Mistral adds weight to vehicle CCTV case via Centrad tie-up
Mistral Group is another vehicle supplier to stress the importance of CCTV fitment to coach and bus fleets, highlighting its partnership with Centrad in that work. Centrad supplies and fits six- and eight-camera systems to Mistral vehicles to deliver comprehensive coverage.
The sale, lease and finance specialist says that adoption of CCTV on vehicles has wielded a “profound impact” on the sector. It has been driven by operators, and while there was what Mistral Sales Director Freddie Fuller describes as “a brief feeling of trepidation” around CCTV in its infancy due to potential privacy concerns, that quickly changed.
“The growing need to provide further support for drivers to avoid incidents and mitigate rising insurance premiums has quickly dampened scepticism or preconceptions,” says Mistral.
Continues Mr Fuller: “The vast majority of coach and bus operators we engage with simply refuse to operate without these systems retrofitted, as from their perspective it leaves them exposed to a number of unwanted risks.
“This attitude shift has primarily been driven by operators’ heightened sense of responsibility to implement necessary measures to encourage road safety and for the benefit of protecting fellow road users, drivers and passengers, as well as lowering premiums.”
Mr Fuller adds that a sizeable proportion of bus passengers in the UK are children or otherwise classed as vulnerable. That “further emphasises the importance for camera solutions to be installed, as from a customer perspective, safeguarding passengers is not an option – it is imperative.”
Mistral says that the approach from Centrad was progressed thanks to the latter’s track record, reputation, and innovative methodology around CCTV.
Concludes Mr Fuller: “Over the decades, our customers have come to expect a certain level of service with us. Naturally, any business we choose to partners with becomes an extension of ourselves and therefore we want to ensure that it reflects our values and customer-centric approach.
“Centrad has done this and more. Not only are its systems quality driven, but it is also willing to the extra mile for our customers time and time again by installing systems regardless of location, and often at short notice, which is a rarity from our experience.”
Pelican begins work on expansion of Yutong parts centre in UK
Pelican Bus and Coach has started work to increase the size of its Yutong-specific National Parts Distribution centre in Castleford.
When completed, that expansion will take the existing building to 25,000 square feet. The dealership says that such growth will significantly uplift its holding of Yutong parts and allow up to £8.5 million worth of those to be held.
The construction was recently inspected by Yutong Europe CEO Jack Li (pictured, centre) on a visit to the UK. He was joined by Pelican Managing Director Richard Crump (pictured, right) and Group Aftersales Manager Chris Murrell (pictured, left).
Mr Li has expressed satisfaction with the progress made and reiterated the Chinese brand’s commitment to supporting Pelican in ensuring that “the highest standards of service and parts availability are maintained for Yutong operators in the UK and Ireland.”
Pelican says that additional space at the parts centre forms another key part of the dealership’s strategic growth plan. That has already included major investment in workshop and showroom facilities, while in September work will begin on an office expansion.
Mr Crump explains that extension of the parts centre relates to both the arrival of the GTe14 battery-electric coach and the need to increase range and breadth of stock for other vehicles.
That particularly applies for the GT12 diesel coach – which is seeing major sales success with FlixBus partner operators alongside other customers – but also battery-electric buses. The number of Yutong products from the latter field in service in the UK is set to grow significantly after major orders were taken from both First Bus and Stagecoach.
McGill's takes EPM Customer Resolution Centre solution
McGill’s Bus Group has invested in the Customer Resolution Centre product from EPM Bus Solutions.
Designed specifically for the bus sector, the platform speeds response times by providing complete visibility of the operating environment. That enables customer service teams to manage queries efficiently, says EPM.
Customer Resolution Centre aggregates data from wider group systems to investigate complaints quickly. Those linked platforms include EPM’s Bus Incident Reporting Screen – which identifies incidents on an operator’s network – and other third-party products.
Such a tie-up ensures that staff “are working with reliable and up-to-date information to enable them to provide quick and clear customer communications,” the supplier adds.
In addition, the EPM Customer Resolution Centre streamlines the data capture process of passenger queries from a variety of channels, including website contact, email, and social media.
Consolidating submissions from those multiple online sources with traditional methods such as face-to-face and telephone reduces the time spent recording customer interactions and ensures accurate data collection.
EPM believes that such an approach gives a personalised engagement approach to communicating with the customer via their chosen channel and delivers “a quality and consistent customer experience.”
McGill’s HR, Training and Recruitment Director Neil Dryden says the operator is confident that adopting the Customer Resolution Centre platform “will transform our customer service function.”
He adds: “By having one central system to log, manage and investigate customer complaints, along with information of what is happening in the operating environment, our team will have the information to deal with queries quickly and with quality outcomes.”
On working with McGill’s, EPM Software Director Nick Brookes says: “Providing quality customer service is as important for growing patronage as delivering a reliable bus service.
“With customer expectations being higher than ever with the evolution of technology and the increase in communications channels, the bus sector is evolving to become more customer focused to build patronage.
“Customer Resolution Centre has been developed for the bus sector to deliver an exceptional customer service experience – empowering customer service teams with up-to-date information about the operating environment and allowing them to provide a quality response to customer feedback.”