Knutsford has a big hold on luxury ride market, but upstart service still trying to test it:
DECLARING THAT “there is enough room in the business for everybody,” petrol haulage businessman and one-time hotelier Constantine ‘Charley’ Hinds is set to make a play for the seemingly lucrative north coast Montego Bay-Kingston route of the luxury coach business.
It’s his second attempt to enter the market with Corporate Express, after ditching a similar service he started between Kingston and Port Antonio, Portland, three years ago.
Hinds, who says he has been in the transport business since around 1976, says he operates a taxi service for corporate clients; owns and operates Corporate Petroleum Services, a petroleum products haulage business that sells motor fuel to gas stations and organisations with large fleets, as well as bulk cooking gas to institutions.
He owns the small hotel property which operated as Vista Ambassador/Lifestyle Resort in Montego Bay, but is now shuttered.
The businessman told the Financial Gleaner this week that CTS, established in 2012, is embarking on the latest venture having put up more than $40 million from the business, as well as bank borrowing, to buy two Chinese-made Kinglong luxury units, the same units used by luxury bus operator Knutsford Express.
He said the buses, bought through local dealer Orient Coaches Limited, are covered by the dealer’s maintenance warranty.
Corporate Express’ website has been promoting the pending Montego Bay route as well as a Morant Bay, St Thomas, transfer, which it says will be added later. Hinds said the Kingston to Port Antonio route – which was abandoned after just two months in 2015 and which was serviced by two buses leased from the Jamaica Urban Transit Company – was “problematic” and is being reassessed.
The new service from Montego Bay “is tentatively set to start around October 12,” he
said, explaining that Corporate Transport Services has been approved for a road licence for the route, but is awaiting the documentation.
If the planned service gets off the ground, Corporate Express, in its second attempt at the luxury coach market, will be going head-on in competition with Knutsford Express, which has grown significantly since that listed company started service between Kingston and Montego Bay in 2006.
Assisted by some $100 million raised in its initial public offering of 20 per cent of its shares in 2014, Knutsford Express has embarked on a massive expansion. Its north coast reach has been extended to Negril, Westmoreland and Port Antonio, and stops added in Ocho Rios, St Ann, and Falmouth in Trelawny. It also put on a south coast route with stops in Mandeville, Manchester; Gutters and Luana in St Elizabeth; and Savanna-la-Mar and Negril in Westmoreland.
Hinds acknowledges Knutsford Express as the market leader in the luxury express coach business, but says his research shows that there is enough room for other operators and definitely space on the high-volume Kingston-Montego Bay-Kingston route.
Knutsford Express’ 11 stops, which have been responsible in large part for the company’s steady growth over the years, is being targeted by rival Corporate Express, which is promoting its planned MoBay service as a non-stop, super-express jump that gets passengers to their destination in about two and half hours instead of the Knutsford’s approximately four and a half hours.
Corporate Express will also be going after pricing with fares set below Knutsford’s at $2,500 one-way for adults, $2,000 for children and seniors, and $2,200 for students above 12 years. Knutsford Expresses charges a $3,250 adult fare for the one-way trip with a $300 discount for early booking. Children pay $2,300, seniors $2,750, and students $2,600.
Corporate Express has scheduled morning and evening trips from both Kingston and Montego Bay from terminals at Gloucester Avenue in Montego Bay and Chelsea Avenue in New Kingston.
Corporate Express will, at the outset, be served by what Hinds describes as a skeleton staff off 11, a number he accepts will have to be increased in short order once the service is up and running. “We are in for the long term because we want to expand in the industry,” Hinds noted, pointing out that Corporate Express intends to add tours to various attractions as a component to its transport service.
A cargo-delivery service, which he says is basically ready to go, will also be “in a few weeks’ time,” Hinds said. He noted that the cargo service will include the pickup of packages, not now offered by competitor Knutsford Express in its courier business segment.
Knutsford Express CEO Oliver Townsend was not available for a comment up to press time.