| Where: | Mode of Transport: | Type of intervention: |
| Ontario | Shuttles | Meeting & Events Logistics |
Background
The Ontario Basketball Association (OBA) hosted the week-long competitions Canadian Basketball championships at Ontario Tech University between August 2 and 10, 2025. Basketball teams from 9 provinces travelled to Toronto, Ontario to participate in the championships.
OBA was seeking transportation support services for the National Championships to:
Note: The Championships change location annually and in 2025, it was hosted in Ontario.
The Challenge
- Procure sustainable transportation options for 250+ youth athletes, coaches, and staff.
- Coordinate airport transfers from 9 different provinces arriving and departing over 3 days.
- Develop daily schedules for practices and tournaments over 6 days, transporting 20 provincial teams between Ontario Tech and the sports venue, navigating traffic, construction and weather conditions.
OBA was provided with different transportation carriers, but as a non-profit working with other non-profit sports associations, this needed to be cost-sensitive.
How pointA helped
pointA was able to customize its transportation services for events and meetings to meet OBA’s needs. This is what we did:
- Procured airport shuttles over 3 days for 9 different teams as early as 5am. Due to the changing nature of air travel, pointA confirmed all flights to ensure accurate pick-up times.
- Provided teams with individualized documents with all relevant information for all transportation needs, including contact information and procedures.
- Created and adjusted daily schedules for the championships and practices to account for changing team needs, rush hour traffic, road conditions, and construction.
- Procured shuttles for the daily game schedules, including securing 2 additional shuttles for two days to adhere to the tight game schedules in response to road and traffic conditions.
The Result
- pointA was able to optimize the schedule daily to generate cost savings that applied to procuring 2 additional shuttles resulting in coming under budget.
- Served as a liaison between OBA and shuttle service to ensure that needs and interests on both sides were addressed.
- Procured school buses that were more efficient than coach buses in GHG emissions and more cost effective.
By selecting more sustainable transportation options, opting for a school bus instead of a coach, we saved 0.8276587 tonnes of CO2 emissions savings.
Emissions savings are equivalent to:
- Driving from Toronto to Halifax one way
- 8 full car tanks of gas
- 101,000 smartphone charges
- 6-7 months of electricity usage for a Canadian home
Testimonial
We were very pleased to work with pointA. Running events like the National Basketball Championships is incredibly complex — especially with over ten teams flying in from across Canada at different times. pointA was the partner we didn’t know we needed until we started working with them, because transportation is often the last thing you think about. Their team was extremely diligent in verifying each team’s arrival and departure times, continuously monitoring for any flight changes, and proactively adjusting bus schedules to ensure everything ran smoothly.
During the tournament, pointA’s agility truly stood out. When we needed additional buses to transport teams to practice facilities, they quickly arranged them. At the same time, they were mindful of our budget as a non-profit, removing buses that were no longer required. Their professionalism and flexibility gave us tremendous peace of mind throughout the event.” – Deepan Vigneswaran, CPA, LLM, BSC, Chief Operating Officer, Ontario Basketball Association
Looking for transportation planning and support for your event or meeting? Visit our Meetings & Events page to learn more.