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- Category: Industry News
Keep yourself informed and connected to other members of the industry by attending these important meetings. You can also view meetings for the rest of the year on Chauffeur Driven’s Industry Events page.
Maryland Motorcoach Association
2021 Crab Feast
9/8 at The Wellwood in Charlestown, Md. (registration required)
Wisconsin Limousine Association
Conference call with ILLBA and MCTA updates as well
9/8 at 1:00 p.m. CT (605.313.4821, access code: 525415#)
Illinois Limousine & Bus Association
Coffee With the ILLBA
9/14 at 10 a.m. CT via Zoom (registration required, email illinoislimousineassociation@gmail.com)
Limousine Association of New Jersey
Golf Outing and Dinner (open to all operators, suppliers, and LANJ members)
9/14 at noon at Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park, N.J. (registration required, email patricia.nelson103@gmail.com)
Maryland Motorcoach Association
2021 Group Leader Travel Showcase
9/26-27 at Wyndham Garden in York, Pa. (registration required)
United Motorcoach Association
Weekly Town Hall
Every Thursday at 2 p.m. ET via Zoom (registration required)
Did we miss your association meeting? Let us know! Email susan@chauffeurdriven.com or rob@chauffeurdriven.com to be included in our calendar.
[08.31.21]
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- Category: Industry News
Following the recent acquisition of the former Nations Bus dealership location in the Los Angeles metro area, Davey Coach Sales is pleased to announce the addition of key roles within the organization to further support the company’s growth and business expansion in the western US. Davey Coach President Mark Stenseth has announced the following appointments to the company.
General Manager Chad Solano has been overseeing the California operation since early January. He brings dedicated leadership and multi-departmental experience with more than 13 years at Davey Coach headquarters.
Service Manager Jose Bentancourt comes from The Bus Service Center and offers decades of hands-on service and repair experience of commercial buses. ASE Certified, he leads a professional, bi-lingual team of technicians in servicing existing and new customers.
David Miller, transportation sales, brings more than 25 years of industry expertise and extensive knowledge of outfitting and configuring buses for specific transportation applications.
George Altevogt, government sales, is solely focused on the unique needs of government and transit agencies throughout California and other key parts of North America.
“We are thrilled to have such seasoned talent in place for the expansion of Davey Coach’s California location. The collective history and dedication our team has in supporting and servicing the broad variety of bus owners and operators ensures our success as we grow on the West Coast,” stated Stenseth.
Visit daveycoach.com for more information.
[08.31.21]
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- Category: Industry News
The leading national bus associations—the United Motorcoach Association (UMA) and the American Bus Association (ABA)—continue to fight for federal funding to help operators who have been impacted by COVID and they need your help. The Delta variant introduces new wrinkles in the industry’s recovery, making travelers and state officials nervous. As Congress is working on the Biden administration’s $3.5T American Jobs and Families Plan reconciliation bill, both ABA and UMA hope that industry-supporting lawmakers will include another $6B for the Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services (CERTS) Act, the $2B program that was included in the Trump administration’s final COVID relief package back in December 2020.
The long-awaited CERTS program finally opened to applications in June 2021, with more than 2,000 companies submitting paperwork for the funding (1,600 of them motorcoach operators) by the July deadline. ABA Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs Suzanne Rohde said that more than 1,500 of those applications have been approved with an average allocation of $1.3M. Approved companies started receiving funds on August 11, which is expected to be allocated to operators over two payments (80 percent and 20 percent).
However, the Treasury Department recently announced that the companies in the motorcoach industry, school bus, passenger vessel, and pilot vessel industries lost collective revenues of $8.7 billion in 2020—which doesn’t account for 2021 and the roller-coaster openings and shutdowns. The original CERTS push in 2020 called for $10B in funding, which was reduced to $8B and finally passed at $2B.
Thanks to a robust grassroots effort among the associations, operators, and suppliers nationwide, the CERTS Act garnered the support of a full two-thirds of both houses—which is needed again. The American Jobs and Families Plan is slated for a late September vote (after Congress returns from its August recess), so the associations are urging operators and industry supporters to contact members of Congress immediately. Both the UMA and ABA have set up easy portals to connect operators with their members of Congress:
- ABA portal (also available here)
- UMA portal
“Our businesses are essential components of our nation’s infrastructure and critical to our nation’s security,” said UMA President & CEO Larry Killingsworth in Bus & Motorcoach News. “Originally, CERTS was to be funded at $8 billion to save our industry. Upon final passage, the amount was cut down to $2 billion, despite the critical needs of our businesses.”
“Things are being reevaluated with the Delta variants,” said Rohde during a recent ABA webinar. “The future is very uncertain and now is the time to be advocating for additional funding for [this] program.” She added, “The program is already in existence, we just need more funding added to it.”
Rohde also encouraged operators who have been approved for CERTS funding to read the Treasury’s updated FAQs and other paperwork (updated 8.12) to ensure that they are complying with the terms of the grant. The money is to be used for payroll costs (at least 60 percent), as well as acquisition of services, equipment, including PPE and protection measures from COVID for workers and customers; continued operations and maintenance of existing equipment and facilities; rent, leases and insurance; and interest on regular debt service. Visit the Treasury’s CERTS page here.
Visit buses.org and uma.org for more information about the ABA and UMA, respectively.
[08.30.21]