News > July edition - Travellines

Published 17 July 2012

Bakers Travelines

Welcome to the Summer edition of Bakers Travelines, our company newsletter for employees, business partners and clients.

Despite the unseasonal weather, our holiday bookings remain steady – on a par with last year - and we had a successful Holiday Open Day in June. Day trips and weekend excursions are popular and we are preparing our new programme for the Autumn. Coach hire is also doing well and we are set to play an important part in the forthcoming London 2012 games events.

Local bus operations are reviewed below. We have been very successful in the latest round of tenders for services on behalf of Staffordshire County Council.  As a result we are recruiting new drivers and if necessary these are qualified in-house through our own CPC driver training. In cases where local authority funding is being cut, we are taking action to operate these on a commercial basis.

On the engineering front, we are continuing to invest in our garage facilities and we have secured significant third party contracts preparing used service buses for export to overseas operators.

And it’s a girl! Congratulations to Tours Manager, Stephanie Dean on the birth in May of her daughter Molly Isabella Grace. While Stephanie is on maternity leave, her role will be covered by our new graduate recruit, Sophie Wilshaw. We shall also be saying our fond farewell to Angela who will be retiring after 23 years as operations and marketing administrator.

Please read on for more news of our achievements and challenges for 2012.

Phil Baker
Managing Director 

Local Bus Operations
The focus during this quarter has been on a number of tenders for local bus routes in Newcastle and we have been successful with several of these. In addition to this in September Bakers will be starting three primary routes, including the corridor linking Hanley and Keele University direct with connections via Silverdale. 
Due to popular demand we have made some changes to the Nines city centre service to increase frequency for short journeys between Hanley and Smallthorne. 
Although, county funding has also been withdrawn from the Congleton ‘Bear Town’ services, the good news is that Bakerbus can now operate these operations on a commercial basis. To achieve this some of the routes will be integrated into the existing Bakerbus 99 and X38 services. And the network continues to expand with a Beartown service linking Lower Heath and the Congleton retail park (north of the A34 ) for Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Laura Ashley, Halfords and the Coop Pharmacy etc.  

Coach Hire
Since Crewe Alexander made it to their play off and promotion to Npower league 1 - it was a big ask to lay on 65 coaches in three weeks to transport 3,500 fans to Wembley. But we were able to dig deep and put up 11 of our own players and hired in the additional support we needed to get the result. This is Project Management at its best – thanks to Kayleigh Dawson, Andy Fish and ‘man-of- the match’ Dave Smith. 

JCB Heritage
Bakers Coaches have been contracted to provide a weekend park and ride shuttle services at the JCB headquarters in Rocester for staff visiting the company’s refurbished museum. Called ‘The story of JCB’ the exhibition charts the company’s links to industry back to the 1820s. The staff previews were held over three weeks. There is more potential business as this presentation is proving very popular with international staff and visitors during the week.

The London 2012 Games.
Final preparations are under way for our most prestigious assignment - providing transport for the forthcoming London 2012 games event.
Vehicles have been inspected to ensure that they meet the standards required. We have also received detailed instructions about covering up or removing all trade sign writing and advertising material which is not permitted under the games sponsorship rules.   

Driver training
We are continuing driver training for our own requirements as well as third party organisations such as schools and colleges operating mini buses. Under new regulationsanyone who drives a vehicle with more than nine passenger seats and requires a PCV licence must hold a Certificate of Professional Competence if driving commercially.
Unlike the basic driving licence the CPC stipulates that all newly qualified drivers must gain their initial CPC (to enable them to drive commercially) which involves passing two tests over and above the usual theory and driving tests. Periodic CPC training must be undertaken by all qualified drivers which involves 35 hours of “face to face” training every five years. 

Training manager Geoff Barker signs off  James Edwards - the first Bakers rookie to qualify after passing out from the company’s  in-house driver training programme.

Third party Maintenance
Bakers Workshop Engineers are the ‘Unsung Heroes’ who provide the technical expertise needed to keep the company’s bus and coach fleet roadworthy. This capability together with the garage facilities represents a huge investment which also has to generate business income to be sustainable. The company is continuing to invest to ensure technicians have the right tools for this work.
In addition to servicing the Bakers fleet, the company provides service facilities to other bus and coach operators. Recent work has included the preparation of used buses for export to overseas operators. These are service buses which have completed two - three year rental contracts and are then sold off to new users, some of which have gone to New Zealand. As well as servicing for shipping, Bakers have to make sure that they cleaned thoroughly to remove any trace of road dirt and possible cross contamination.  

New equipment includes a vehicle lift which incorporates wireless technology. This allows more flexibility in using floor space and it is also tidier, enabling technicians to use diagnostics equipment and other instrumentation free of cabling.