Protecting bus passengers
Business having each vehicle outfitted with Plexiglas with hopes of salvaging summer fares
A Maritime motorcoach company is operating in low gear these days, but the owner says he won’t let the ongoing pandemic put a stop to the business.
Mike Cassidy, who owns and operates Maritime Bus Coach Atlantic, said Prevost, the company that manufactures his motorcoach buses, has come up with a way to transport passengers in a safe way.
Prevost is in the process of installing Plexiglas on each of the seats to protect passengers from the transmission of droplets from the front and back and from the sides.
These motorcoach buses normally operate with 56 seats. The first two seats directly behind the driver are being removed to provide the required six feet of distance between the driver and the nearest passenger.
With the Plexiglas in place, the buses will be permitted to operate with between 27 and 54 passengers. The two motorcoach bus services operate group charters, cruise ship passenger tours, multi-day tours and 40 inner-city runs throughout the Maritimes, as well as municipal transit operations.
In an interview from his Charlottetown headquarters on Thursday, Cassidy said he will be able to put the minimum on a bus (27 passengers) if every single person is riding as an individual and not part of the same extended household.
However, because of the interior change, the buses could operate at full capacity if, for example, 27 couples were to book a fare.
“They are very clear; visibility is not impaired. They are flexible so it’s not hard Plexiglas hitting your body and they protect people,’’ Cassidy said of the partitions.
Right now, inter-provincial travel is banned unless it is deemed essential, but Cassidy is optimistic that, by midJuly, people will be allowed to travel within Atlantic Canada.
“This is the staycation, down home, see Atlantic Canada (kind of summer). Can we bring some life back to the motorcoach (business)? Yes we can, but we have to be safe, we have to be comfortable and we have to have a set of protocols — and these partitions will do it. The motorcoach (business) lends
itself to this type of (Plexiglas) engineering.’’
Since health restrictions began around mid-March, the company has scaled back operations from seven to three days a week, but the buses are still transporting passengers (approved travel only) and parcels.
Cassidy said he will lose roughly $30 million in revenue this year. Group charter business has grounded to a halt. There are no cruise ships coming into Maritime ports this year, and all multi-day tours have been cancelled. But he is determined to push forward, not only for himself but for his employees.
Last year, the business operated with 515 employees. Right now, it’s working with between 40 and 60 people. Cassidy hopes if an Atlantic Canadian bubble is created next month, he can call back another 50 to 75.
“It’s easier to ramp up your business from a slow idle than it is from a dead stop,’’ Cassidy said.
As for the T3 Transit business he operates for the municipalities of Charlottetown, Stratford and Cornwall, Cassidy said those buses are manufactured by a different company and there is no plan to install partitions. He explained that, unlike the motorcoach buses, transit buses operate much day in, day out on a quick-on, quick-off method.
“That’s a different beast. We’re just doing (physical distancing) separation in those cases.’’