As we enter the last third of 2025 – or autumn term as many operators would view it – I looked back at both my first column for the year, in which I set out what I believed would be the priorities, and the April column in reviewing the year so far with a focus on PSVAR and decarbonisation. Sadly, there has not been much progress on the former of these topics. Over the summer, I have been speaking to some of the UK Coach Operator Association members to see how the year has been for them so far.
One of the topics covered in the January column was the impact of VAT on private school fees and the potential downturn of work for those operators specialising in this area. Well, this continues to have an impact with a reduction in school trips and potentially in numbers of pupils attending these schools. One national newspaper reported that over 50 private schools have closed or announced plans to do so this year. It should be added this is not significantly different from previous years, and some new schools open as well.
Some operators have noticed the downturn in private school work, but a few of these have seen an increase in other areas, especially private hire. Many operators are still reporting that, overall, work is plentiful, thereby minimising the impact of the reduction in private school work, although one or two have said that it is not as busy as it was this time last year.
The impact of the National Insurance Contribution (NIC) increases was also covered at the beginning of the year, but again, from talking to coach operator members, it seems many have just “weathered the storm”. However, for one or two, it has meant delaying investment, such as vehicle purchases or development of their premises. One coach operator commented that it was only because 2023 and 2024 were such good years that the impact of the NIC increases has been less than it could have been.
The first eight months of 2025 have also seen a slow but steady number of coach businesses bought up by some of the bus groups or merged with other operators. Sadly, one or two have also gone out of business. I suspect that the continuing development of franchised bus networks in the larger conurbations and the move to zero-emissions will have contributed to those decisions, even if operators see it as a long-term issue.
What is interesting – and this is my perspective on the situation – is the retaining of personnel involved in running the businesses for longer than some of the acquisitions of the past. My hope is that it is a genuine desire by the bigger groups to understand how a coach business works and how different it is to running a bus company. I also hope that they are viewed as businesses in themselves and not just a chance to acquire a suitable base from which to run franchised bus services in the future.
And finally, I mentioned that it would be good to see some developments on the road to net-zero.
It was, therefore, encouraging that the government announced earlier in the summer the Depot Charging Scheme, which supports fleet operators (including coaches) on the costs for installing charging infrastructure and which closes at the end of November.
However, while this is a definite step in the right direction, until coach operators have confidence in the availability of a mature electric charging network around the country, I think there will be limited enthusiasm. Nevertheless, a few of our members are giving this some thought.
I would be interested to hear how other coach operators have fared this year so far.
