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The presidents from the two leading motorcoach associations—Peter Pantuso of the American Bus Association and Larry Killingsworth of the United Motorcoach Association—released a statement praising Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) for her leadership in her efforts to save the industry as it struggles during the pandemic, such as introducing the Coronavirus Economic Relief for Transportation Services Act (CERTS Act) with Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I).
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
The letter read, in part: "We appreciate Senator Collins' commitment to the motorcoach industry on behalf of the citizens of Maine and the tourism community, which is so vital to Maine’s economy. Senator Collins was looking for a solution that keeps a viable motorcoach, travel, and tourism industry operational and their employees engaged. The CERTS Act, S.4150, led by Senator Collins and 28 of her Senate colleagues, will ensure these industries survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Without Congress' support, [this] industry may not recover from the economic downturn. … Senator Collins is fighting for these businesses and all of Maine, and for the many Americans who rely on motorcoach transportation to get them to and from work, events and travel reliably and safely each day."
Statistics are on their side: The U.S. motorcoach industry employs nearly 100,000 individuals and provides nearly 600 million passenger trips per year ensuring vital intercity connections for rural communities, relieving congestion, and providing reliable commuter operations for urban areas. Motorcoaches connect people to their jobs, and are also a key element of our nation’s defense system and support military troop movements and take people out of harm’s way by supplying evacuation services during hurricanes, fires, and other national emergencies. Charter and tour operations are an essential part of the travel and tourism industry and will be essential to help those businesses as the nation recovers from the pandemic. The industry has lost more than $11 billion dollars since the pandemic hit in March and without government assistance will likely lose 40 percent of the small family-owned businesses.
According to a recent survey of Maine voters, 70 percent view the bus and motorcoach industry in the state as an essential service for all Mainers from every socio-economical background and believe the government should make assistance dollars available the same way it did for the airlines and rail services to ensure small businesses can keep their doors up and their dedicated and skilled workforce employed.
In the same survey:
- 78 percent of respondents said they supported federal assistance to the industry due to its $1 billion contribution to Maine’s local economies while supporting nearly 6,000 good-paying jobs in Maine. Without relief provided by the federal government, these jobs are at risk and our local economies will suffer.
- 74 percent of respondents said they support a candidate that introduced bi-partisan legislation to provide stimulus funding to the industry in Maine to ensure it remains a viable transportation option in the future.
- 73 percent of respondents said they support federal funds being allocated to help the motorcoach industry as they are mostly family-owned businesses and are some of the primary modes of transportation used by our nation's military to transport troops as well as being an essential way emergency crews get to hurricane and disaster sites for evacuations.
"Just as Maine voters see the motorcoach industry as essential, so do many voters around the country,” Pantuso and Killingsworth said. “If our industry fails and millions of people are left without a stable, economic means of transportation, our country’s economic rebound from this pandemic may be at stake."
Visit uma.org for more information about UMA. Visit buses.org for more information about ABA.
[08.24.20]
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After careful review, The Transportation Alliance (TTA) has officially endorsed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) set of guidelines specific to the transportation industry, “What Rideshare, Taxi, Limo and other Passenger Drivers-for-Hire Need to Know about COVID-19.” Endorsing these safety guidelines comes at a crucial time as transportation companies seek to ensure services are the safest possible for all passengers and drivers.
“These guidelines will be a fundamental part of our industry’s response to COVID-19,” said TTA President Tom Arrighi. “Safety has always been a crucial aspect of the transportation industry but now it's also a key to economic recovery.”
TTA’s Executive Committee voted unanimously to endorse the safety protocols for the following reasons:
- They have the most credibility with the drivers, passengers, and media since it is independent and science-based.
- They offer the most information, including links to other relevant needed resources.
- They offer more precise and clearly stated action for our industry.
- TTA member fleets are already implementing the CDC’s recommendations.
“When the committee discussed which route to take, it was important to have the credibility of the CDC,” said Bill Rouse, co-chair of TTA’s Livery, Taxi & Immediate Response Advisory Board. “Another important factor was the fact that the guidelines were industry-focused, and offered very specific guidance to operators. When we looked over the recommendations, we found most of them to be realistic and achievable.”
TTA strongly urges all passenger transportation companies to follow the CDC guidelines, and to keep abreast of any future changes.
Visit thetransportationalliance.org for more information.
[08.24.20]
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- Category: Industry News
You asked for it and we listened. In this column, we ask operators of all sizes and from all walks of the industry a question about their business and report their answers so you can assess how your own company compares to your peers. If you would like to participate, please email Rob Smentek at rob@chauffeurdriven.com for next issue’s question.
TOPIC: If Congress passes the proposed second round of PPP funding, would you apply? Beyond payroll, what would be on your wish list for use of the money? What did you like/dislike about the program?
The first-round PPP loan was not only difficult to receive but wasn’t very beneficial to small businesses. It basically was used to keep employees on payroll and from filing for unemployment benefits. This was not an effective approach to an industry such as ours, or many other industries I am sure, due to the fact people were not able or willing to use certain services. I am hoping with the second round they will focus more on small businesses to help pay for payments such as insurances, car payments, and so on. If the second round PPP loan is more beneficial to our business and is easier to obtain, I will be willing to apply again.
Abdou Brahim, Owner/CEO
VA Executive Sedans in Virginia Beach, Va.
If there is a second round of PPP, I would like to see asset retention covered. We didn’t like the “bait and switch” that seven weeks into the program they extended to 24 weeks. If you budgeted based upon the initial eight weeks and then bam, 24 weeks to spend, it is drastically different.
Kristie Carter, Co-owner
Aadvanced Limousines in Indianapolis, Ind.
We were fortunate that the process of obtaining a PPP loan was not terribly difficult and we were funded at the very beginning; therefore, our funds were exhausted prior to the decision to extend the covered period. The forgiveness process has been the biggest challenge and we are currently receiving the recommendation to wait to apply for forgiveness as the process is expected to change again. We would certainly apply if another round was available. Aside from payroll, and the normal covered expenses from the initial program, most helpful would be for the funds to be used to service or even refinance existing debt.
Carlos Cortez, Owner
Cortez Transportation Company in Topeka, Kansas
We are looking forward to second round, but, this time, with clear guidelines from day one. Many companies used it as a 1 percent loan, whereas we brought our six-person office team back and paid our chauffeurs and motorcoach operators to stay home to be compliant for eight weeks—but then the window to use the money and guidelines changed mid-stream. If a second round of PPP is not approved ASAP, we might have to furlough a second time as the pre-COVID workload has just not returned.
Clayton Dennard, Owner
Going Coastal Transportation in North Charleston, S.C.
While it is important to keep our staff on payroll—so they can pay their bills and stimulate the economy—the capital expenses of our industry need to be addressed in round two of the PPP. In order to stay afloat as our society regains confidence in both business and leisure travel, assistance is needed, more so now than ever, in paying our vehicle notes and other expenses for which 25 percent of the first round of the PPP was allowed. My wish would be to have those percentages reversed: 25 percent for bringing back employees and 75 percent to catch up with deferments and other expenses that were not allowed under the first round.
I would certainly apply for round two. We followed the rules in round one and almost all our funds will be forgiven. We have yet to decide on whether we are returning the remaining balance or keeping it and use it for cash flow—full well understanding it won’t be forgiven.
The most frustrating part of the PPP was all the changes and “clarifications” that continued to come out with the program. We received our funds, fairly early compared to most (thanks to Kelly Alderete’s efforts), on April 10 and at that time, we were told we needed to begin hiring our employees back within 10 days. We had no work—essentially, our eight weeks was just an extension of unemployment benefits. It would have been nice to relax the timing on the use of the funds. Secondly, we were all confused on a daily basis—being from Texas, I know what shooting at a moving target means.
I am confident that our industry will rebound—maybe not back to what we have experienced in the past, but rest assured, we are a resilient bunch of SOBs and this too shall pass. From our staff to yours, hang in there, keep your heads ups—#wewillsurvive.
Eric Devlin, President/Owner
Premier Transportation in Dallas, Texas
The PPP loan program was a great help in a difficult time, but it brought with it a great deal of uncertainty regarding forgiveness and payback. If a new round of COVID stimulus, support, or disaster loans were made available, we would be very careful about payback terms. Disaster loan funds, SBA loan forgiveness, and PPP loan forgiveness all have overlap that prevent you from receiving credit if you participated in more than one of these programs. If you really want to help small businesses, SBA funds should be made available in the form of grants, not loans, that support payroll, facility, and operations including interest payments. It is not fair to Main Street/small business owners to put the onus of employee health care, paid time off, and salaries on our backs when the political gamesmanship of the pandemic has resulted in the current economic crisis.
Sean Duval, CEO
Golden Limousine International in Milan, Mich.
The first PPP loan helped to retain employees, keep utilities paid, and let us defer payments on loans except interest. Now, to survive in a partial comeback of business, a second PPP loan is crucial to be able to make a comeback and be strong once again. With work slowly starting to come back, our company is generating money to cover payroll, but property and equipment loans, interest on deferred loans, and many other expenses are still a struggle and need to be paid. A second PPP loan with 60 percent for other expenses and 40 percent for payroll, would be extremely helpful to balance out company spending, expenses, and unexpected expenses. It is crucial for surviving a likely long and slow comeback.
Patrick Helvey, Owner/President
Executive Town Car & Limousine Service in Roanoke, Va.
I feel like I have gone to Harvard Business School on the topic of PPP. I logged more than 100 hours on dozens of with webinars and hundreds of various articles. Based on the new guidelines, 60 percent has to go to payroll and 40 percent business expenses. I would use the payroll portion more carefully based on the needs of the business. The business expenses are the easy part: rent, insurance, utilities, and maybe a portion on vehicle payments.
The original program was chaotic at best. We were in the first round of funding and were told the money had to be deployed within eight weeks. We entered the program in mid-April when things were still pretty much shut down. We ended up using the money to pay our chauffeurs to deliver meals to COVID-impacted families, elderly, and veterans. By the time they changed the rules to 24 weeks, we had already exhausted the money we received. It was helpful, but things could have been more efficient. Our last day of PPP funds was June 22.
Mark Kini, Founder & CEO
Boston Chauffeur in Beverly, Mass.
The big struggle with the initial funding of the PPP—which Congress has since amended—was the gamble of when you take the distribution of monies by trying to time the allocation of the money to when you will likely bring employees back. There was virtually no benefit to taking it and paying your employees to work from home or come in to clean vehicles, etc., especially when many of them were making more with the $600 bump to unemployment. This would have worked in the short term, but we cannot have them doing “loose end” work for the next six to eight months.
I think putting restrictions on where the money goes needs to open up a bit as well as the perimeters of when you can take the distribution. The PPP works great for offsetting negative cash flow (amping back up), but should allow those in industries that are lagging to get back to “normal” a longer grace period for pulling the money. Maybe a year? Perhaps there should be a rule when you get to a certain percentage of gross revenue, you have to setup the distribution of money to come in the next 10 days? In other words, if we get back to 60 percent or 70 percent, now you have to take it regardless of the length at which one could take it? I do not know if there is a perfect way to do this, but I believe the prior would help.
Scott Sweers, President
Luxxor Limousines in Des Moines, Iowa
Actually, the PPP Loan was quite easy for us to apply and get quickly. Unfortunately, the money ran out so having another PPP would help get us through the rest of the year and first of next year. Besides payroll, we need the monies for building lease, insurance, utilities, etc. As you can appreciate, we are in a city where the economic impact has devastated many small businesses as Orlando depends on tourism, groups, and conventions for so much of its revenues. We are seeing businesses struggle to exist, and it is sad that many people do not take this pandemic seriously.
The best thing about the PPP is it will turn into a grant for companies that spent the money as intended. I do not see a downside to the program and will apply for the second round of PPP when and if it becomes available.
Barbara White, CFO & Co-owner
VIP Transportation Group in Orlando, Fla.
We’ve loved hearing your answers to our benchmarking questions—but we always welcome suggestions for future topics, too!
Send an email to rob@chauffeurdriven.com you just might see your query answered in our next E-News.
[08.25.20]