BCI and BusBiz’s partnership comes down to a willingness to adapt to the harsh demands of Australian bus and coach services
It’s been nearly 10 years since Swan Hill Bus Lines first purchased a Bus & Coach International (BCI) vehicle. Plenty of water has gone under the bridge in that timeframe, with the operator changing names to BusBiz in 2017.
Throughout the best part of a decade, one factor that has remained a certainty is the growing partnership between BusBiz and BCI.
The two companies first joined forces in 2014 when BusBiz won a tender to run TrainLink services from Dubbo out to Broken Hill.
“From that contract win onwards, that’s when our real relationship started with BCI,” BusBiz managing director Peter Pickering told ABC.
“They provided a quote for the vehicles we needed and we accepted it upon winning the tender.”
Pickering says the main reason BusBiz went with BCI was their delivery date and ability to supply the number of coaches they needed for the new contract. After winning the tender process in 2014, BusBiz needed new vehicles ready to run from 2015.
Upon receiving the call, BCI answered to quickly provide a fleet for BusBiz to use throughout regional Victoria and NSW.
These first vehicles were BCI’s Cruiser body model, which was built on top of BusBiz’s preferred chassis in the Mercedes-Benz 0500RF two-axle coach model. BCI moved quickly to build four bodies on top of them, with the vehicles soon set to begin gruelling 1500km round trips seven days a week.
Although these coaches were new, the route they were running wasn’t an easy trip for heavy vehicles to make.
“Running in this western region of NSW, it soon became the worst service we were running when it came to distance and collisions with animals,” BusBiz NSW state manager and former driver Michael Milburn told ABC.
“Being in the middle of a drought, those first coaches copped a fair amount of panel damage from the bin doors down through animal strikes.
“These coaches would travel late at night and early in the morning on those TrainLink services and they’d quickly be covered in dints and other damage caused by wildlife hitting the front or side of the coach.”
On these first forays as part of BusBiz’s new contract, BCI’s aluminium panels sitting on the front of its Cruiser bodies had plenty to deal with. BusBiz turned to its new partner to look at ways to better protect the critical areas of the body.
These discussions led to Pickering heading to BCI’s China factory to look at other panel options that were made of sturdier materials than aluminium. Pickering says BCI was immediately willing to adapt their assembly line to suit BusBiz’s requirements, with a composite fibreglass panel design presented to him.
BCI then offered Pickering the chance to test the new panel in a unique way.
“We looked at changing from aluminium panels on the side of the first Cruiser models to a fibreglass bin door, wheel arches and lower panels,” Pickering says.
“In China, BCI had a fibreglass panel door for me to look at and they handed me a sledgehammer to take to it and test it out.”
For BCI Victorian state manager Cameron Millen, he remembers this moment vividly. It was a grand way of showing an emerging customer that BCI meant business when it came to protecting its Cruiser body for the rigours that the BusBiz contract demanded of its new fleet.
“Those initial Cruisers performed well under the harsh road conditions and the damage they had to face,” Millen told ABC.
“To demonstrate the new panel we produced, we gave Pete a sledgehammer and told him to hit it as hard as he could for as long as he wanted to.
“It didn’t break, and they were soon fitted to the next wave of Cruisers that BusBiz ordered. It’s no surprise that since then we haven’t had to replace many panels at all as they’ve held up incredibly well.”
Pickering agrees that the new fibreglass panels have “been outstanding” since they were first introduced, with BCI also introducing special heavy duty bullbars onto the coaches to tailor the vehicles to BusBiz’s needs.
These vehicles that BCI have progressively introduced to BusBiz’s fleet have needed to be as sturdy as possible – BusBiz’s vehicles cover an amazing number of kilometres throughout a year.
A routine check up on how BCI’s second round of Cruiser models introduced in 2017 shocked the likes of Millen and co from BCI. Currently, the 2017 models have clocked up at least one and a half million kilometres in just over five years of service.
The original 2015 models with aluminium panels have since been put onto shorter services, but that hasn’t stopped them from recording around one and a half million kilometres.
Millen remembers once getting a call from Pickering as the latter was on the way back from Dubbo to Swan Hill in a BCI model that was nearing the end of its service life.
“Pete told me that I had to put this bus on display to show how well it had stood up,” Millen says.
“He said there’s been no rattles or squeaks after doing at least a million kilometres on bad roads.
“It’s testament to the product, both the chassis and body. I think it surprised Peter as to how well they had held up for him.”
With this durability evident, it’s no surprise that Pickering and BusBiz have continued going back to the BCI well. On average, BusBiz’s Dubbo fleet of vehicles complete 300,000kms per year.
Pickering says the durability of BCI’s bodies and complete vehicles has been why BusBiz has grown its BCI fleet over recent years.
“All of the BCI models have held up incredibly well, the bodies are still tight and there’s no rattles,” Pickering says.
“They’ve done a lot of quick kilometres over some fairly rough roads, but drivers continue enjoying getting behind the wheel of them.”
As BusBiz has grown, it’s used BCI models for additional trial services running to and from Wagga Wagga and Canberra while also using BCI vehicles as school buses. As BusBiz continues to win more contracts, it has returned to BCI for more vehicles.
Now, BusBiz has more than 40 BCI products in its expanding fleet. Newer models have already travelled more than half a million kilometres. When it comes to improvement over time, Milburn says the latest models of Cruisers have shown a clear refinement in the internal fit-out while also having a sleek design.
“The most recent BCI Cruisers have an improved European-like shape to them,” Milburn says.
“The seating and interior plastics have also constantly improved, while the different luggage bin door system is wonderful and looks even better.”
From BCI’s side, seeing BusBiz expand its operations across NSW, Victoria and into South Australia through a variety of BCI coaches, school buses and low-floor models has been rewarding to witness.
“BusBiz is one of our larger clients and it’s been great to work with them,” Millen says.
“The most popular model we supply to them is our BCI Cruiser body on a Mercedes-Benz chassis.
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“Ever since we first switched to fibreglass panels, that feature has become standard across the board for Cruiser models.”
Although BusBiz clearly has a soft spot for the Cruiser, Pickering is hard-pressed to pick a favourite in his fleet. He says Cruiser models that came straight from the factory with a 400-litre tank onboard are just that bit lighter that make them the best to drive, but he is a fan of hopping behind the wheel of all of BCI’s bus and coach models.
From a passenger perspective, the newer models with USB charging ports on the back of seats have become a rider favourite. On the school bus side, Milburn says a 57-seater often receives feedback from people impressed with the look of the interior.
The aftersales and service part often comes hand-in-hand with these growing operator-supplier partnerships. Millen says BCI has learnt plenty from BusBiz in terms of transporting spare parts to constantly keep the operator stocked on windscreens and other features.
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| BusBiz’s Peter Pickering |
This focus means the combination of BusBiz and BCI doesn’t look like grinding to a halt anytime soon. Instead, both parties are excited to continue getting more BCI vehicles on the road for BusBiz’s growing operations.
With four new vehicles slated for delivery later this year, the BCI/ BusBiz bond is only strengthening. For this round of bus deliveries, there’s no prizes for guessing what model they’ll be.
“New Cruiser coaches are set to be delivered towards the end of this year,” Pickering says.
“Two of them will be on Volvo chassis for the first time. We’re looking forward to introducing more durable BCI models as we continue taking on more services in the coming years.”