Nestled in the green fields of Leicestershire’s countryside is the home of one of the county’s largest coach operators, Roberts Travel Group. Richard Sharman speaks to the man at the helm
The high-profile operations of Roberts Travel Group are based on the edge of the Leicestershire village of Hugglescote. Surrounded by fields, the purpose-built 6.5 acre depot is one that many operators would aspire to replicate, with high-tech offices, a workshop, paint shop, bus wash and a travel centre with departure lounge all part of the modern face of the company.
A number of acquisitions over the last decade have seen the company become one of the major players in the counties of Leicestershire and Derbyshire, with 150 employees. The 24-year old firm has built a loyal customer base which views its UK and European tours and holidays as the best quality in the area and happily return many times a year.
[wlm_nonmember][…]
By subscribing you will benefit from:
- Operator & Supplier Profiles
- Face-to-Face Interviews
- Lastest News
- Test Drives and Reviews
- Legal Updates
- Route Focus
- Industry Insider Opinions
- Passenger Perspective
- Vehicle Launches
- and much more!
From agriculture to coaches
The company has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1995, as owner Jonathan Hunt explained: “I was originally in agriculture, then travelled around the world for a couple of years. On my return to the UK it was my love for skiing holidays that made me buy a coach so that I could do ski holidays and ski once there.
“When I first started out in coaching I needed a trading name; Roberts was an off-the-shelf company that was ready to go and only £107.64, over £400 cheaper than using my own name. It fitted in just right with getting everything ready for my first job, which was with Snarestone Social Club.
“However, my grandfather, whom I had never met, was a Robert so there is still a nice family link with the name. The office sometimes gets phone calls asking to speak to Mr. Roberts; they obviously haven’t done their homework,” laughed Jonathan.
“My first coach was a Duple 340-bodied Volvo B10M registered E742CDS from Aston’s Coaches at Worcester,” he continued. “We covered many thousands of miles with that coach on three ski holidays in our first year of operation by working with Tony Halford from Astons Coaches in Worcester, through the Ski Astons divisions. We got repeat work the following year and purchased our second coach some 18 months later.
“The second coach was another Volvo B10M, but this time a Van Hool Alizee. We then pretty much stuck to that Volvo and Van Hool combination and purchased many former Shearings examples. We still have one from that generation left, but many of the ones we sold are still operating in Argentina in our colours.
“My initial aim was to own 10 coaches in 10 years…we had reached that point in just over four years. Our policy has always been to secure the work then purchase the right vehicle to suit after.”
High-capacity double-deckers
In 2008 Roberts purchased two 100-seater East Lancs Olympus-bodied Volvo B9TL double-deckers, as Jonathan recalled: “We were doing a lot of school work at the time, and some of the runs were using two buses on the same run to the same school. We decided to purchase the high capacity vehicles so that we could continue to run the school services but with one vehicle; this offered the school a saving whilst also saving us money by only having the cost of one tank of diesel and one driver.
“We found they did very well seasonally, being able to handle various private hires and trips in between schools, but off season they just did the schools.
“We sold the vehicles on around five years later. The great thing was that they gained in value. 100-seat vehicles were still rare on the second-hand market, so we were able to sell them for a premium. They were purchased by Morton’s and I believe they are still in use with the Lucketts Group now.”
Growing organically
Said Jonathan: “When the Veolia Group was in the process of disposing of some of its UK coach operations I made an enquiry in regard to the local subsidiary to us, Paul James Coaches. In 2011 we completed that acquisition and gained the coach holiday programme, some local service work, and the Leicester Park & Ride services.
“The Park & Ride vehicles were only two years old at that point and were Plaxton Centro-bodied Volvo B7RLEs – good vehicles. Six were owned and four were leased. I did try to buy them outright rather than continuing with the leasing.
“The Coalville depot came with a number of local bus services, whilst the Melton depot went to Centrebus. We took on around 50 staff at the time of the takeover; it was a sizeable addition to our original work, and with the Coalville depot only being two miles away, we decided to move all the staff and vehicles into our Hugglescote depot within a few short weeks.
“The coach side of Paul James Coaches was still doing well when we acquired it. They were operating 150 tours a year, and we took on two Setra S215s as part of the deal and added a new Neoplan Tourliner to the operation. We retained the cream and red livery as it was a very well-known and respected brand in the local area and had a very good customer base.
“The Travel Group part of the Roberts name came about because we retained the Paul James name for some time to ensure smooth integration with our own holiday programme. Vehicles and brochures carried both names for the next few years and then we launched the 2017 holiday brochure without the Paul James name and now just run all holidays and tours under Roberts Travel Group. We then took on the travel shop and remaining programme from Cresswells Coaches when they finished and secured a few private contracts that they had been operating.
“January 2018 saw us acquire Macpherson Coaches; they also operated a holiday programme which we have honoured. They were very strong with the Scottish Clan Chieftan tours and we have incorporated those tours into our own programme. We took on five of their vehicles but sold them on fairly quickly as they didn’t fit in with our current fleet. All the driving staff and management transferred over to us and it has been a case of natural progression really. We have gained further holiday and private hire customers in the Swadlincote area as a result of the Macpherson addition and the group and its staff are stronger as a result.
European holidays and Brexit
The depot site in Hugglescote also features a purpose-built travel centre and departure lounge for its customers. “We have upped our offerings to holiday customers to include free tea and coffee, papers and so on over the years, and we also offer social mornings and reunions at our travel centre,” explained Jonathan.
“The integration of Paul James, Cresswells and Macpherson into Roberts’ own holiday programme meant that we had expanded our free home collection area, from the Leicester area towards Burton upon Trent and beyond. This pick-up area continues to grow as we offer more holidays and day trips. We have a large on-site customer car park which has allowed us to offer more direct holiday and day trip departures. We offer our customers an incentive of a £10 discount if they are happy to drive to the depot and depart directly from there. Around 70% make use of our free home collection.
“In regard to planning trips, we have a good mix of people working on the holiday side. Margaret Bunker and the travel office team have a very good idea of what customers want and always deliver a high standard experience to the customer.”
Roberts offers both UK and European holidays. With Brexit having been a concern for coach operators for many months, I asked Jonathan for his thoughts on the subject: “The concerns are just not knowing what is going to happen. Many people I have spoken to have been holding back on investment, not just in our industry but across the board. We are not holding back and have had recent vehicle deliveries, with more on the way.
“With many industries holding back on investment it won’t be long before everyone feels the ripple effect – it is just a case of when it hits us. The sooner we can get some decisions on Brexit, the better it will be for everyone. We are not concerned about taking our vehicles abroad at the moment, but have noticed a surge in our UK holiday sales. There are still those customers that are happily committing to European holidays with us throughout this summer.
“Delays at French passport control points have been noticeable, and this had led to some additional cost for us in terms of feeders having to travel all the way down to Dover instead of Toddington services for example.”
Electrifying the Park & Ride service
A few weeks ago it was announced that Leicestershire County Council had received funding to electrify one of the three Leicester Park & Ride services.
“It is interesting times for us,” said Jonathan, “as it could bring the first electric vehicles to the fleet. The fitters are all looking forward to their possible arrival as it is something new to work on. The 303 has been chosen as the first route to go fully electric.
“We have been out to Gothenburg and seen how well the setup is working there using Volvo electric buses – it’s very impressive. We have also kept an eye on what BYD and Optare have to offer. The PVR for the 303 service is three vehicles, so that is what we will require to start off with.
“We also need to look at the charging infrastructure, to determine whether it will be situated at the depot or the Park & Ride site. The current fleet of MCV Evolution-bodied Volvo B8RLEs are already Euro VI, so the electric vehicles will take the service from low emission to zero emissions.
“In terms of time scale, as soon as contracts are finalised Roberts Travel Group is ready to move straight away. It’s always in our interest to have the latest vehicles out on the road, for our public image and the perception of the industry.”
Bus services
“We operate a number of other local bus services and we are always looking at the next option; we will always put a price to any tenders that come up,” said Jonathan.
“Many of our routes are up for scrutiny this year as they have run for five years, so over the summer and towards the end of the year there may be some changes – but we will always retender for them if offered. It is possible some of the routes may be converted to DRT (Demand Responsive Transport) operation due to the low patronage on some of them.
“The only route we operate commercially is the 159 from Coalville to Hinckley with a PVR of two vehicles. It nearly holds its own, but it has required a small amount of funding from the council to keep it going until the major service review later this year.”
Part of the Snap network
Said Jonathan: “We have been operating Snap services for over two years now and we are currently the lead operator and have been for some time, which is based on the feedback from their customers. We normally operate one trip down to London a day from Nottingham with some Leicester pick-ups.
“I am a big believer in what they are trying to do; their technology is good and everyone who is involved in Snap services is behind what they are trying to achieve.
“We did try to operate between Leicester and Birmingham commercially as a Snap service but that didn’t take off. There are one or two established operators that know that market and the cultural differences involved well, so we walked away from that idea after a short period.
“Standard fare on the Nottingham service is generally the 2018 Mercedes-Benz Tourismo or Jonckheere SHV-bodied Volvo B11R; if those are not available we use a holiday fleet vehicle.
“Snap is very strong in working with the operator, which is very refreshing in our industry. Snap is not taking away from existing markets, it is offering something different and should grow organically as it gains in popularity.
“We also continue to work with National Express, providing duplicate vehicles when required. We value the work they offer and hold them in high regard for being the industry leader in driving up quality and safety standards – I believe they are the leader in continual improvement adding items such as LytexDriveCam, Alcolock, tracking, telematics to name but a few. If the industry standards are to continue to improve it needs the likes of National Express to keep driving up the minimum required specification on vehicles on their network, which then follows through the remainder of the business in keeping everything compliant.”
School services
Roberts Travel Group operates some 35 different school services during term time, many of which operate to private schools. Recent changes in the school fleet have seen vehicles being upgraded: “We have operated MCW Metrobus Mk.2s for many years and at one point the fleet reached 27. They have been great buses, but we have now moved on and upgraded to former Dublin Bus Alexander ALX400-bodied Volvo B7Ls,” said Jonathan.
“They have been doing very well. We have repainted them in silver, applied advertising and programmed the LED destination blinds up for all the schools we serve. The drivers love them, and they have been well-received by the schools we serve – they are certainly a big upgrade. We currently have 16 in the fleet; the last couple of Metrobuses are being kept in reserve until the end of the summer for use as spares.
“We purchased some direct from Dublin Bus and others from Ardee Coach Trim. It takes around three months to get one of these vehicles into service due to the paperwork involved, but we know that process now and are used to it. We had Ardee Coach Trim up-seat half of the vehicles to 86 seats from 76 seats, four currently have seatbelts and they are also having tachographs fitted. Once the vehicles arrive in the UK we then get them painted up and vinyls fitted. So realistically, by the time the paperwork has gone through the system, the vehicles are fully ready to go out in service.”
Seeing as the MCW Metrobus Mk.2 was a major part of the company’s heritage, I asked Jonathan if he was going to keep one for preservation: “I like seeing the fleet immaculate, but all the vehicles are just tools – there is no preservation interest in me at all I am afraid. We keep our vehicles in good condition and then sell them on when it is time to upgrade to the next thing.
“The only thing about the Metrobus we will miss is how easy they were to work on, with hardly any electrics, just mechanical parts. Our fitters know these vehicles inside out and are able to change an engine in a morning. When we purchased the vehicles from West Midlands Travel we would also buy a load of spares and fill the vehicle with them as West Midlands Travel had no need for them anymore.
“As the majority of our contracts are now private schools, we also deal with all the bus passes in-house. We do 1,500 school passes per year and we have a team that deals with that process. We have just launched next year’s passes, and these are already being processed. In addition to the school runs, we also get a lot of school trip work, so it’s a good position to be in.”
Presentation is everything
“We believe in keeping our fleet in immaculate condition. We employ seven cleaners seven days a week to keep the vehicles as they should be,” enthused Jonathan.
“We have a day shift and a night shift to ensure that whatever time of the day a vehicle leaves the yard, it is clean and presentable.
“In terms of maintenance we do believe in the manufacturer’s extended warranties as the holiday fleet could be anywhere in Europe, so if a vehicle has an issue whilst on tour we know that we have the backup and that our customers will be on their way as soon as possible.”
A large modern workshop has been built, which includes a paint and body shop, whilst the offices are also in the same complex. Maintenance work is also undertaken for some vehicle dealerships. The large yard also has an area that Arriva Midlands uses as an outstation for the 24 vehicles that were formerly based at the Coalville depot, and there is also an Arriva office within the main building.
Current and future fleet
“We normally use the tri-axle Mercedes-Benz Tourismo coaches on the holiday work as it gives the customers extra comfort – thanks to the Luxline seating – and the customers seem to rate that badge. We are looking at a 61-seat demonstrator during May, in addition to the Neoplan 61s we run already,” said Jonathan.
“We have 80 vehicles in the fleet and the Volvos are generally the workhorses – they are good all-round vehicles. The local dealership is just down the road in Bardon. If, for example, one of our Park & Ride MCV Evolution-bodied Volvo B8RLEs has a fault, we have an arrangement with the dealership that we can drop the vehicle off on the way back to the depot and they will look at it and have the vehicle ready to go by 0600hrs, which works well for us.
“We have just had our second Yutong TC9 delivered, along with a new EVM 16-seater Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. In regards to the Yutong TC9, I believe they are the best-looking vehicles in the 32/34 seat range. The six-cylinder Cummins engine also seems pretty decent and has good fuel economy. Some of the alternatives in that size of vehicle are pretty shocking, so we found the Yutong fitted the bill as it looks and feels like a proper coach.
“We only keep the front-line fleet for six years, then move it on and buy new. We then have nothing over six years old in the fleet until around the 2003 mark, which is where the school fleet sits at. We cut out the mid-life vehicles as they are not good enough for front line work but too good for schools. They were just wasting capital, so there is a very definite gap in the fleet.
“We purchased 10 former MOD Plaxton Profile-bodied Dennis Javelins a few years ago and changed the seating to 70 seats, installed new flooring and repainted them. They have been good coaches for the schools as they were low mileage.
“In terms of vehicle orders, we have just taken delivery of two more Mercedes-Benz Tourismos and we are also looking at Volvo, having taken another Jonckheere SHV last year.”
[/wlm_ismember]
