Smoothing the peaks and troughs of demand is the golden goose for coach operators, and doing it easily is even better. At the CMAC Group, a shakeup of its systems will further simplify doing that
Coach Hire Booking (CHB) provides rail replacement work at rates that it believes are the best in the business. It majors on delivering easily-earned income, often at non-peak times, that supplements an operator’s core revenue.
CHB is part of the CMAC Group. CMAC also handles flight diversion and business contingency transport, and that, too, generates additional profit for operators.
In 2018 the C-Mac trading name will become more prominent as it takes a more holistic view of its coach work. What’s on offer will remain the same, but CMAC believes that it will make itself an even more attractive industry partner by further simplifying its relationships with operators.
CMAC employs 115 people and it is on track to turn over £30m in the current financial year. Of that, £8m will be paid to the coach industry.
Rail replacement along the west coast main line is what the Coach Hire Booking brand is known best for, and Operations and Commercial Director Peter Slater says that it wants more operators to come on board.
“Some operators still don’t realise how well we pay for rail replacement,” he says.
“We encourage the industry to see it as a reasonably profitable cherry on top of its own cake. It’s not clear profit, because naturally there are costs involved, but it’s often lucrative.”
Thinking outside the box…
Traditionally, emergency rail replacement develops at short notice and is dealt with by calling operators nearby. That still forms part of CHB’s operating practice, but it is keen to take ideas from elsewhere to make the process smarter. That will also encompass CMAC’s flight delay arm, and the key is knowing where coaches are in real time.
For example, a Lancashire-based coach may be on an extended layover in London. Were an emergency requirement to arise in the south-east, it’s logical that CHB would call operators there first, leaving that vehicle out of the running. That will soon change, however.
“We need operators to let us know where their coaches are, particularly when they’re not where we might expect,” says Peter. If CHB knows via GPS that the Lancashire-based coach is in London, there is scope for it to absorb some of that emergency work.
Will operators accept a third party using their GPS data? Peter believes so. Many have tracking as part of their fleet management system (FMS), and CHB has done lots of work to make it happen. The only information taken from the FMS will be vehicle location.
“When this is rolled out, we will be able to see coaches that are near to an emergency call, regardless of where they are based. We won’t know whether they are available, but we can ask the operator. It’s potential revenue that they wouldn’t otherwise have earned.”
Paying smart
CMAC will also introduce a much speedier payment process in 2018. Currently, it pays at 30 days from invoice, but ‘e-invoicing’ will bring down the gap between doing the work and being paid for it to three days.
“There are some complications to get over; on rail replacement, we need to know exactly what the coach has done to calculate the payment. What the operator will need to do is upload their invoice to a web portal. We will authorise it and pay within three days.”
The portal will have other functionality. Operators will be able to see what work they have carried out for CMAC, and how much they have earned.
There will be no cost for access to the web portal, but CMAC accepts that it will not suit everyone. Invoices will still be accepted via the conventional method after it goes live, but they will not benefit from the improved terms.
Give and take
Providing replacements for broken-down coaches is another area that CMAC is looking to expand via web-based tracking, and it is also examining whether it can take some work off operators for antisocial-hours callouts. “Often when we call out of hours, the operator’s first response is that it doesn’t know if any drivers are available,” says Peter.
“We’re looking at whether we can send notifications straight to drivers, and even pay them directly. That won’t work for everyone, but I want to know what operators think of it.” Like everything else, monies paid to drivers by C-MAC will be reported via the web portal.
Making things as simple as possible is key to CMAC, and it believes that along with its impending developments, paying a fair rate for emergency call-outs will attract more operators to the fold.
“We believe that we are leaders in what we pay for emergency work, but it’s also about the relationships that we build. We can take out some of the industry’s seasonality; we have a high winter requirement because of weather issues,” he adds.
“Our work is good quality. It is simple and straightforward. We have the best payment terms in the business and, I believe, the best payment reputation.”
