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.”
Rabbie's Tours takes last of 26 EVM Elegance minicoaches
Rabbie’s Tours has completed procurement of 26 Mercedes-Benz Sprinters with Elegance minicoach conversions for the 2024 season, supplied by EVM.
Each has 15 seats trimmed in synthetic leather and with aisle-side folding arm rests. A courier position is also fitted, while the driver’s seat is finished in real leather.
The OEM hinged passenger door is retained, which opens to a three-stage step, grab rails, and modesty panels behind the driver and ahead of the front nearside passenger seat. Original doors are also at the rear, behind which is a drop boot.
Amenities include Webasto roof-mounted air-conditioning, luggage racks with passenger service units, USB charging points, and LED night lights.
The driver benefits from a reversing camera and a PA system with microphone, along with the 9G-Tronic nine-speed automatic gearbox.
External finish is in Arctic White and trim includes side skirts and chrome wheel and grille covers. Three high level amber side marker lights on each side have also been specified by Rabbie's Tours.
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