Recession Blues?
Friday, January 23rd, 2009What does it mean for bus companies?
People often think about the negatives…Fewer people in work travelling there by bus? Fewer people going out at night by bus? Fewer visitors around?
But for us, there are some opportunities that should be explored and maybe developed.
Are there people out there running cars they can no longer afford? When the MOT or the Tax comes due, people can need to stump up a hefty whack, perhaps even buying a newer banger? The alternative of travelling by bus doesn’t have those big and unplanned up front expenses. 20 for a week’s unlimited travel - and it’s really attractive if you live on one of our high frequency routes. Even more so if maybe that car is the second one in the household and there’s still one for the shopping etc!
Parking charges are rising, fuel though lower than it was is still expensive.
So here’s one of those opportunities for us. We’ll be starting to market our 7, 30 and 90 day passes much harder in the near future, hoping to convert people onto our buses. And with our newer, greener, easy access buses there’s a fair chance that any who switch to the bus will be pleasantly surprised and stick with us.
The Island’s holiday industry is reporting higher advance booking levels than last year - the cost of foreign holidays is rising as the pound falls against the Euro, fewer holidays are out there for last minute discounting, and the Island certainly appears to be benefitting from being ‘rediscovered’ be people who last visited decades ago.