Australasian Bus & Coach – May 2019

(^28) ABC May 2019 busnews.com.au
COVERSTORY V/LINE COACH
Above:
More than 1,300 V/
Line branded coach
services connect with
the rail network.
Below:
More comfortable
and spacious
bus options will
help contribute
to increasing bus
patronage.
Right:
USB charge points in
seats are a modern
touch; Mod-cons
include leather
steering wheel;
electronic stability
control; cruise
control; and a Scania
Communicator.
V/Line is Australia’s largest
regional public transport
operator.
boring part. In fact, it shows the
importance of the coach being
the complete opposite to that, to
help ‘sell the bus-use dream’.
At the time, there was an
expected figure of around 26
million passengers per year
across Europe in the forthcoming
12 months, factoring in coach
tourism growth. And given local
Australasian tourism figures at
the time showing an anticipated
increase too, even if not a luxury
double decker, a modern, safe,
spacious and comfortable coach
could help contribute towards
increasing regional and long-
distance bus patronage and
make such a mode of transport
more of a primary choice.
So much so that something
like the Bus Industry
Confederation Long Distance
Tour & Charter policy – “to keep
regions moving” – will hopefully
get more support and generate
more awareness about how
increased coach regional travel
targets can be achieved.
So what’s the link between
customers and the coach
journey? Often direct
communication between the
switched-on traveller booking a
ticket with a particular operator
to get to exactly where they
want to, but also in its most
mainstream form it will be
from those travellers relying
on each State’s rail service.
And something like Victoria’s
V/Line is a good example of