Figuring out how to encourage people to return to commuting is a conundrum facing private and public transportation alike — but Coach USA is taking a new approach.
The national bus company, which is headquartered in Paramus and provides bus services throughout New Jersey, is offering a custom commute option for businesses, according to an announcement from the company on Wednesday.
Bruce Roberts, Coach USA's senior vice president of business development, is overseeing the idea and said they plan to first target companies, hospitals and universities in the northeast region, specifically New York and New Jersey, and then move into other areas like Atlanta and Los Angeles.
"It’s kind of a bridge to help companies have a solution to maintain key, critical employees that they need to get into the office," Roberts said. "We would work with them to come up with a customized routing plan … and we would really design it depending on the needs of the particular customer."
Interested companies can fill out a short form on the Coach USA website to inquire about routes, costs, cleaning procedures and other special commuting needs.
Coach USA and other private bus companies suspended all or most of their services during the height of the pandemic when few people were commuting to work. In recent months, they have begun slowly scaling back up by putting out customer surveys to get an idea of how many people would return to buses in order to determine what routes to revive.
Coach USA's network of buses in 35 states that includes Megabus has only about 20% of customers back compared to pre-COVID numbers last year.
And even at that rate, they are faring better than some.
DeCamp Bus Lines, a 150-year-old bus company based in Montclair, announced earlier this month it was suspending service again after trying to restart its commuter services.
Joe Colangelo, CEO of Chatham-based bus company Boxcar, put out feelers in late-July to his previous customers about bringing back some of their routes, but only heard from three people who were on board to return. Before coronavirus, the company had 300 daily bus trips. The company plans to re-launch bus service on Sept. 8.
The company has completely pivoted its services during the pandemic to providing meal-delivery, drive-in movies and a tutoring plan that connects parents of kids in grades K-8 with college students.
Coach's route-customization plan was launched on Wednesday, which will be in addition to some of the old routes they've revived.
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"What we’re really doing is leveraging existing equipment that’s idle and putting it to use," Roberts said, adding that this way "we can use our equipment and we can offer a good price point for our customers because it’s just sitting there."
When asked if the customized-route option is a short- or long-term solution, Roberts said that is the big question they're facing.
"It really depends on the industry they’re in and how well we perform this and the level of engagement customers get from it. I think it’s kind of on us to prove the concept," Roberts said. "I’m sure for some it will be a short-term thing, but who knows for all of us what levels of comfort we’ll have in a year — none of us have that crystal ball."
Colleen Wilson covers the Port Authority and NJ Transit for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to her work covering the region’s transportation systems and how they affect your commute, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
Email: cwilson2@lohud.com Twitter: @colleenallreds
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August 20, 2020 at 04:35AM
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