ABC Magazine Stories, Bus Industry News

ABC Issue 428 – Out Now!

The supply chain issue hangover is still continuing to wreak havoc in many Australian industries, but March’s deliveries show someone forgot to tell the bus and coach sector. Check out this positivity, alongside our telematics feature, in the April edition of ABC that is out now!

 

It’s no secret that Australia’s bus and coach industry is exceptionally good at leading trends and finding innovative ways to carry on. Nothing attests to this more than the April edition of ABC magazine, which combines the latest innovations in vehicle and telematics technology with sales statistics that prove the industry’s ability to overcome issues.

Looking at other industries, we’re seeing unprecedented numbers of major companies crashing and burning due to a variety of reasons, not least the slow burn of inflated diesel prices and the continual impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on supply chains both in and out of Australia.

It’s in these challenging times that the bus and coach industry has proven its adaptability.

Instead of suffering similar fates across the board, the sector’s capacity to rely on itself to innovate in the vehicle, parts and technology markets has meant that supply chain and inflation issues are mainly only a hinderance, not a killer, of business, except for a few sad stories in the industry recently.

This is proved in many ways, starting with a record number of deliveries in March.

There appears to be no lag in the number of buses and coaches being delivered to customers in Australia, with March’s 156 deliveries being well above the previous record since COVID first impacted supply chains. It’s a credit to the whole industry that companies have been able to meet increasing work demands with all of the challenges facing the sector.

It’s taken novel approaches to bus and coach manufacturing to keep the Australian industry mobile and afloat. Nothing summarises this willingness to innovate locally better than our cover story on ARCC.

ARCC’s designs for the future of zero-emissions bus manufacturing are special in an industry where using resources and sustainable materials can cost so much. ARCC managing director Peter Murley chats with ABC from page 24 about the minimalist way ARCC is planning for a versatile zero-emissions future.

Yet forward thinking isn’t just limited to vehicle manufacturing in the bus and coach industry. Our telematics feature looks at two unique companies who are excelling in different ways. From page 36, Consat Telematics, a well-known provider of many different fleet management and communication systems, sheds some light on its new Fleet Source web application and the surprising benefits it is having on bus operations.

On page 40, Connect Source has taken a different approach and ventured into the telematics game. By combining solutions from telematics providers and electric vehicle charging companies, Connect Source has put forth a revolutionary complete package for Australian electric bus owners.

In our latest round of operator stories, the sale of Coolum Coaches by industry veteran Glynn Ross to Thompsons Bus Services is a feel-good tale of family-owned operators still prevailing (page 29), while Victorian bus driver Jeff O’Meara walked us through his incredible bus career from page 33.

Yutong continues to go from strength to strength, with its new VDI Australia premises in Perth set to cover it in more glory in Western Australia on page 45, while Scania is introducing its new Touring coach model into Australia on page 48 and Projecta is finding ways to increase its inverter’s power capabilities.

While the industry flourishes in many ways, there are still plenty of different issues to cover.

These were discussed at length at last month’s Bus Industry Confederation (BIC) Summit in Canberra, where skilled worker attraction and retention was a hot topic, along with the infrastructure challenges associated with the zero-emissions transition.

The conference, along with the assortment of stories in this busy April edition, prove that the bus and coach industry is on the right path to emerge out the other side of the supply chain challenges not only intact, but better than ever.

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