Australasian Bus & Coach – May 2019

(^38) ABC May 2019 busnews.com.au
OPERATOR MARSHALL’S BUS & COACH
CHALLENGES
Keeping on top of the Chain
of Responsibility and dealing
with Transport for NSW is one
of the hardest battles, according
to Peter Marshall.
The company has adjusted
to the changes by updating its
policies and procedures.
“Being a bus operator has
become harder from what I’ve
seen,” he said.
“There have been changes in
Chain of Responsibility policies
and everyone is liable at some
point and that stress alone of [it]
being on your head if something
goes wrong.”
Marshall’s continues to be
ahead of its competitors by
offering a quality service,
Melissa adds.
“We do have two other local
operators and a third has come
in recently – they’re undercutting
and getting some of our work
based on cost. But we run a
quality fleet with great staff, so
we see quality as our competitive
advantage, and we remain
focused on what our clients
are looking for.”
one of them as family.
This is made up of three active
directors, two administration
staff, two mechanics and the
rest drivers.
With eyes set on the future,
Melissa says she’s keen to keep
the business going for another
generation instead of it being
bought out like many others.
“The thing is, our drivers want
to be here and we think of them
as family as well and they enjoy
being here.
“We need to look after them
because we can’t drive 22 school
buses plus coaches ourselves in
one day, so we do need good
staff. We look after them as much
as we can.”
The family has no problems
obtaining new drivers due to
their location, Melissa adds.
“We are very lucky we are only
2.5 hours away from Canberra
and it’s a retiree area so we
actually find that getting causal
drivers is not that hard.”