Pink ties on tour

Belfast Bus Company was founded in 1999 by Eric Moore. The family-run business is one of the largest private hire companies in Belfast, with 50 vehicles in its fleet. Transport Manager Robert Thompson, Purchasing Manager David Moore and Marketing Manager Martin Beagan met with Elizabeth Howlett to tell her about its operations and plans for the future

“You will be able to recognise us by our pink ties,” said Robert Thompson, Transport Manager at Belfast Bus Company (BBC). I had called him the day before my flight to Belfast International to arrange our meeting, as he had very generously offered to collect me.

We soon found one another and made our way to the pick-up point, where a BBC minibus was waiting. Robert introduced the driver as Elizabeth which provoked a few giggles. We set off to a petrol station a few hundred yards away from the airport, where David Moore was waiting to take us to lunch.

During our bite to eat we discussed our favourite comedians and shared funny stories about our families. I honestly didn’t feel like I was at work, but that I was meeting up with old friends for a catch-up. We arrived at the Dargan Road based-depot in Bayview Industrial Estate and I was met with an array of uniform white Mercedes-Benz minibuses as well as buses and double-deckers, complete with the pink BBC logo.

From Ulsterbus to Belfast Bus

Founded in 1999 by Eric Moore who formerly ran Moores Coaches, BBC is a close-knit family-run company. Eric’s children each have senior roles within the company. His daughter, Tammy-Ann, is Company Secretary and his son, Eric-Travis, is a Director.

Robert Thompson previously worked at Ulsterbus and held various roles within the company before working for BBC as its Transport Manager. He has been working in the bus and coach industry for 39 years as of December this year. With his wealth of experience, I was keen to find out his history, what his role entails and what the company’s plans are for the future.

“I really do love it here at Belfast Bus Company,” said Robert. “It is a family-run business that has been going 20 years. There is a fleet of 50 buses; we have 14 office staff; three mechanics and approximately 70 full-time, part-time and casual drivers. The relationships between the staff are great, and the Moore family are such kind generous people.”

Robert’s interest in buses stemmed from his uncle who was a bus driver. “I was fascinated by buses, as I imagine most young guys are. I was very comfortable around the vehicles and more generally in a bus environment.

“I joined the state-owned bus company, the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA), as a bookings clerk and when I turned 21 I was able to start learning how to drive a bus. If I passed my test it meant that I could work weekends as a driver. I passed my test in a Leyland Tiger which saw me working all week as a booking clerk and driving the buses on my weekends.

“I was thrilled when I was offered a chance to drive full-time as I enjoyed the work so much. It was mostly stage carriage work and picking up school children. When the state-owned company became Translink, I got the chance to work as a driver for Ulsterbus Tours and did that for a number of years. I was then promoted to the role of inspector at Ulsterbus Tours.”

Robert’s experience within Ulsterbus didn’t go unnoticed as he was offered an opportunity by managing director Werner Heubeck to run Ulserbus’ minibus operations. “The legendary Werner Heubeck had the idea of[wlm_nonmember][…]

[/wlm_nonmember][wlm_ismember] starting a minibus company, concentrating mainly on private hire,” he said.

“At that particular time there were only two other operators in the Belfast area that had a fleet of minibuses. It was the birth of the Flexibus minibus section and I was there for the first bus. I set up everything from the ground up, from hiring the team; assembling the depot; organising administration, you name it – I did it.

“The first minibus was a 25-seater Reeve Burgess-bodied Mercedes-Benz. From there the fleet grew to 57 vehicles in just two years as Translink was able to use its central works to convert vans into minibuses. The business worked out of a portable building for many years before Europa Bus Centre was built.

“I worked there for 28 years. When Citybus was changed into Metro, the company decided they wanted to increase the frequency of all the bus services in the greater Belfast area. This meant dissolving the minibus department and putting the drivers on a regular service.

“It was then that I was introduced to Eric Moore by an old colleague of mine and that is how I ended up at BBC – I have been here for nine years now.”

As Robert sat at his desk I noticed the array of certificates and industry relevant qualifications on the wall behind him. He explained that in 2002 he began a part-time degree in Transport Management at the Jordanstown campus, Ulster University.

“Throughout my career I have always been engaged in the various courses relating to the industry. I have a manager’s CPC and even an operator’s licence. I have enjoyed educating myself in every way possible,” Robert explained.

“My job as Transport Manager is to oversee the business from every aspect. I am responsible for the day-to-day running of everything, making sure they are where they should be; coordinating maintenance with vehicle requirements; recruitment; discipline, the list goes on.

“I also play a part in the marketing alongside our Marketing Manager, Martin Beagan. It’s a busy place to work and not one day is the same. I come to work in the morning and I love it, the daily challenges really suit me. I feel that what I do here will be recognised and appreciated. Hopefully I will stay here until I finish my career.”

Highlights

Belfast Bus Company has provided transport services to some high-profile events in Belfast including the Sports Personality of the Year Awards in 2015. The most prestigious client under the company’s wing is undoubtedly the MTV Music Awards: “We were the sole operator for the MTV awards in 2011,” explained Robert.

“MTV got in touch with me to see if we were interested in handling the transport. I had been part of the events team at Translink for years and organised important historic events, such as President Clinton’s visit. They needed a further 70 buses on top of what we already had, so I got in touch with the team at Translink and we worked side-by-side. We had celebrities such as Lady Gaga, so we had to collaborate with local authorities to ensure security and safety. It was a credit to everyone who worked tirelessly to make the event a success and most importantly, the client was really happy.”

On BBC’s website, there is a testimonial from the MTV team. They said: “When we choose Belfast to host the awards, an important factor was the logistics of getting the artists, our crew and the audience to the Odyssey Arena. We needed a coach partner that could provide an extensive fleet and the flexibility to work to the demands of some of the artists.

“The team at Belfast Bus Company were brilliant, their professionalism and assistance contributed to making the event memorable for all involved. When we come back to Belfast, we will have no hesitation in working with them again!”

Challenges and changes

David Moore started at BBC in November 2016. He initially started in retail, had several franchises and was involved in one of the biggest video-rental chains in the UK. David then began a career in the commercial fleet sector and part-owned a taxi transport company for 15 years, before selling his share of the business. “My brother, Eric already worked at BBC and so I had a good idea of the company and what was involved,” explained David.

“I started in November 2016. My first few months were initially just getting to know the drivers and understand the idiosyncrasy of the business. The commercial fleet sector and the coach industry are both very similar and very different. It is still early days but in time I will have a working knowledge of every vehicle within the fleet and how we can best utilise it.

“I am in charge of ensuring everything works smoothly and helping Robert with his day-to-day responsibilities. Our roles and our daily tasks are ever-changing. We could plan a whole day of work and something can come up and the plan is out the window. I didn’t come in with a game plan. I just wanted to help Robert out and support the business. Certain changes have had to be made and we are slowly making progress with that. People don’t always like change but there is worth in what we are implementing – the industry has challenges to face and we have to adapt.”

Robert explained that one of the challenges facing the bus and coach industry is a higher customer expectation: “There is a focus on customer care. Passengers are expecting more than they ever used to, and our staff are rising to meet that challenge,” he said.

“I have put all of our staff through a high-end customer care programme by WorldHost. It’s a three-day course and the feedback we got was great. The course opened a lot of eyes and made our staff more aware of how to deal with passengers in a customer-facing role. The other challenge is the driver shortage in the UK. I think that today’s generation are not as interested because of technology. I have decided to bring people through and train them internally. We are not reliant on drivers already in the system; we are bringing through new people.

“We advertise for people who would like to become drivers, and we put a strong emphasis on retail experience. This means they are coming through with customer service skills. I am doing this because I believe you have to have the right attitude. The business depends on it.”

“We have recently introduced a tracker system,” said Robert. “The tracker allows us to download and access daily driver reports. The reports show the drivers performance on each vehicle. It can tell you if a driver is speeding, taking corners too fiercely or breaking too excessively. It all reflects on the maintenance and fuel consumption of our fleet.”

The future

As with most coach and bus operators, the consensus is that the future lies within social media and technology. I took time to talk with BBC’s Marketing Manager, Martin Beagan about any advancement.

Martin initially got into the coach industry after leaving university. “I was working in London after graduating from the University of Ulster in 1996 but decided to return home to Belfast,” he said.

“I worked for a company called Coachlink as a marketing executive. I loved London but I wanted to come home. I was there for two years. I did a lot of cross channel work, worked with football clubs, schools and tours. I have worked in various different companies at different levels within the marketing and sales division. I eventually came full circle and found myself back in the coach industry.

“This business is very fluid. We are the biggest private hire provider in Northern Ireland (NI). It’s a great business and a great team. We are predominantly focused in NI and our bread and butter is school work, local council tenders, health authorities and education boards.

“For me it’s something that I enjoy and it’s people-orientated. I will often have to visit potential customers such as Belfast City Council, as we have massive summer operations with children in the school holidays and will help cater for their events. We work hand in hand with the council. My role is to liaise with clients and make them aware of the services we can offer. I am the middle man but I am ultimately the face of the company.

“I will meet organisations to find out what their requirements are and how we can package our services to suit their needs. We have a wide range of vehicles here and all our staff have had security checks which is essential when dealing with children and vulnerable members of the public. If contracts need reviewing or there is an issue with a route, that’s where I come in. I bring the business in and inform the staff of the clients needs so we are all on board as how to facilitate that.

“We have an online presence and are in the process of revamping it. We have a Facebook account and we are about to start making use of our Twitter page. We are trying to couple both with an Instagram account too. We want to work closely with our passengers and engage with them about their experience, while also using their feedback as a way to improve our services.

“I hope that we will develop our presence in the tour sector of private hire. There will be a bit of investment required to get additional, higher calibre vehicles but it’s an exciting part of BBC’s future.”

The future of the company seems to be in tour work, as Robert explained: “We are in a strong position for it and we see our competitors doing things like that. We feel we will be successful in that sector so that is where we are going. We are not intending to increase the fleet but if we did tour work we would get new vehicles. There are lots of cruise ships coming into Belfast and we want to try and cater to the influx of tourists.”
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