Dealer hits out a CPT symposium
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"MODERN COACHES — can you rely on them?" was again the first question asked at the second Confederation of British Road Passenger Transport (CPT} coaching symposium held in the East Midlands area at the Leicester Holiday Inn last weekend.
This year the question was first answered by Leo Taylor of Vauxhall Motors, who thought that the answer was a qualified yes. Leo Taylor explained the qualification by setting out the conditions which affect not only the manufacturer but the operator, who must play an important role in the ultimate reliability of the vehicle.
A brief outline of the long history and evolution of Bedford psv chassis followed, which illustrated that the coach now has to meet far more rigorous operating conditions than its less sophisticated forerunners. Mr Taylor reminded delegates that not so long ago the law had limited coaches to a length of 27ft 6in and a maximum speed of 30mph. Now coaches are expected to operate at speeds up to 70mph and are up to 40ft in length.
Increasing legislation has compelled the chassis manufacturer to take on a staff of 12 specially to monitor and report on legislation as well as to liaise with the Government in order to ensure that the interests of both industry and users are taken into account.
He continued by describing the amount of proving and trials that new designs went through and the increasing use of computer technology to ensure future reliability, and mentioned the various responsibilities of the bodybuilder, the chassis manufacturer and the dealer to ensure that new vehicles are delivered to the customer in the best possible condition. Feedback of information from customers was vital to ensure the best possible conditions, he said.
Secondly he told of the particular responsibility of the operator to ensure that the conditions of operation are met. In other words, that the vehicle is correctly operated and regularly maintained which should, provided that the bodybuilder has followed the chassis manufacturer's instructions and the dealer has carried out the PDI, ensure that the modern Bedford coach is reliable.
Brief discussion followed when several coach operators took Mr Taylor to task over various aspects of his Bedford's
performance. Paul Tizard of -lizards Ltd and Paul Weatherlogg of Allenways were among the operators who felt that consultation between chassis and body manufacturers was sometimes lacking. Stuart Appleby of R. W. Appleby criticised the length of time Bedford has taken to rectify minor recurring faults on the Y Series chassis range_ The bodybuilding side of the chain took the stage when Plaxton's purchasing and group director Bill Newman reiterated Mr Taylor's points about correct operation, and in particular the need for cleanliness with equipment such as the windscreen washers which should ensure reliability. He also agreed that coaches, when operated correctly, were reliable and spoke of Plaxton's arrange ments to ensure that new legislation was understood and complied with and that feedback of information from customers was -achieved.
Operators jumped at the chance for questions with Mr Newman and first off the mark was Dennis Blackford of Isleworth Coaches, who asked when bodybuilders were going to produce a watertight body. He told the manufacturers that while they have months to solve problems, for operators problems are immediate. Other operators also criticised aspects of coach design. Ron Whittle of the Whittle Group asked if bodybuilders would not do better to put less expensive sidetrim on coaches and put the money saved into developing coach heating and ventilating systems. Mr Newman answered 0 point and admitted that the had been problems with wat leaks on the transition to met frame bodies. Many operato spoke of problems concernir tachograph life and u reliability.
Charles Yeates then rose give the dealer's answer to tF question the bodybuilders ar chassis manufacturer he already answered. Surprising' this answer was no. Mr Yeati slammed the bodybuilders ar the manufacturers when he sa that he had never been coi suited on vehicle desigr manufacture or modification i his 23 years as a major deale He said that when dealers pro est, they are largely ignored. Itold of the chassis manufa turers" practice of "secret"' tria of new chassis with a friend )perator, and said that dealers were kept blissfully ignorant of he results even though they aupplied the chassis.
Mr Yeates conceded that ;oaches are less unreliable than .hey used to be, but he did -nention unacceptable failure .ates with water pumps, oil Dumps, clutches and steering )enerally, and one make in paricular that had unacceptable :rouble with back brakes and another quite remarkable failure .ates with tachographs. New iiesel engines were less longived than the previous smaller Jiesels and the last generation yf petrol engines which, until he 1950s, formed the backDone of British private opera:ors' fleets.
Charles Yeates thought it unJoubtedly true that heavyNeight coaches give a longer life than lightweights and acknowledged that reliability, more than anything else, depended on the operator. He said that operators who switched drivers from heavy to lightweight coaches without modifying their schedules or drivers' techniques are bound to have problems with reliability.
Coach chassis, he thought, suffered from being a byproduct of a commercial vehicle production line. He felt that psv production was regarded as the poor relation of the industry, even though psv production was often more consistently profitable than the production of other vehicles.
He attacked manufacturers for failing to rectify recurring faults and told of a recent time when his contracts manager was told by a senior service en gineer that a component failure rate of 13 times in 12 months was not enough to justify special action. Mr Yeates suggested that if the manufacturer had rectified the fault earlier, it would have the same effect as "driving your mother-in-law over Beachy Head in a new Rolls Royce — the initial cost may be high but the long-term benefits enormous."
Next, on the subject of predelivery inspections, Mr Yeates again slammed the manufacturers for unreliable production schedules, which caused chassis to be left standing in salty seaside air for months waiting on available body space. This he said, with an unsupervised PDI, meant that many defects caused by this exposure were not detected or remedied. He suggested that all manufacturers who seek body spaces at Duple or Plaxtons should undertake to give full supervision to their PDI agents.
Many manufacturers, he said, appoint dealers with no thought whatsoever for the dealers' ability to provide any sort of after-sales service, parts supply or guarantee. Finally, Mr Yeates decided to rest his controversial case, but not before he attacked the press, which he accused of being biased. He obviously did not specify or cannot have included CM in this most unconvincing part of his talk.
The question of reliability was then discussed by the delegates, who were concerned about many factors, including unsatisfactory PDI. The three speakers answered the points individually. Leo Taylor and Bill Newman both felt that manufacturers did have adequate consultations with operators and dealers.
Leo Taylor claimed there was limit to what could be manufactured in volume production, and said he would like to see as many operators as possible at his company's proving ground to see just what steps were taken to ensure vehicle reliability.
The second session of the symposium included a talk by public relations consultant lain Gellatly who outlined the advantages and disadvantages of the importance of different types of marketing aids for coach and tour operators and asked whether operators were keeping abreast of new marketing methods and if their presentation and driver's attitudes were of a high enough standard. Discussion followed on the merits of, and the amount of money it was worth spending on, publicity.
Geoffrey Steel of Wallace Arnold then spoke on the world of corporate publicity. Discussion followed when Harold Baggott of Tricentrol Coaches pointed out the local rather than national nature of many operators' market areas.
Paul Weatherhogg of Allenways of Birmingham asked if delegates did not feel that the CPT should market itself now vigorously and Bob Eaglen of Eaglen Coaches of Gainsborough asked the CPT to do more to counteract the bad press given by the national mass media to the coaching industry. He also asked lain Gellatly what he would recommend to promote services in a small market town.
Peter Rogers of Rainworth Travel suggested that operators should make more use of sales representatives to help market their services. Geoffrey Steel answered that good drivers make the best reps, and indeed are, sales reps.
The afternoon session of the symposium included Ron Whittle speaking on the CIBS code of practice on EEC driver's hours, Tom McLachlan speaking on licensing and Dennis Quin on operating a legislation and the need for operators to continue to look closely at maintenance standards.
The final session was an open forum chaired by the CIBS chairman, with Frank Harris, Ron Whittle, Denis Quin and Tom McLachlan answering operators' questions. Continuing low rates, the need for higher wage rates and the likelihood of EEC driver's hours implementation relying on future case law were among the many important points raised during the initial session.
Among the many important points that came from the discussion was one from Ron Whittle in answer to a question asked by Irvine Millar of Ulsterbus. Tachograph cards are personal to the driver, said Mr Whittle, and not to the vehicle. When a driver changes on the same working day as from a tachograph-equipped vehicle to one without, he should continue to fill the card by hand.
The symposium was wound up by Birmingham operator Paul lizard, who had a retrospective look at the weekend's useful and, at times, controversial discussions.