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on the road � stephen m. kirchner

On a recent fam tour in Harpers Ferry,West Virginia, we waited outside theQuality Hotel & Conference Center forthe New World Tours motorcoach topull up for loading. I looked around andcould see that no one was particularlyexcited about boarding the motor-coach….it would be just another motor-coach transfer. Just a short ride to thefirst stop on the tour.

I was really looking forward to see-ing the faces and hearing the reactionsas our group boarded the coach. I hadthe advantage. I had been on one ofthese New World coaches before andknew everyone was in for a treat. Typicalof their comments:

“Wow, this is incredible!” “This is amazing, we’ve never seen

anything like this.”“I’ve never been on an airplane this

nice.”As we sat down we glanced at the

beautiful 26” flat-screen monitors builtinto the overhead racks and waited forthe introduction from Ronnie Stevensof New World Tours. We learned wewere on one of New World’s CorporateCoaches, a luxurious ABC-Van Hoolmotorcoach equipped with just aboutevery amenity one could imagine. And

it better be, for this coach was just aslikely to be hosting a group of corpo-rate executives in Washington, D.C. asit was carrying a group of travel indus-try professionals on a tour of the WestVirginia countryside.

As the motorcoach industry movesinto the 21st century, the changes in pas-

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CRUISEA fleet of deluxe coaches is available to tour operators from DATTCO, Inc., a Connecticut-based transportation company.

24 December 2009 LeisureGroupTravel.com

New World Tours wows passengers with its state-of-the-art motorcoaches.

MOTORCOACHES

senger comfort are coming fast and furi-ous, and it’s safe to say there has neverbeen another time when customer com-forts have become as important as theyare today.

Twenty years ago when we beganseeing the first video monitors on mo-torcoaches, the industry saw its first realmovement toward passenger comforts.While some in the industry resisted thatchange (“something else to go wrong”),it soon became clear that onboard videowas a competitive advantage to thosewho had it, and a real disadvantage tothose who did not.

But for a long period of time, inno-vation on motorcoaches, as far as thepassenger was concerned, meant goingfrom a tube screen to a flat screen. Thepicture might have improved, but notmuch was different.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

That’s all changed in the past several

years, and the technological changeshave led to a dizzying array of newcomforts that motorcoach passengersare now beginning to take for granted.And those companies in the forefrontof offering these new comforts will

again have a distinct advantage overthose who ignore them.

Visit a motorcoach industry tradeshow today, such as the United Motor-coach Association’s Expo held in Januaryat the Orlando Orange County Con-vention Center, and you see an incredi-ble array of new vendors offeringpassenger comforts. Many are technol-ogy companies that were never seen be-fore at such trade shows.

For the tour planner, knowing aboutthese new trends is not only important,it may make the difference between ahappy customer coming back to you fortheir next tour, or going next door to

the planner who is knowledgeable andmakes the right choices in motorcoachtransportation.

“Making the experience much moreenjoyable for the passenger is the toppriority,” said Michael Power, director of

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INTO THE 21ST CENTURY

Prevost coaches feature video monitors and other high-tech amenities.

This bus manufactured by Motor Coach Industries offers wireless Internet.

marketing and communication of Pre-vost, a Volvo Company, and one of theindustry’s major manufacturers. “Tech-nology is a large part of it, allowing theindividual to control what he wants tosee in entertainment.”

Today customers have ipods, iphones,individual game machines, computerlaptops and more. The day of everyonewanting to watch the same video, or en-gage in the same activity, at the sametime, is over.

LEG ROOM AND SEATBELTS

Trends today, Power said, put pas-senger comforts first, and include 52-passenger coach configurations (down

from 55, 56 and 57), providing more legroom, and the addition of WiFi andsatellite TV.

A safety feature appearing on newmotorcoaches is the standard seatbelt on

every seat. Don’t be surprised if you areasked to keep it loosely around you at alltimes just as we have come to expect onan airplane.

Companies can choose the option ofin-seat video monitors like on some air-lines, and customers can plug their ipodsand computers into the system for powerwhile onboard the motorcoach.

Prevost offers an AV connector inthe front seat that allows the input of acomputer into the coach video system,allowing for corporate training presen-tations or for sports team coaches to re-view game film on the way to or from agame. It also allows a tour operator tooutline the itinerary or make a presen-tation on what’s coming up on the tour.

Power said technological trendsmake for safer travel as well. The com-

on the road �

Prevost coaches reflect the most current trends in passenger comforts.

Making the experience much more enjoyable for

the passenger is the top priority.

As the motorcoach industry moves into the 21st century,

changes in passenger comfort are coming fast and furious.

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Peter Pan passengers can expect the latest in technological advances.

Michael Power—Director of Marketing and Communication of Prevost

Stephen M. Kirchner —President of the National Motorcoach Network

pany now offers its Prevost LiaisonSystem, which follows the coach on theroad, provides diagnostics of all aspectsof the motorcoach above and under thehood, and reports to the operator andthe driver any problems. This space-agesystem is linked to over 30 satellites.

Peter Pan Bus Lines is one of thefirst intercity bus lines to have wirelessInternet available to passengers throughthe installation of WiFi technology onits fleet. Peter Pan is in the process ofinstalling WiFi on 150 buses.

“We’re proud of our reputation forbeing on the leading edge of technol-ogy in the intercity bus industry,” saidPeter A. Picknelly, president of PeterPan. “We were among the first to in-clude video monitors on our motor-coaches. Other technological advancessuch as a real-time monitoring systemthat records the speed and the opera-tion of the vehicle by our operator anda GPS tracking system are routinelyretrofitted into all of our coaches.

“Passengers want to use laptop com-puters, accessing the Internet to do workor to check e-mail, and the installationof the WiFi wireless compatibility onour coaches gives Peter Pan an advan-tage over air travel or travel by auto,”Picknelly said.

Today motorcoach operators workwith the manufacturers to customize theconsumer experience before the motor-coach leaves the production line.

“From new interior fabrics and col-ors to the very latest in onboard ameni-ties, ABC Companies and Van Hoolwere able to create a series of coachesfor us that truly exceed the expectations

and needs of our varied customer base,”said Dennis Lyons, vice president,Coach & Tour Group, DATTCO, Inc.

Patricia Ziska, Motor Coach Indus-tries (MCI) vice president and chiefcustomer officer, said, “We plan tobring more innovation to our product.We take seriously our commitment toadvancing employee safety and ourcontinued quest to be environmentally

responsible by lowering our carbonemissions footprint.”

She adds, “At MCI, we’re constantlyadvancing performance and safety fea-tures as new technologies become avail-able. We’ve even developed several of ourown, including our patented spiral en-tryway and the very first Hybrid inter-city coach. Interiors are more luxuriousthan ever before, giving passengers themost comfortable travel experienceavailable today.”

If you haven’t been on a motorcoachrecently, you are in for a surprise. Butyou will need to do the research because

not all companies are created equal, andnot all companies offer all the amenitiesthat your customers expect today.

When you plan your next NorthAmerican tour, don’t forget that the keycomponent often overlooked is the qual-ity of the motorcoach. Make sure youask the right questions and demand theright answers from motorcoach opera-tors before you sign the contract.

The result will be happy customerswho will return again for their next motorcoach tour adventure. Even moreimportant, they will tell their friendsabout all the benefits of traveling on amotorcoach today….friends who, coin-cidentally, may want to come along onnext year’s tour. LGT

Stephen M. Kirchner is president of the National Mo-

torcoach Network, a marketing organization that has

been promoting motorcoach travel to consumers for

over 25 years. It operates the National Reservation

Center at www.motorcoach.com. He is also pub-

lisher of Byways magazine, a publication featuring

North American tour destinations that offers a free

subscription to consumers and group tour planners

at http://bywaysmagazine.wordpress.com.

MCI takes pride in its commitment to environment-friendly technology.

At MCI, we’re constantly advancing performance and

safety features as new technologies become available.

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Patricia Ziska—Vice President and Chief Customer Officer of Motor Coach Industries