Operators Speak Out on Hot Industry Trends
By ABA Media
The Insider recently posed the following industry question to several ABA member motorcoach operators: Seating capacity versus leg room? When it’s time to buy a new bus, does this affect your decision whether to buy a 52- or 56-seat vehicle? If so, how?
Here is what our members had to say:
“I have mostly 56-passenger coaches, and I would like to keep them all the same. It’s one less thing to think about when you are sending out a large coach.”
—Randal Steelman, General Manager
Lone Star Coaches Inc.
Grand Prairie, Texas
“We look at the anticipated usage, knowing students can tolerate reduced legroom and require max capacity; however, adults prefer increased legroom over greater capacity. There is a growing trend to reduce capacity and increase legroom. Having varying capacities in a fleet calls for more intense scheduling attention, which is becoming more common.”
—Alan Glickman, CEO
Starr Bus Charter & Tours
Trenton, N.J.
“Good question. We have gone to a fleet of all 55. School groups always want 55, and what happens when we have to switch a bus with fewer seats at the last minute for whatever reason—[it leads to] trouble.”
—Michael Faulkner, President
Cape Fear Coach Lines
Wilmington, N.C.
“Our business model is to replace our seated coaches on a 54- to 60-month cycle. We are exclusively MCI with our coach fleet of about 125-plus coaches. With our replacement cycle and what MCI has recently done with reconfiguring the lavatory, we are able to utilize 60-passenger seating without any sacrifice on legroom. Currently, we either already have or will have within the next 30 days, approximately 25-plus 2018 MCI coaches with the new lavatory configuration. Some are 56-passenger and some are 60-passenger coaches. We are going to move forward with all future purchases to be the 60-seat version of the J4500. Our customers are very happy with the additional legroom and/or the 60-passenger seating.”
—John McCommon, President
Cline Tours
Ridgeland, Miss.
“Our preference is 52 seats due to the issue of limited legroom on the 56 models. It is more of a problem on Prevost than MCI with the new engines.”
—Stephen Evans, Vice President of Safety
Pacific Western Group of Companies
Calgary, Alberta, Canada