NASHVILLE, Tenn. – For the second consecutive year, Winnipeg’s Bison Transport was named the winner of best overall fleet in the large carrier category in the 2017 Best Fleets to Drive For program.

The program, now in its ninth year, was created in partnership with CarriersEdge and the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA). The award was announced at the TCA’s annual convention on March 28.

Bison has won the best overall fleet award in the large carrier category a total of three times.

There to accept the award on behalf of the company was Garth Pitzel, director of safety and driver development at Bison.

“On behalf of all of our employees and contractors, I’d like to thank TCA and EpicVue and Bose for their continuous sponsorship of these awards,” Pitzel said. “Also a special thank you to CarriersEdge for their involvement. It takes a lot of time and effort for their business to go through that process of interviewing over 150 carriers. When you look at Bison’s program, it’s really based on one thing…and that is the absolute caring for the wellbeing of our professional drivers. Again what makes this award special is that it starts from a nomination of a driver and it is validated through the selection process by our drivers.”

Jane Jazrawy of CarriersEdge said that Bison was named the overall winner because it “offers a a wide range of exceptional driver programs, it has high levels of satisfaction and an annual turnover rate of under 20%.”

Grand Island Express of Grand Island, Nebraska was named the best overall fleet in the small carrier category. Like Bison, this is the fleet’s third time winning the overall award. In addition, it has been named in the Best Fleet’s Top 20 for six consecutive years.

“With the ongoing challenge of trying to find and retain qualified drivers it is truly wonderful to have a program like Best Fleets to Drive For to help spotlight all the great ideas and innovations in our industry,” said Grand Island’s Express Tom Pirnie, who accepted the award. “None of this would be possible if not for the dedication and support of our staff.”

This was the second portion of the Best Fleets to Drive For awards. CarriersEdge revealed the Top 20 best fleets in January.

“This year’s best fleets have once again set a new standard for workplace experience in the North American trucking industry,” said Jazrawy. “From compensation to benefits to operation strategies to professional development and work/life balance…this year’s best fleets raised the bar more dramatically than we’ve ever seen before. And with an average turnover rate under 40%, they’re clearly seeing the results from those efforts.”

The Best Fleets contest is open to any fleet operating 10 trucks or more. Fleets must be nominated by one of its company drivers or owner/operators. Nominated fleets are then evaluated on criteria like driver compensation, pension and benefits, professional development, and safety.