By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.
Accept
routeonerouteonerouteone
  • News
    • Show all
    • Awards & Events
    • Deliveries
    • Environment
    • Exhibitor News
    • Euro Bus Expo 2024
    • Features
    • Legal
    • Minibus and minicoach
    • Operators
    • Opinion
    • People
    • Suppliers
    • Vehicles
  • Vehicles
    • Find a Vehicle
    • ZEV Comparison Tool
    • Sell a Vehicle
    • Vehicle Seller Dashboard
  • Insights
  • Careers
  • Events
    • British Tourism & Travel Show
    • Euro Bus Expo
    • Innovation Challenge
    • Livery Competition
    • routeone Awards
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • Share your news
    • Subscribe
    • Update Subscription Details
  • Latest Issue
  • SIGN UP
Search
© 2024 routeone News. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Hollinshead Coaches sees market shift with Yutong GT12 arrival
Share
Font ResizerAa
routeonerouteone
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • News
    • Show all
    • Awards & Events
    • Deliveries
    • Environment
    • Exhibitor News
    • Euro Bus Expo 2024
    • Features
    • Legal
    • Minibus and minicoach
    • Operators
    • Opinion
    • People
    • Suppliers
    • Vehicles
  • Vehicles
    • Find a Vehicle
    • ZEV Comparison Tool
    • Sell a Vehicle
    • Vehicle Seller Dashboard
  • Insights
  • Careers
  • Events
    • British Tourism & Travel Show
    • Euro Bus Expo
    • Innovation Challenge
    • Livery Competition
    • routeone Awards
  • Advertise
  • Contact
    • Share your news
    • Subscribe
    • Update Subscription Details
  • Latest Issue
  • SIGN UP
Follow US
© 2024 routeone News | Powered by Diversified Business Communications UK Ltd
- Advertisement -
-
routeone > Features > Hollinshead Coaches sees market shift with Yutong GT12 arrival
Features

Hollinshead Coaches sees market shift with Yutong GT12 arrival

Tim Deakin
Tim Deakin
Published: June 17, 2024
Share
Yutong GT12 for Hollinshead Coaches
SHARE

The market for new coaches has changed significantly since 2020, with strong ongoing demand for vehicles across Europe pressuring some manufacturers’ ability to keep up. That has been leveraged by those builders that can deliver relatively quickly, which in turn has seen significant conquest business done by their representatives here.

Contents
Investment follows fleet diversification by Hollinshead CoachesMarket change drives procurement change for Hollinshead

Biddulph operator Hollinshead Coaches is not new to the Yutong brand. It took a TC9 midi in 2018, which Managing Director Stephen Haydon says has performed well; he also notes that support from dealership Pelican Bus and Coach has been good.

Another manufacturer has typically supplied its new full-size coaches, but in late 2023 a need to update the fleet’s mainline offering saw Hollinshead return to Pelican and order a Yutong GT12.

That coach was delivered in April having been painted in the Staffordshire firm’s red and cream livery in China. It is a standard 53-seat example with a centre toilet and PSVAR compliance. Such a specification makes it a solid private hire vehicle, but it will also go on tour when needed.

Investment follows fleet diversification by Hollinshead Coaches

The GT12 is a first new coach for Hollinshead in those applications since 2019. In the period before then the business had come to favour tri-axles, but it moved investment towards 70-seaters over the past couple of years. Two were delivered new, and one older fleet member was upseated. They are credited by Stephen as being big reasons for the operator’s ongoing success.

However, he adds that while 70-seaters command good rates and do not cover major mileage, they are limited in what they can do. Using them to convey fans of local sports teams is impractical, and so those with Hollinshead work entirely with schools.

That aside, Stephen believes a successful operation needs as broad a church of work as possible, hence attention now turning to the private hire and tour fleet.

Yutong GT12 for Hollinshead Coaches
The Hollinshead GT12 is a 53-seater; it is used primarily for private hire, but will also work tours when required

A further new coach in that area is on the radar, although extended lead times are tricky. Stephen likes the GT12 and does not rule out another. But delivery time is key. “I do not like ordering very far in advance, because I want to keep an eye on where the market is going,” he explains.

The newcomer is particularly well suited to day trips. Sales for those are performing well. Hollinshead provides parking for customers at its depot, and it keeps the number of pick-up points low to minimise journey times.

Stephen believes that both of those are factors in the success of that programme, but he adds that even against a background of good demand and strong rates, minimising costs remains the key to successful coach operation.

Hollinshead’s loyalty to another manufacturer for large coaches would likely have continued in 2024 if availability had aligned with the operator’s need. The GT12 is a big change for the business, although it has performed well so far.

PSVAR compliance was specified primarily for residual value, although there is ample evidence that being able to offer it benefits an operator. In one week during mid-May Hollinshead’s 14 coaches carried out four jobs requiring accessibility. “It generates work,” says Stephen, who points to some school trips where disabled children can be carried with their friends. He also observes the wider social value aspect.

The GT12 will be maintained in-house, although Pelican’s mobile technicians and next-day parts provision is useful to the operator, particularly if warranty work comes necessary. The GT12 has a DAF MX-11 engine – the only DAF unit in Hollinshead’s fleet – and Pelican’s status as an agent of the Dutch OEM is valuable.

Yutong GT12 for Hollinshead Coaches
The Biddulph operator’s distinctive red and cream livery was applied by builder Yutong at the factory in China

Market change drives procurement change for Hollinshead

Delivery of the GT12 to Hollinshead is an indicator of how the coach market has changed over the past decade. In 2014, Yutong was new to the UK. This year, Pelican expects the Chinese brand to be one of the best performers in terms of new vehicle registrations.

A GT12 is also front and centre of a national advertising campaign by FlixBus UK, illustrating its suitability for work outside the more traditional sphere of coaching; one operator in that scheduled service provision has recently ordered 18 of them.

Arrival of Hollinshead’s GT12 led to disposal of an older coach despite business being strong. Stephen observes that while vehicle design has advanced significantly since the early 2000s, the ability to cascade some coaches via through applications as they age has changed.

For that reason, the operator still has in service a pair of Volvo B12Bs and a single B12M, all with Van Hool bodywork. One is the converted 70-seater and Stephen says Hollinshead will keep them in service for as long as it can. The two that retain a 2+2 layout are still highly versatile.

Whether Hollinshead’s GT12 follows in those footsteps remains to be seen, but is largely similar dimensions-wise and is setting out in the same application that the B12s would have filled in the past. Perhaps things have not changed so much after all.

Share This Article
Facebook LinkedIn Threads Email Copy Link
ByTim Deakin
Tim is Editor of routeone and has worked in both the coach and bus and haulage industries.
Previous Article Glenfinnan visitor centre CPT President: Highlighting the value of coach for our economy
Next Article green destinations Green Destinations: Investing in young Transport Managers
- Advertisement -

Latest News

Go-Ahead London – Managing Director
Careers Jobs
andy burnham tfgm £15.6 billion (1) The funding announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves today (4 June) has been allocated to several combined mayoral authorities to use on rail, tram, road and bus infrastructure. Transport for Greater Manchester revealed today that part of the £2.5 billion it will receive will go towards making the Bee Network fully battery-electric by 2030. An as-yet undecided portion of that will support a planned investment in 1,000 new zero-emission buses over that period, the mayoral authority said. That is part of plans to build the UK's "first fully integrated, zero-emission public transport system", with trams and trains also set to benefit. Liverpool City Region's already announced BRT system is among the projects to which its £1.6 billion will be allocated. Under those plans - due for realisation by 2028 - a high-speed network will be served by articulated buses which are modelled on the 'Glider' in Belfast. It is due to link Liverpool city centre with John Lennon Airport, and Liverpool FC and Everton FC's respective stadia along three routes. Although the model of bus has not been confirmed, a Van Hool Exqui.City on loan from Belfast was last year used as a demonstrator. That 18m vehicle can accommodate around 30% more passengers than a typical bus and has three sets of double doors. The funding will also go towards buses elsewhere in the city as the region heads towards franchising services by 2027. Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram with a 'Glider' which was on loan from Belfast last year - an example of the sort of bus which could serve the new BRT Bus services in the East Midlands region will be boosted by the funding, thanks to the £2 billion handed to it today by the government. Some of that allocation will be used for a rapid transit network on the Trent Arc between Nottingham and Derby. Between the two cities, the Freeport, Infinity Park Investment Zone and Ratcliffe-on-Soar will also benefit from the improved bus services. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority's newly announced commitment towards bus franchising has been boosted by £350 million in funding as part of that region's allocation. The funding for West Yorkshire will help build new bus stations in Bradford and Wakefield. Likewise, the Tees Valley Mayoral Authority will put its sum towards a new £15 million bus station in Middlesbrough. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander says: "Today marks a watershed moment on our journey to improving transport across the North and Midlands – opening up access to jobs, growing the economy and driving up quality of life as we deliver our Plan for Change. "For too long, people in the North and Midlands have been locked out of the investment they deserve. With £15.6bn of government investment, we’re giving local leaders the means to drive cities, towns and communities forward, investing in Britain’s renewal so you and your family are better off."
TfGM’s all-electric bus plan boosted by new £15.6 billion package
Bus Electric News Politics Top Story
Local Transport Minister opens First Bus electric depot in Hengrove
Local Transport Minister opens First Bus electric depot in Hengrove
Bus
Contract pricing conundrum for coach and bus
Contract pricing conundrum: Unlikely to get easier any time soon
Editor's Comment
- Advertisement -
-

routeone magazine is the indispensable resource for professional UK coach, bus and minibus operators. The home of vehicle sales and the latest bus and coach job vacancies, routeone connects professional PCV operators with complete and unrivalled news coverage.

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • GDPR Policy
  • Sustainability
  • Advertise
  • Latest Issue
  • Share Your News
routeonerouteone
Follow US
© 2024 routeone News | Powered by Diversified Business Communications UK Ltd