It’s a rising trend across all bus and coach operators around the country. Whether it’s a lone driver stuck in the brown sand of the outback or the honking horns of CBDs, a reliable bus and a capable support service are emerging as not just the operational details that they once used to be.
Nowadays, operators aren’t just looking at shiny chrome or the most powerful engines when they choose a new bus or coach to order. It’s fast become the intangibles – the quality built into the model and its reliability – that are all-important. Backing that up with a wide and fast-paced network of spare parts and aftersales support creates a full package that extends well beyond the four wheels of the vehicle.
In recent years, Yutong Australia and its dealer partner VDI has innovated in these areas to create an overall bus and coach offer that is all about credibility and confidence across a variety of markets, applications and locations.
“We see our connection with Yutong and VDI as a partnership, not just as a transaction,” Stephen Grant, General Manager at Victorian school bus service operator Dhillon Bus Charter, told ABC.
“We’ve got a strong working relationship with the Yutong and VDI team across the whole supply chain and it’s keeping us at the front of the pack.”
Mandeep Dhillon founded Dhillon Charter, growing the business over two years from 11 buses to 25 buses in the fleet.
This successful scaling meant the pair soon looked towards the school and charter markets for further growth.
“Around a year ago we were invited to participate in our first school bus tender, and were able to do so successfully,” Grant says.
“We then went on a bout of buying buses, employing drivers and establishing a strong operational network and customer service team, all within three months. We soon found that Yutong would be pivotal to our success.”
It was in the latter months of 2023 that Dhillon Charter entered the market to buy vehicles. After scouring the Victorian sector, the emerging operator quickly landed on Yutong and VDI. Needing six buses in a very short timeframe, Grant says Yutong and VDI pulled every stop to help them gather the buses and specify them to what was needed for the school contract.
“From the start, the Yutong and VDI team were incredibly helpful with information and details that we could then relay to the school,” he says.
“We test drove the buses and we all loved the comfort, mobility, stability and safety of the C12 model. We then found Yutong and VDI to be very good when it came to not just the product, but the service and reliability side of the equation too.”
The six Yutong C12 models quickly entered into operations, offering 57-seat models with seatbelts. When Dhillon Bus Charter recently won another major tender for school bus services requiring 14 vehicles, the operator went straight back to the Yutong and VDI team.
“A major requirement of this tender was to prove the uptime and reliability of the vehicles – Yutong made this easy,” Grant says.
“We’ve also been able to introduce practical technology as a value-add for schools, including student Wi-Fi, courtesy of Yutong and VDI. It’s not something we’ve commonly seen in the Victorian school bus market.”
A recent trip to Yutong’s head factory in Zhengzhou, China capped off the recent evolving partnership with the brand and VDI. Grant says witnessing how the various Yutong models are manufactured with reliability and quality at the front of mind was a decisive factor, while the ongoing aftersales support has been a source of great comfort.
“Seeing the Yutong operations first hand and meeting the people behind the product gave us and our customer real confidence,” he says.
“Reliability is central to our service promise, and local parts and technician support helps us deliver it.
“The aftersales support has been proactive, including regular check-ins, which helps when you’re scaling.”
On the other side of Australia, and in a much different market, Roberto Trifunovski, the owner of both Bus Charters Perth and Fleet Hire Perth, has also enjoyed the reliability and support of both Yutong and VDI. Its story started in 2008 when Trifunovski moved from Macedonia to Australia before starting the business with school bus services roughly 12 years ago.
After expanding into the high-end charter, mining and university transfer spaces, Bus Charters Perth & Fleet Hire Perth now has a total of 39 vehicles in its fleet and Trifunovski prides the company on maintaining a five star rating across 234 Google Reviews.
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A large part of this success boils down to his decision to start buying Yutong buses in 2017.
“Since then I have never looked back – the first model I bought was a 54-seater Yutong D12 coach,” he told ABC.
“By the time it came to buy a second bus, I didn’t even need to test drive it as the quality of the first Yutong bus was so good.
“Since I met Mike Kennedy from Yutong Bus Centre WA and his team, I’ve known I can trust them and I have kept adding more 44-seat and 28-seat Yutong buses since.”
Out of the 39 buses in Bus Charters Perth & Fleet Hire Perth’s fleet, eight of them are currently sporting the Yutong badge. A major part of this swing towards Yutong and VDI is the support Trifunovski has received from the brand and its local dealer. He says he’s “never had support” like what he has received from Yutong and VDI over the years, with the reliability, strong warranty and ongoing support proving critical to Bus Charters Perth & Fleet Hire Perth’s ongoing expansion out west.
“I was losing my confidence in the industry, but after working with Yutong and VDI, my trust has returned and I’m much happier,” he says.
“I now know I can provide high quality and good value buses and coaches for customers and my vehicles can remain on the road for a long time.”
Moving forward, Trifunovski shares similar sentiments to Grant and the Dhillon Bus Charter team on the other side of the country. Despite working in different markets and in varying conditions, the key values of Yutong and VDI – reliability, support and quality – have shone through to offer an exciting future for both operators in Australia.
“The newer vehicles have lifted the comfort and passenger experience – people feel safer and the Yutong buses are great value for money,” he says.
“Responsive service is helping to keep the vehicles on the road. With Yutong and VDI, it’s not just about the badge, it’s about the people standing behind it too.”
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