Multi-generational family involvement runs strong among coach operators that trace their existence to the postwar years of charabancs and works outings.
Bluebird Coaches of Weymouth is a fifth-generation family business that joins the most longstanding among such companies. In September it marked a century of trading.
Maintaining family ownership over such a long period of time is a worthy mark of respect, especially given difficulties many companies have in retaining their younger generations. For that reason, interest in the sector among the newest members of coaching families rightfully deserves acknowledgement.
In that respect Bluebird is already confident that there is a sixth generation in the making; current Director Martyn Hoare is hopeful that his three grandsons, Dylan, Jesse and Archie will take the coach company forward to its 150th year.
From one parent to the next
It was Frederick Cecil Hoare who founded the Bluebird business on the Isle of Portland in 1924. As in many such origin stories wherein coach company nomenclature often makes for an attractive footnote, Bluebird distinguishes itself by being named for a four-penny tin of chocolate toffees.
The saga chronicling the 100 years that have passed since Frederick began conveying the postwar travelling public on charabanc outings is available to read on the operator’s website, and conveys well the ups and downs that a century-old transport business passes through. Noteworthy throughout is the consistency of family involvement. The Hoare family business has been passed from mother and father to son or daughter now over each of its successive five generations. The second to take the reins was
Frederick’s son Trevor, who, alongside wife Margaret (pictured below, with broom), saw the business grow and thrive in the years following the Second World War.
It was Trevor and Margaret who brought sons Martyn and Stephen (the latter retired in 2020) into the fold. The pair had completed apprenticeships after leaving college and took over running of the company in 1985, while their sister Elaine worked alongside Margaret in the seafront office on Weymouth Esplanade.
With Stephen’s retirement in 2020, it falls to Martyn, his wife Christina, and daughter Gemma to mark the 100-year anniversary of the business. They did so with an open day at its seafront shop on 24 September, and the delivery of a brand-new Neoplan Tourliner wearing an anniversary livery. That scheme starts the phasing over to a fresh look for the company’s fleet of 18 coaches.
Mayer of Chickerell John Dean, whose own family was in coaching and who drove for Bluebird for almost 50 years, was in attendance to cut a ribbon on the day. Customers booking Bluebird coach holidays at the Melplash Show and Dorset County Show in August and September were entered into a £500 prize draw, with the prize winner being a Mrs Roff.
Complementing the prize draw on Sunday 29 September was a charity cream tea at the George Albert Hotel near Dorchester. 111 customers plus guests were in attendance alongside family, friends and retired drivers. Tickets raised £1,665, which was matched by Bluebird, meaning £3,330 was split evenly between Weldmar Hospicecare and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Charity.
Martyn expresses his pride at continuing a family tradition that now spans 100 years. Pride in the Bluebird name, and its position in the community, no doubt contributes to why he, alongside every other generation of the Hoare family since Frederick, has felt a strong desire to build on the business’ legacy. “Mum and dad always wanted Bluebird to hit that milestone,” he says. “I know it sounds silly, but I’ve been down to the cemetery to see them both just to tell them that we’ve made it.”
Coaching — and nothing else
Martyn reveals he’s always wanted to be in coaching — nothing else had ever occurred to him. “We grew up around coaches,” he says. “Even at a young age, we would be doing jobs in the yard, like helping with the steam cleaning.
“Mum and dad were always keen for me and Stephen to keep the company going, and grow it, which we did together. Now, the future is Gemma. And it’s great when we see young people, especially young women, ready to come into the industry. We need young people to bring a fresh mindset and knowledge of things like technology to the business while retaining the values that a family coach company is built on.”
Martyn’s four-year apprenticeship at Bere Regis Coaches in Dorchester, which he undertook with his brother, formed the grounding he needed to return to Bluebird. That seems to have started a trend — Gemma too completed an apprenticeship at a local firm and spent 10 years there before returning to the family business in 2013 with a Transport Manager CPC qualification. For Gemma, there was never any reluctance either. She had already driven coaches on weekends. Her grandmother had been involved, and Bluebird has always had a strong team of women drivers.
For the younger generations
If 2020 was a watershed moment for the business, Martyn says he owes his continued involvement to Gemma’s interest. “She wanted to keep going even when Stephen stepped down,” he says. “This was during the pandemic, when Stephen was deeply frustrated. You reach points in your life where you wonder whether to keep going. But when so many people rely on you for their livelihoods, it is a difficult decision to make. So we kept working. We covered what contracts, what rail replacement, we could. Our staff were furloughed, but all the while, they kept asking if there was anything they could do. We’ve always had a low turnover of drivers because we treat them how we would want to be treated.”
Now, Martyn is ready to encourage his grandsons to do the same. “It’s given my family a very good living,” he says. “Yes, it’s hard work, and is a 24/7 job. But the coach industry is a bit like a drug. It’s difficult to get out of your system.”
As part of his campaign to get more young people involved — he recently employed three younger drivers as part of efforts to renew the workforce — Martyn is vocal about the advantages that younger generations bring. Namely, an affinity with technology. Many of the challenges today — emissions, for example — will be routine for the children currently growing up with them. “It has gotten harder,” Martyn says, reflecting on the current nature of coach operation. “But we have had challenges when we moved from analogue to digital tachographs. That, in the long-term, has made life easier. Everything is a step forward. We go with the flow, get on with things. What seems scary for us will probably be routine for the younger generations. We have to maintain a positive outlook and move with the times.”
Archie, the eldest of Martyn’s grandsons, already shows a keen interest in the business, according to Gemma — and even Dylan, at just three years old, has begun correcting people on the proper distinction between a ‘bus’ and a ‘coach’. When it comes time to nurture them further, apprenticeships are the favoured approach. “That gives them respect for the work when they return,” Martyn says. “I loved my time, as did my brother, at Bere Regis Coaches. They were fantastic days, and we learned so much. I’d like to see Dylan, Archie and Jesse do the same and take the company forward. I’m hoping they’ll even take the company to its 150th anniversary — and I might just be around to see them do it!”
Traditional values are part of what makes Bluebird’s legacy great, so there’s naturally something of a balancing act to consider. That’s why Martyn says it’s always important for an operator like Bluebird to maintain its personal touch. “That includes things like responding personally if someone was to complain; not just to email a response, but to find out what went wrong, work out a solution and bring them back on side,” he says. “We kept our seafront shop open, even when the accountants told us we didn’t need it, because people like the face-to-face interactions. A driver can turn up in a £300,000 coach, but if they don’t greet the passengers, it doesn’t make a difference to the customer experience. It’s about the human element; the old values.”
Future refinement
If Martyn and Gemma are keen for the boys to take the company to its 150th anniversary, then what does the future hold? A restructure is probably on the cards as more drivers look towards retirement; Gemma says she will likely look at more delegation for support on the mechanical side of the business. She recognises that owner managers shouldn’t get bogged down with one particular duty, especially with a business as diverse as Bluebird, which operates a mix of private hire, tours and sports team transport.
Investment in the fleet is otherwise the current goal, alongside an expansion of the tour programme. COVID-19 stalled expansion, and while Bluebird has no ambitions to grow larger, it does want to keep improving on quality.
