I’ve recently read a couple of contributions in routeone claiming that communities visited by coach parties should be impressed by the number of cars that have been taken off the road by people travelling to them en masse.
That might be a persuasive argument for service buses. But I would need some convincing to believe that claims for modal shift between cars and coaches travelling longish distances hold much water. If someone who has worked in the coach industry in one way or another for many years isn’t persuaded by the argument, what is the chance it will impress local bureaucrats?
The essence of my cynicism: How can an operator in the West Midlands that takes up to 70 passengers to London effectively claim that, had the coach not been available, the passengers would have all gone by car? I read a similar claim from an operator north of the border, taking a group to Edinburgh.
One reason I question such claims is the average age of many coach excursion passengers, which I suspect is quite high — not people happy to drive round Marble Arch, perhaps? Similarly, with school groups — if a coach was not available, would the parents all drive their children to a big city?
Given those demographics, I fear that anyone aware of the coach excursion market is not likely to be impressed by claims that such people are going to jump into their cars en masse and head for central London or Edinburgh if the coach doesn’t turn up.
More impressive, I think, is evidence of what coach passengers have in their wallets and purses, and how much of that is going to be left in places like London and Edinburgh.
A few years ago, Teignbridge District Council (TDC) carried out a survey to find out. It did this by consulting visitors to Newton Abbot Market who arrived by coach. The results of the questionnaire were illuminating and made that council keener to welcome and cater to coach parties.
Over a seven-week period from April to late May 2017, TDC’s economic development team surveyed visitors to the weekly market. They collected responses from 229 passengers from all over the country who had mainly been staying in Torbay. 210 of those surveyed were over 65. Of those, 85% spent something on food and drink. Only 11 did not spend anything. 59 people spent between £1 and £9; 86 spent between £10 and £24; 50 spent between £25 and £49; 16 spent between £50 and £99; while six people spent £100 plus.
This provided an average spend somewhere between £15.65 and £31.70 per person. The total spend for the group surveyed was between £3,569 and £7,229. Not bad, given the longest stay in the town was two hours.
TDC then attempted to extrapolate from those base figures what the annual value to the town was from the coach market. As there were variables such as the number of coach visits and the average number of people on a coach, it concluded that in 2014, 181 recorded coach visits had injected business worth £128,582 into the town. In 2016, based on 106 coach parties, that had been worth £75,302. I don’t recall if there was any mention of any environmental benefits; the council was interested in the financial return from money it spent attracting coach business.
The example set by TDC might be an example for others in the coach trade to follow. Coach operators visiting an event will know exactly how much entrance tickets cost. Multiplied by the number of passengers, this provides a pretty precise monetary value to the business visited. Operators could carry out their own surveys when visiting London or Edinburgh. This could then provide firmer evidence that is more persuasive than vague and possibly inaccurate assumptions.
When it comes to the value of coaches, it might still be that greenbacks rule.
Alan Payling
Torquay
