ABC #395

IGNITION
FABIAN COTTER
Save Our Souls
The coach side of the Aussie bus industry is in dire need of
government help. And there’s no better time to put out an S.O.S.
Briefly block out the funky
Reggae-ish ‘ohhhhh’ inflection
parts of Sting’s vocals in the 1979
hit song Message In A Bottle and
you might better appreciate The Police
were just singing about some castaway’s
yearning to be saved from a loneliness-induced
state of despair. Not from being in it,
but before going into it – and similarly the
Australian coach industry is seeking federal
government help now before things get
even worse.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
and the fluctuating fortunes of different
levels of restrictions in different states at
different times [facepalm] – underwritten
by the bewildering ‘the mask wearing we
said was actually bad before is now back to
being good again’ [another facepalm] – is
doing the head in of many a coach operator
nationwide trying to stay in business.
Borders opened, now they’re closed.
Passenger numbers up, now they have to
be controlled. Like many in business, 2020
has thrown them a massive curve ball. With
the tourism side of things not looking like it
will be picking up soon, many are flagging
that they might not be able to hold the fort
for much longer if things persist like this.
And who can blame them?
Until the most recent ‘second-wave’
virus outbreaks, things were looking up
from a relatively ‘back to business’ point
of view. And so with yet another month of
rapid changes to the outlook and financial
predictions, the call for more help has been
made – before it’s too late for many.
Thankfully, the Bus Industry
Confederation (BIC) is putting its members’
concerns front and centre and made great
strides to draw more focus to the industry’s
plight.
THE LONG HAUL
With expert opinion it will take another
12 to 18 months before the Australian
bus industry is able to “transition out
of this crisis”, the federal government is
being asked to ‘step up and do more’ to
‘protect our industry and the people we
support’, it says.
Australia’s peak bus body – representing
an industry responsible for transporting
alone more than 500,000 coach passengers
every day – is actively seeking a national
rescue package for the sector in its advisory
role to the Tourism Restart Taskforce, which
was established by the Australian Chamber
of Commerce and Industry in April, 2020.
Speaking on behalf of the BIC following
the recent release of the Tourism Restart
Taskforce’s plan to rebuild Australia’s
tourism sector, executive director Michael
Apps said: “We fully endorse the recommendations
by the Tourism Restart
Taskforce to bring tourism back to life
through targeted policy reforms and
greater investments in infrastructure
and training.”
However, he also pointed out:
“We need government to step up and
do more to protect our industry and the
people we support.
“We require a national rescue package to
support us though the downturn and on
the road out,” he added.
As Apps explained, a rescue package has
been developed that includes: immediate
financial assistance to provide a full diesel
rebate, like the mining sector receives; the
extension of JobKeeper for our industry
beyond September; and consideration of
a travel rebate of fares to encourage the
Australian public to travel across the nation
– not over it!
This is a great initiative and we can all
only hope it doesn’t fall by the wayside
amongst all the other cries for help from
sundry industries and organisations doing it
tough these days, too.
Buses and coaches play an integral
part of the Australian and New Zealand
transport and tourism industries – and
the thousands of jobs and livelihoods
associated with them – so both national
governments should be lobbied for help.
Bus and coach has been a good
corporate citizen overall in terms of
contributions to the tax coffers over many
years, so a JobKeeper extension and those
other useful measures would really help.
Besides … ‘you don’t ask, you don’t get’, so
fingers and toes crossed for all involved and
we wish them good luck.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE...
The big news of the month comes with
Volvo’s announcement it is bringing an
electric bus to Australia for the first time,
with Volgren once again doing bodywork.
As part of the huge 900-plus bus supply
deal announced last year for the Perth PTA,
the new tech to this market is sure to get a
lot of attention and so it – well, at least an
‘artist’s impression’ of it – graces our cover
this issue.
Speaking of artist’s impressions, a
massive thanks to our [I would say Bauer
and I should say Bauer, but with new
owners I’m just going with ‘our’] internal
photoshop guru Paul Breen, who was kind
enough to whip up our own e-bus rear
shot for me. Again, it’s the beauty of an
interpretation to just get the mind thinking,
so I wouldn’t ‘put any sheepstations on it’
just yet. Heck, if it ends up with a couple of
oversized ‘Fast and The Furious’ rear wings
on the back, or some deep recess for a
massive toaster or something, just take this
pic with a grain of proverbial salt, please!
And yes, I did just use the term
‘sheepstations’ to freak out our international
readers. You’re welcome. ;)
Further inside on page 40 we visit Mt
Gravatt Bus Service in Queensland as our
operator story this month – and what a
story it is. Del Cole has done amazing things
there, so hats off to her. And also inside on
page 58 we take an MAN RR8 IC 19.290 E5
with Coach Design ‘school bus’ body out
for a test drive in the wet and came away
mightily impressed.
Other stories of note include our In
Focus pieces on Custom’s last SB50
bus body being delivered to Marshall’s
Moruya in NSW; Victoria’s Ventura picking
up a few new Scania Touring coaches
recently; and way over in Europe [‘way’ –
because everything all just seems sooooo
much farther away to me nowadays]
Mercedes-Benz has launched an
articulated version of its award-winning
eCitaro electric bus.
That’s about it from me this month, folks.
Failing us getting hit by a ‘global killer’
asteroid in the next 30 days, I’ll see ya’ll
back here then.
Until the next thrilling instalment...
P.S. Googled and just found this: NASA
Detects Killer Asteroid That Could Wipe
Out Life On Earth By 2027. Really? Come on
now, guys! Enough is enough. Gees...
6
ABC July 2020 busnews.com.au