www.route-one.net /routeonemagazine @routeoneteam routeone Magazine ISSUE 837 | OCTOBER 2020 PSVAR: ‘It’s the future’ Accessibility gets the wheels turning at JKT news focus best practice interview Ember’s landmark The Guild of British ‘We cannot survive electric service Coach Operators without coaches’ A look at the thinking behind Putting operators at the Former Transport Minister on the ZE coach startup ‘forefront of best practice’ supporting coach tourism SERVICE & CALIBRATION ONLINE TRAINING MOBILE COLUMN LIFTS FOUR & TWO POST LIFTS BRAKE TESTERS VEHICLE INSPECTION PITS HEADLAMP TESTERS SMOKE METERS ANCILLARIES YEARS 1980 - 2020 OF COLUMN LIFTS At Totalkare we combine world class lifting and testing products, industry leading support, flexible financial packages and CPD certified competency training to provide you with the right support. CALL 0121 585 2724 VISIT WWW.TOTALKARE.CO.UK 12 /Contents NEWS FOCUS Ember electric coaches Ember launched two battery- THIS WEEK electric coaches onto a scheduled route in Scotland on 1 October. It is 5/ Editor’s Comment the first step for a business model 7/ News Roundup built on zero-emission 12/ News Focus 17/ Court Report 21/ Deliveries 22/ Net Talk/Whisperer/Letters 24/ Westminster Watch 44 27/ Coach Operator Opinion INTERVIEW 28/ LowCVP 30/ Trade Talk Paul Maynard routeone speaks with MP for 32/ VAB Berlin Blackpool North and Cleveleys and 36/ First Bus Engineering former Transport Minister Paul 40/ Buying Coaches After COVID Maynard, whose constituency has long depended on coach tourism 44/ Paul Maynard Interview 48/ JKT International 52/ Guild of British Coach Operators 55/ Fieldfisher 59/ Earned Recognition 63/ Siemens Financial Services 64/ Product News 65/ Maintenance Insight 48 66/ Croner-i OPERATOR 68/ Vehicles JKT International 81/ People JKT International Travel was 83/ President’s Diary largely stopped in its tracks by coronavirus COVID-19, but smart investment in PSVAR- compliant coaches is keeping the wheels turning Subscribe for just £40 Print subscriptions are available free of charge for 52 UK-based operators with a valid O-licence, based on one free copy per operating business. Additional BEST PRACTICE copies and supplier subscriptions are available from £40 (UK) for one year, inclusive of 12 monthly issues. Operators guild The Guild of British Coach To subscribe, visit www.route-one.net/sign-up Operators helps its members To update your delivery preferences, visit to develop their businesses while www.route-one.net/update-subscription-preferences/ at the same time challenging what they do. Networking and Total average net circulation: collaboration is key to success 7,186 (1 Jan - 31 Dec 2019) OCTOBER 2020 ROUTEONE.NET / 3 Apply for a CBILS Loan Pay nothing for 12 months! 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Asset Finance Solutions may receive payments or other benefi t from the fi nance provider if you decide to enter into an agreement with them. route-one.net /Editor’s Comment /routeonemagazine @routeoneteam EDITORIAL: Editor /Tim Deakin 01733 889686 [email protected] Journalist /Alex Crawford 01733 405743 [email protected] ADVERTISING: Sales Manager /Daniel Lunn 01733 405734 [email protected] Senior Sales Executive /Matthew Woodley 01733 405730 [email protected] PUBLISHING TEAM: A Advertising Copy /Jade Gray 01733 405740 [email protected] Studies have shown that Graphic Designer /Ross Philips public transport settings have been ‘the safest on Group Director /Helen Conway earth’ during the pandemic MARKETING: Group Marketing Manager /Christina Glenister 01733 889690 [email protected] Marketing Manager /Jacqui Trayford 01733 405749 [email protected] Growing bus patronage reasonable to take his words SUBSCRIPTIONS: above the current level seems at face value. One of the studies TIME FOR A 01733 405749 [email protected] like it will be a difficult task in question shows that in France, CHANGE OF in the medium term. Societal only 1.2% of the country’s 2,830 AWARDS: change will have removed COVID-19 clusters have been Sales Manager /Martin Laverton 01733 405735 [email protected] LINE… a small number of passengers traced to transport of any kind. for good, and some operators In Hong Kong, where public display a nonchalant approach transport reliance is high, the Tim Deakin to promoting the work they overall infection rate is “far less” / Editor are doing to keep their vehicles than in Western countries. clean and sanitised. The Managing Director In Scotland, First Minister of a coach operator in South The industry continues to battle Nicola Sturgeon now suggests Wales says that his business for survival. Earlier momentum that travel by coach has spends “thousands of pounds of passengers’ return to buses led to spread of the virus. every month” on cleaning has largely stalled. Coach No evidence has been and sanitation supplies. tourism saw a modest restart produced. It will be particularly It has fitted purifying units of sorts, but that, too, is made disheartening to hear for to air-conditioning systems and difficult to sustain as and when Scotland’s coach operators, purchased digital thermometers. movement restrictions increase many of which derive their main That business does not in some areas. income stream from tourism. need government handouts, While the wider reasons for Attitudes such as these its MD adds. He would rather the tightening of restrictions contrast with the results it ran safely and efficiently and are understandable, much of international studies traded its way out of trouble. less palatable is the approach of virus transmission on public That is one operator’s view; © Diversified Business Communications UK Ltd that politicians are again transport. Thanks to the efforts others may think differently. Unit 4, Minerva Business Park taking to public transport, and of operators to keep vehicles But something that the industry Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6FT by association coaches. scrupulously clean, public collectively does not need is the 01733 405730 | www.divcom.co.uk Please note calls may be recorded. In England, advice in higher- transport settings have been handing out of misinformation risk areas is that public the “safest places on earth”, about the ‘danger’ All advertising is undertaken in transport should once again Dr Julian Tang told Sky News. of using public transport that accordance with the terms and conditions on our website. be avoided. That represents Dr Tang is professor of is supported by neither facts nor a shift back towards political respiratory sciences. It is thus evidence. Views expressed are those of utterances from the early stages contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the of the pandemic. At some views of routeone magazine or points, the message then // Politicians’ attitudes contrast with Diversified Communications. seemed intent on creating panic. the results of studies about virus Passenger numbers plummeted ISSN 2014-9295 accordingly. transmission on public transport // OCTOBER 2020 ROUTEONE.NET / 5 [email protected] @routeoneteam news /routeonemagazine routeone Magazine a better service than before. As an example, pre pandemic, some would wait for a bus at Bournemouth railway station. Now, the duplicate waits for them. In addition to coaches in its own livery, Yellow Buses is utilising some Caetano Levantes not currently needed for National Express work. They have been debranded, as per National Express’s stipulation. Their PSVAR compliance has proved useful. Further increased vehicle requirements have been met through withdrawing surplus buses from sale. Others have been hired from Ensignbus. As a result, no capacity difficulties have been experienced, although Yellow Buses keeps a crewed ‘hot spare’ in each school peak that is ready to go quickly. DBS issues avoided Drivers’ contracts INDUSTRY ‘HAS DELIVERED’ ON of employment at Yellow Buses require that they are A NEED FOR MORE DEDICATED DBS cleared. That has helped to avoid any issues with waiting HOME TO SCHOOL TRANSPORT for checks to be carried out. “It has not been a problem for us. But from speaking to other Combination of planning, extra resource and operators around the country, changes to procedures have gelled together it has certainly been difficult for some of them,” says Mr Squire. Chalkwell has also had no issued with DBS checks. Tim Deakin vehicle capacity. Each operator LA contribution It has been able to perform / Editor has tapped into spare resources them online, and turnarounds in their respective coach fleets Yellow Buses benefitted have been rapid. Like Yellow to help with that. from staff at Bournemouth, Buses, the Kent operator has The return of home-to-school Planning has also been key, Christchurch and Poole Council reassigned otherwise idle transport in England has gone says Yellow Buses Managing being well-versed in where coaches and their drivers more smoothly than might Director David Squire.