Transport management provider Transport2 has said it is to withdraw from the leisure market to focus on corporate and school transport.
The company is responsible for the Kura and Coachhire.com brands, and works with a network of some 600 local coach operators.
As part of a new company focus, Transport2 will make its proprietary route management and vehicle tracking technology available to schools on a “standalone, self-service basis” or combined with other packages according to customer’s requirements. This offering will be expanded to corporate clients during 2021.
Transport2 says customers will still be able to outsource their transport operations in their entirety to Kura, but the change reflects Kura’s strategy to foster closer working with schools and corporate clients. Its ambition is to build “an unrivalled network of operators nationwide, that is renowned in the industry for service delivery and satisfying customer requirements”.
Other changes include the appointment of a dedicated head of operator engagement, responsible for managing contractual relationships with operators, and improved driver engagement through training materials for drivers. The latter will be updated regularly with easy-to-access materials.
CEO of Kura Godfrey Ryan says: “In allowing customers to select which services they want to use, we have put them firmly in the driving seat for building their own bespoke service which is more efficient and appropriately assembled to match their specific needs. One size rarely fits all and we have responded directly to what our customers are telling us they need.
“While this approach marks a departure for us, the central tenets of our proposition remain the same. We aim to provide safer, greener and smarter travel for our education and corporate customers. In order to be successful, we need better communication with our operator partners, in order to ensure to ensure smooth running of the services and, for schools, complete engagement from drivers with the technology.
“What we have done is to simplify all our services under one non-competing complimentary brand in Kura. The move will help us to both better support our operator partners and provide better focus on servicing our existing customers, while enabling us to reach new customers.”
Moving forward, the Transport2 brand name will now be the holding company, while Kura will be the sole customer-facing brand for corporate and education markets.