VANCOUVER — The B.C. Industry Training Authority (ITC) has approved an application from a cross-section of transport industry stakeholders to create a training organization.

The B.C. Trucking Association, along with Coast Mountain Bus, the B.C. Road Builders & Heavy Construction Association, TransLink and the Council of Marine Carriers, will join forces to form a Transportation Industry Training Organization (TITO).

In the long run, TITO will have lead responsibility for the coordination of related transportation training standards, but first the stakeholders will need to recruit a founding board of directors and CEO, establish TITO as a non-profit legal entity and develop a service plan, with initial funding and technical assistance from ITA.

ITA has assigned a number of training programs to TITO, including a Professional Truck Driver program – pending ITA approval of the professional driver training standard.

The ITA is a provincial government agency that oversees the B.C. industry training and apprenticeship system.