MANmagazine Bus edition 1/2017 International

01/2017
J
ourneys might result in many
tales,” observed the German
lyricist Matthias Claudius back in
1786, and his famous poem line still holds true.
Yet what does it entail when some entity sends
40,000 people off to travel every year? And
what if this company has been around for
almost 120 years and is currently making big
plans for the future? Now that sounds like
quite the story to tell.
Erich Götten is 82 years of age and the
Senior Director of the travel agency Anton
Götten in Saarbrücken. He sits on the upper
floor of the NEOPLAN Skyliner, the current
fleet’s flagship. The panorama windows reveal
a view of Saarbrücken Castle, a baroque
ensemble in the heart of Saarland’s state
capital. The mild spring sun gently warms the
upper rows of seats. Together with his son
Thomas, Erich Götten pages through an old
photo album. The 50-year anniversary of the
NEOPLAN Skyliner is also an opportune time
to take a look at their own history. “That is
quite a beauty,” says the senior Götten and
points at a slightly faded photo. “Our first
Skyliner. Here is our then lord mayor, Fritz
Schuster, baptising the bus in June 1968. That
was truly a social event.”
“FROM THE VERY BEGINNING, the Skyliner
was considered the most elegant and stylish of
coaches,” says Erich Götten. “And it quickly
evolved into an internationally renowned
flagship for coach travel, also because of me, at
least a little,” he says and gently punches his
son in the side, smiling. “In 1967, Albrecht
Auwärter, the son of NEOPLAN founder
Gottlob Auwärter, came to me and suggested
that I take his new double-decker coach for a
test drive. So I did and was totally won over by
its driving and road-handling characteristics,”
reports the father. He recalls that he later told
Auwärter what a great travel coach this one
could make. “Are you crazy?” replied Auwärter.
“Absolutely nobody would ever journey on a
double-decker!” And Götten concludes the
story: “Just one year later, we welcomed one of
the first Skyliners by NEOPLAN to our fleet.”
Looking back: In 1968,
Erich Götten (above, left)
received his first Skyliner –
baptised by Saarbrücken’s
mayor (image right).
„We added one of the
first Skyliners ever
to our fleet.”
Erich Götten, Senior Director of Anton Götten Reisen
© Dominik Pietsch
While leafing further through the Götten
family album, it becomes clear that the traditional
Saarbrücken enterprise has never
suffered from a shortage of ideas. In 1898,
great-grandfather Peter Götten started to
move people about in horse-drawn carriages,
soon followed by a taxi service. In 1924, the
company added buses to its fleet for the first
time. After the Second World War, Götten
drove miners to their pits in Saarlouis.
“Wednesdays was market day over there.
People didn’t have any money, but everyone
still had to eat. We therefore opened a market
day line in addition to the worker transport
routes,” says Erich Götten. “Advertising was
provided by the local priest during Sunday
sermons: ‘Götten takes you to the market for
two eggs.’ People were able to go shopping
with our bus service, and we were never
hungry,” he remembers.
THE GÖTTEN DNA apparently carries a
more comprehensive approach towards coach
travel. In the early 1960s, the brothers Erich
and Kurt had already discovered Spain’s Costa
Brava as a travel destination. “We did not just
want to carry tourists there but altogether
planned to provide a full guest package,”
recounts Erich Götten. In 1962, the vacation
centre Götten Ferienzentrum opened with
holiday apartments at the pine-studded
beaches of Playa de Aro. The Göttens were
pioneers of package tours with their incredibly
economical vacation offers. The fact that
this holiday spot in Spain is still wildly
popular, and many Saarbrückeners think of it
as their unofficial 17th city district, is also
part of Skyliner’s 50-year history. “We had all
of them in our fleet – from the very first
model to the most current one. With its travel
comfort and its long-distance reliability, the
Skyliner has always remained a part of our
quality promise,” says Thomas Götten.
The very first travel brochures hailed the
comfortable seats, generous legroom, sensational
views and experienced drivers. “Our
kilometre-millionaires will happily drive you
to your travel destination throughout all of
Well-kept: The Götten quality promise
also includes continuous maintenance
and utterly polished vehicles.
Europe comfortably and safely,” reads the
flowery print. Back then, stewardesses still
went along on coach trips: “Fräulein Heide”
and “Fräulein Birgit” pampered passengers
with delicacies from the galley.
Today, customers have entirely different
expectations for onboard services. They
demand entertainment, movies, music, audio
books and, most importantly, Wi-Fi access,”
says Thomas Götten. “To this end, we equipped
our Skyliners with state-of-the-art onboard
entertainment technology.” What always
remained unchanged, says Götten, is the
specific driving comfort of the Skyliner.
“Invented by NEOPLAN, the three-point
chassis with a three-point subframe and
pneumatic suspension convinced me from the
beginning,” says Erich Götten. Over the years,
the suspension was further developed to
become the current Comfort Drive Suspension
system. An ever growing number of such improvements
were added continuously, says the
20
Skyliners
That’s how many vehicles of this model
the Göttens already had in their fleet
– from the first to the current model, all
generations were represented.
22
23