Add A Bus To Your Sedan Service
Everything runs in cycles, and the limousine industry is no exception. From a world of stretch limousines and flashy town cars, now comes a trend to move as many people as possible in the comfort that those vehicles have made a reputation of delivering throughout the years.
Over the past two decades, helped in part by an economy that appears to be coming back at a frustratingly leisurely pace, our industry has turned its lonely eyes to ways to adapt to the customer’s needs. And what it has construed is that the company that is going to make it through this economic sludge intact is the company that has the foresight to supplement its fleet with the vehicles that can transport anywhere from 14-30 people at a clip.
Whether you refer to them as mini-coaches, limo coaches, luxury limos, or even limo buses (though the tendency in some quarters is not to, less people think the executive staff of P&G is heading to a company meeting in a little yellow school bus), they are the newest vehicles in many company’s inventory, spurred on in part by what is anticipated to be a surge in the meetings and events industry (which we will discuss in more detail below).
Business clients don’t need to pay some high-priced accounting firm to see that there’s no economic sense in transporting 30 employees in five sedans at an average hourly rate (according to a recent Limo Digest industry poll) of $62 for each car, when they can layout $140 for one mini coach and be on their way to the next meeting.
If there’s such a need, why doesn’t everyone hop on board? Because it just may not be for everyone, depending on their financial makeup. No two ways around it, limo coaches, mini-coaches and all their brothers and sisters, are a large chunk of investment. For some companies, investing $25,000-$40,000 for a sedan or town car is palpable. But to layout anywhere from $50,000-$250,000 for something bigger may not be in their economic interests.
But if you can make the leap it’s an investment worth making. The vehicle might make less trips but the revenue is higher per trip. You could also ”test the waters,” so to speak, by partnering with a company that specializes in limo buses and mini-coaches, in order to gage the demand and see if it’s a good fit for your company.
There are even advantages in mini coaches over traditional motor coaches (which can carry upwards of 50 people). Said one Virginialimo operator, “If you have a motorcoach going out for $900 per day, and a mini-coach going out for $140 per hour, it doesn’t take many hours for the mini-bus to be profitable.” His 57-vehicle fleet now offers 12 mini-buses.
Owning a fleet of buses can be expensive and high-maintenance, above the most obvious question as to where exactly are you going to store anywhere from one to as many as 50 or more 40-foot long vehicles? Do you have the space on property or do you have to rent space off-site? You may have a maintenance person on staff that can give a quick lube, oil & filter to a sedan, but can that same guy figure out the complex mechanical inner workings of a motor coach? If it takes one guy 30 minutes to clean a sedan between runs, how many people will it take to make a quick turnaround when a bus returns to the garage after 50 partiers whooped it up on the way to the nearest casino (that’s only if there isn’t a restroom onboard?) And have you seen the price of gas lately, particularly diesel? Just some things to think about.
But perhaps no aspect of the business is impacted more when you add motor coaches to your fleet than the driver, whose level of importance suddenly become elevated (to that end, make sure your driver dresses like a chauffeur and not like Ralph Kramden, even if it’s just a shirt and tie).
Impress the pants of your 50 guests with a clean vehicle and a courteous, well-informed driver, and not only will they spread good cheer, but at least a few in the seats will think to themselves, “Hmm, if the company treats 50 people this well, how good will their service be if I book them for my daughter’s wedding, or the next corporate road trip?” And when that happens, a lot of the “cons” about adding buses suddenly don’t seem so bad.
But whether you add motor coaches or just supplementing your inventory with mini coaches, you are not going to want to miss the bus now that the signs are there that things are starting to perk up in the business travel and meetings arena as we head into 2012, And when they do, you need to be ready to have the means to move large groups of people.
And what’s the frosting on this double-layer of economic optimism? How about the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) stating that business travel volume and spending is recovering at a stronger-than-expected rate.
Travel spending might be on the rise, but so is the corporate traveler’s demand for quality and value. And if this is the direction your client is heading in, you better make sure you are able to take them there in a vehicle that can best serve their needs. Mini-coach, limo-coach, mini-bus, doesn’t matter what you call it, it all comes down to this; if you don’t get your client in some variation of a bus, you may be ultimately throwing your company under one.