It only takes a few weeks of immersing one’s self in the local industry to realise that buses and coaches are a constant around Australia. In suburban and inner-city locations, the continual churning of route buses can easily fade into the vibrant background if you aren’t looking out for them. When driving on the country’s great expanses of highways and country roads, a charter coach is never far away, even on the most desolate of freeways.
The hidden hero of the perpetual presence of buses and coaches around Australia is the operator. Whether it be the close-knit family business running a handful of mini-buses or the international companies at the helm of thousands of buses around the Australasian region, operators are the lifeblood of the sector.
The January edition of ABC pays tribute to them through our annual Operator Showcase, which has resonated with more operators than its inaugural edition in 2023. The second instalment of the Showcase and its industry trends analysis derived from the survey highlights the range of issues that continue to mount on operators big and small around Australia.
While another productive year has passed, the zero-emissions transition is clearly still a major pressure point for bus and coach businesses, while rising costs and skilled worker shortages is creating a squeeze for many. We hope this Showcase, starting on page 28, has given 60 Australian operators the outlet they deserve to voice their thoughts on the state of the industry while also giving their own operations recognition in the Showcase table.
It makes sense that our cover is courtesy of a bus and coach brand that is well versed in the art of operating vehicles. Since heading into the bus and coach distribution game, Challenger Bus & Coach has made a reputation for its quality vehicles. From page 20, the brand is now gearing up for a milestone year in 2024 that includes a foray into electric technology and another exciting model.
When it comes to the nation’s operators, we’ve also handpicked some of their stories that deserve to be featured in our ABC Operator Showcase edition. Our first feature, starting from page 24, takes us to Wollongong, where Dion’s Bus Service has an incredible story of a migrant family becoming a treasured part of the local Illawarra region over its 100-year history. While the Australian bus and coach landscape is always changing, stories like this remind us what the industry has historically stood for as a caring and compassionate part of many local townships.
From Wollongong we veered to Victoria, where, on page 42, the Dyson Group held a deserved farewell celebration for its three joint managing directors late last year. The decades of admirable leadership at the family powerhouse highlights the power of the family operator over time in Australia’s bus industry.
Following this operator focus, Bus Finance Australia is expanding its offerings for bus businesses around the nation through new infrastructure funds from page 38, while Bus Stop Sales has used recent weather event hardships as fuel for its 2024 forays on page 40.
In the back half of the magazine, we crown our final Best Bus winner for 2023 and provide an honour roll from its first year, courtesy of VDI Australia, while the comprehensive deliveries wrap from December and all of 2023 paints an impressive picture of the bus and coach industry’s recent success. We wish all of you a happy New Year and a wonderful 2024!
