BusVic will keep its popular maintenance conference and bus show as an annual event, despite calls to reduce its frequency
BusVic Executive Director Chris Lowe has rebuked calls to cut the rate of state conferences – a move he says will cause a lag of information to operators.
In response to ongoing calls to reduce Victoria’s bus industry conference to a biennial or triennial event, Lowe says: “We want to keep it annual, and we will keep it annual.”
Lowe declined to comment on exactly who was advocating the conference reduction, but ABC Magazine understands that stakeholders wishing to reduce the cost of attending multiple events throughout the year are driving the argument.
“It has been suggested by some that some state association conferences become biennial or even triennial,” Lowe says.
“We cannot do that.”
Lowe says the annual events are essential to keep operators up to date with the latest industry developments, and changing the conference to a biennial event would delay vital information flow to operators.
“Victoria can’t subscribe to the position, merely because the rate of change in the industry is so fast,” he says.
“If you leave it two or three years for all the stakeholders in the industry to connect there is too much lag and you are not going to be able to deal with things in the speedy manner they need to be dealt with – too many things would be left unaddressed.”
About 1500 delegates are registered for this BusVic’s 2012 Maintenance Conference and Bus Expo, to be held at July 2- 3 at the Moonee Valley Racing Club, Moonee Ponds, with registrations still being submitted.
“Clearly with such high demand levels we see no reason to lessen the frequency of this very important event,” Lowe says.