Some names in coaching are well-known across the land. They’re often part and parcel of their home towns’ fabric too, and that’s no more so the case than at one of Scotland’s best-known operators
Operating coaches in one of the UK’s more remote areas is a lot different to doing it in or around a large conurbation. But the challenges – and rewards – are generally the same.
Maynes Coaches of Buckie in north-east Scotland is proving that as it celebrates its 70th year in the industry.
Just as it was in 1947, when it was founded with a solitary Bedford OB, the Maynes of today is a staunchly family operation.
Director Gordon Mayne and his sons David and Kevin run a tight ship, and the involvement of two of David’s three daughters in the business means that it has a secure future in the hands of the Mayne family.
But despite a very strong name locally and an established customer base, things have changed a lot over the past decade, not least in terms of the places that coaches go to, says David.
Inbound delight
“If we were talking 10 years ago then I would be explaining that we still did a lot of tour work, around 70% of which was to the continent.
“Since then we got to the point where on a Friday evening, three or four coaches would come back into Dover. Because we were often doing as many miles in the UK as we were doing abroad, we had to use agency drivers to get them home.
“It was becoming too much of a challenge to manage, so we pulled back from overseas tours.”
Adversity presents opportunity, and just as Maynes was looking for more shorter-distance work, Scotland’s inbound tourism market was starting to boom. Since then, inbound tour work has become one of Maynes’ staples, but it started in a modest manner.
“We were contracted by Orkney Islands Council to provide transport for passengers from cruise ships. The demand for coaches there on peak days was in excess of what could be met by the incumbent, so we sent vehicles for the summer season,” says David.
Quickly, John O’Groats Ferries discovered that Maynes had established a base on Orkney. The ferry company became another customer, an arrangement that continues to the present. Around a third of the operator’s fleet spends its summers in Orkney, where mileages covered are minimal.
Repositioning itself
The Orkney work ensures that during the summer season, Maynes’ fleet is stretched as far as possible. Most office and maintenance staff hold PCV driving licences and they are used often during busy months.
“Things tend to look after themselves in the summer,” says David. Three coaches are painted in David Urquhart livery and two carry Newmarket Holidays colours, and they are gainfully employed throughout the peak season.
Naturally, winter is quieter, but Maynes’ location in Buckie puts it almost mid-way between Aberdeen and Inverness.
That gives access to private hire work in and around both cities. Work is also to be had closer to home in the form of private hires for groups and the various Ministry of Defence (MoD) bases in the north of Scotland.
Both MoD work and school contracts have come to form a less significant part of Maynes’ business in recent times, and the reason for that is simple, David continues: Rates.
“We appreciate that public bodies are under pressure financially, and that has led them to often judge a tender solely on price. We used to have 24 home-to-school contracts; we gave a very good service, and we were paid a fair rate.
“Overnight, that number dropped to four. We have a few more now, but at the time it was a concern.
“Then Kevin, my father and I took a step back and looked at it from a different angle. Is it worthwhile doing work just to turn over money? The answer is no.”
Maynes pays its drivers a salary, not by the hour, although they earn slightly more in the summer. A recent Guild of British Coach Operators meeting – an organisation of which Maynes is a member – showed that despite differing methods of paying staff, the end result is usually the same.
“At Guild meetings, everyone opens up their finances to the other operators present. Out of around 20 operators at the most recent meeting, we were the fifth-highest payer,” says Kevin.
Attractive job
In coach driving terms, working for Maynes counts as one of the more attractive jobs. It has five drivers who were below 25 when they were employed, and one driver moved to north-east Scotland from London in search of a better quality of life.
Part of the appeal is the territory that Maynes’ coaches spend a lot of their time in following the repositioning of the business away from long-distance tours. Besides its Orkney summer outbase, vehicles can be seen all over Scotland.
“Visit Scotland has sold the country to overseas visitors incredibly well and we have benefited hugely from the incoming market,” says David.
“For example, we do around 90 tours per year that involve Highland railways. We take customers to a station, and then we meet them later and bring them back to their hotel. It’s all incoming work and on busy days we can have six coaches on it.”
Although the coach may not leave Scotland, some of the tours that Maynes now undertakes last for up to eight days; a good diary-filler, says Kevin, but care is still required when quoting.
“Some people fall for the misconception that it is six or eight days’ guaranteed work, but it’s vital to look at what the tour company is expecting over that period.
“They need to be able to provide an itinerary to the operator, because otherwise it could be the case that the coach ends up doing lots of miles for not much money when it’s averaged over the duration of the tour.”
A recent problem in this regard has been the number of foreign coaches that are occupied on tour work in Scotland during the summer. David explains that they often arrive here as a Eurolines duplicate and then spend weeks on internal work.
Nevertheless, the market is there. Gone are the days of several of Maynes’ coaches spending their lives working back and forth to Europe, and although a handful of ski tours are undertaken in the winter months, David and Kevin agree that the business is much better for its new focus.
Fleet elite
Where there has been no change is in the high standard of coaches operated. At the time that routeone visited, present in Maynes’ yard were a selection of Van Hools, VDLs and an example of the latest type to join the fleet, the Mercedes-Benz Tourismo.
Kevin explains that the operator is seldom loyal to one marque; instead, it’s the deal available at the time that has the greatest bearing, although in the past a sizeable fleet of Dennis Javelins followed earlier Bedfords and Fords. David refers to the Javelin as an under-rated coach. It was, he says, easy to work on, reliable and fuel efficient.
The first three Tourismos arrived last year and they were followed by a further trio in 2017.
With the second batch, Maynes introduced a revised livery and fleetname to mark the 70th anniversary, and both will extend throughout the fleet as the replacement cycle continues.
“EvoBus (UK) has promised us a level of support with the Tourismos that cannot be beaten,” says Kevin, who adds that so far, the supplier’s pledge is holding water.
“If you buy a new car, you’re made to feel welcome at the dealership when you collect it. You’re given a cleaning pack and then when you bring the car back for a service you’re given a hire car, and as a result, the customer returns again and again.
“EvoBus (UK) has seized that mentality. It’s trying to give the customer the level of service a car dealer would.”
While there is a great deal of choice in the full-size market, things are not as simple in the mid-sized segment. Maynes retains a number of Plaxton Cheetahs and – like operators throughout the country – it is struggling to find a like-for-like replacement.
It’s becoming a major issue for the operator, particularly in one area of its business. Many of the whiskey distilleries in north-east Scotland routinely bring in customers from around the globe, and Maynes has the job of collecting them and transporting them.
“We have some Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minicoaches supplied by EVM, but the issue at one of the distillers’ premises is that we can’t get anything bigger than a Cheetah in,” says Kevin.
“We have tried with a Yutong TC9 and we have tried with an UNVI Voyager GT. Both are very nice coaches, but they’re too big for our needs.”
A special year
A changing portfolio of work, changing vehicle suppliers and many other day-to-day challenges are bread and butter to coach operators regardless of their location, but the trick is to deal with them while keeping the business on an even keel.
“I have no doubt that it’s the same for all small operators; they work all hours and the job follows them home. A family business can be a tough environment. You have to be able to take a step back and appreciate that you are all working for the same cause,” says David.
And regardless of whatever is thrown the coach industry’s way, Maynes is destined to remain a family business. David’s daughters Holly and Megan are already involved, and besides transport management they are also learning other skills relevant to business.
“30 vehicles is plenty,” says David. “Any bigger than that and we’d perhaps lose some of the control that we currently have. We’d need different departments and a HR advisor, whereas at the moment we can look after everything ourselves.
“We don’t want to lose that manner of working. Some people may think that we are a little old-fashioned, but this is our way. It has served us well, the family all remains hands-on and we are well prepared for the future.”
