A busy three days saw the annual national conference of the Bus Industry Confederation (BIC) discuss a range of pressing talking points and introduce an international flavour to topics.
In the aftermath of the Volvo Welcome Reception, attendees were greeted by the BIC auction bus and car out the front of the hotel, with the Volvo/Irizar bus gleaming in the Hobart sun while the BYD Dolphin 6 also enticed many.
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The official conference opening saw BIC Chair Tony Hopkins introduce the attendees before Simon Kuestenmacher of The Demographics Group provided an interesting data driven insight into the habits of public transport passengers in Australia.
With National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) CEO Sal Petroccitto OAM on hand to address the crowd and discuss the latest heavy vehicle updates pertaining to the bus and coach sector, the opening session quickly got conversations going.
The following session took it to the next level, with Professor David Hensher AM discussing fair contracting models in a challenging operating environment for operators. Hensher was joined by some of Australia’s leading operator figures, including Transdev John Holland Buses (NSW) managing director Mark McKenzie, Kinetic Group CEO Michael Sewards, Transit Systems executive general manager of people, communications and safety Tanya Smith, CDC Australia CEO Nick Yap and Keolis Downer chief operating officer of bus Jay Zmijewski, to chat about the state of current bus contracts.
After lunch, future transport and fuels was the dominant topic as a variety of ministers, energy companies and alliances took to the stage to highlight fresh ideas to revamp the zero-emissions technology space.
At night, the Scania/Irizar evening function saw BIC’s national industry awards handed down.
The next morning, the BIC auction came to a close, with the bus won by Flagstaff Coaches and the car auction winner impending, before the connect session took a deep dive into antisocial behaviour on buses. With technical updates preceding an intriguing trucking industry update from Senator Glenn Sterle, who also brought his experience and framed it in a bus industry lens, various operators gave their take on what they are doing to curb antisocial behaviour and what more can be done by policy makers.
The adapt session post lunch took a global approach, veering into new territory as chief customer officer of US company Modaxo Paul Comfort discussed his transit show tour and what is happening in the US. From there, Transit Systems’ Mark Peters detailed his experiences from his rise in the bus sector, discussing what the operator is doing in the zero-emissions infrastructure space, while init SE CEO Heiko Bauer detailed his brand’s latest technology and how it is changing the face of transport globally.
The final session of the conference brought out the manufacturers, with a star-studded panel highlighting the forces at play in the manufacturing space both in Australia and worldwide.
Starting with Scania Sweden’s head of sales, people and transport solutions Niklas Walter, the focus was on the latest in Europe’s bus manufacturing sector and challenges that continue to make bus production difficult.
From there, a panel including Walter, Volgren Australia’s John Allen, Yutong Asia-Pacific CEO Kent Chang, GoZero Group’s John Featherstone, Julian Gurney, Irizar Australia managing director Steve Heanes, Volvo’s Mitch Peden and BYD’s Jon Tozer discussed the main issues impacting supply and manufacturing both in Australia and overseas.
Major topics arising included local content rules, or a lack thereof, and supply chain challenges continuing to threaten materials transport.
By the end of the event, the industry was well updated about the latest solutions that can be used to make the sector better moving into 2025.
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