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Most people will be reading this while at the Coach Tourism & Transport Council (CTTC) Coach & Bus Show 2022 at the RDS. It’s great to be back together and be able to exchange the different experiences everybody has had to endure over the past few years. It’s hard to believe that a broadcast from the White House in Washington USA by the then Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar T.D., could bring a country to a complete slowdown and for some sectors to an immediate stop. That’s what happened to the bus and coach sector, with a total and instant cessation of all activities. Schools closed within hours, non-essential workers were sent home straight away. Nobody could have predicted it, the word unprecedented, while sounding original at first, became a cliché. The truth is that we have had many such unprecedented situations in the past few years - and by the looks of it there are more to come.

OBITUARY: David Slattery

As the passenger transport and tourism industry started to come out of its slumber, trying to get back to some level of normality, it became clear to most operators that things had changed. Bit by bit, schools returned to the classrooms, soon afterwards they started to travel a little. Sporting clubs and other groups were on the go again. More importantly tourists returned, in small numbers to begin with, but by 2022 the numbers were getting back to normal. However with this return to trading, some new problems arose. With so many drivers having been effectively idle for almost two years, many had found employment in other sectors and some had decided that retirement was an option worth considering. As one operator put it very well recently: “Lads got used to doing nothing, then it was just schools, it is hard to go back to unsocial hours after a period where they enjoyed a new quality of life with their families. To be honest I was a bit caught up in it myself”.

David Slattery, a travel agent from Tralee saw an opportunity and started a daily service from Kerry, via Limerick and Cork to London. At its peak up to 10 coaches per day were on the route. With the success of this venture David started a service to northern Spain for sun seekers. These packages were in addition to a successful travel agency business and an option to have a horse drawn holiday around County Kerry. David was an innovator and used a pre-internet system that linked travel agents to sell seats on his services, similar to what the airlines were using at the time. As Ryanair appeared on the horizon offering a daily service from Waterford to London, he saw a threat to his business and took the opportunity to sell his thriving business. David continued on in the trade with his wife Betty to accompany tour groups all over the world. RIP

As Russia invaded Ukraine a new threat has arrived. Fuel prices have rocketed and general inflation increased at a rate not seen for decades. So the reality is that there continues to be many challenges ahead.

But there are also other issues. Taking carbon out of the atmosphere has gone to the top of the Government’s agenda. It will become a very big issue for everybody in the coming years. Many people are focussed on the introduction of electric buses and the cost associated with them. In reality the focus will likely be much wider. Suppliers may expect to demonstrate what else firms are doing to help save the environment, such as harvesting rainwater, and accounting for vehicles making unnecessary journeys. Dublin and Cork cities both aspire to be carbon neutral by the end of the decade, what does that mean for diesel buses? Will there be an allowance for inter-city and tour coaches to travel in and out?

These are big issues for the industry. The CTTC will play a big part in any negotiation and agreement concluded on these matters. Operators need to give the CTTC a strong mandate and their full support, and Government agencies must recognise the CTTC as an honest broker with a legitimate vested interest if any kind of reasonable and working solution can be arrived at. The future maybe uncertain, but the way forward needs to be planned.