Doug Dyment, Gatekeeper’s president and CEO said. "Once our PaaS platform is installed on a school bus, it becomes easy to add new safety solutions in the future, such as the perimeter visibility system that will soon be required on all new school buses in Canada. We are actively working with our customers to prepare for the new Transport Canada mandate, which we believe represents a meaningful business opportunity for Gatekeeper and a safer transportation environment for school children.”
Transport Canada’s recent regulation requires the installation of perimeter visibility systems on all new school buses starting November 1, 2027. Gatekeeper was selected as a pilot project supplier for this initiative and installed its 360 Surround Vision perimeter visibility systems on select school buses in British Columbia and Ontario.
Transport Canada estimates the costs of the regulation to be $196 million in present value between 2024 and 2036, and estimates 65,105 school buses will be affected by 2036.
Shortly before this announcement, Gatekeeper also said that it has increased its letter of credit facilities with TD Bank and strengthened its vendor financing arrangements. It will increase from $2.0 million to $7.5 million to accommodate potential inventory purchases and performance bond guarantees for large projects, and has favorable vendor financing arrangements with certain suppliers for specific large projects, it said.