Get a Quick Quote
Single
Return
Continue


Close

Latest News from Mainline – Feb 21

4 February 2021
 

We’re Good to Go programme extended

 

The We’re Good to Go industry standard programme has been extended for the next few months, in response to industry feedback.

The programme, which is run in partnership with Visit Britain, Visit Wales, Visit Scotland, and Tourism Northern Ireland, is for businesses across the sector to demonstrate that they are adhering to the respective Government and public health guidance, have carried out a COVID-19 risk assessment and check they have the required processes in place. Over 43,000 businesses across England signed up since its launch in June and Mainline Coaches are delighted to be accepted and now continue to offer our very high standards in health, comfort and hygiene for our passengers.

 

Britain & Ireland Marketplace (BIM) 2021 – 26th January 2021

As a springboard to COVID-19 business recovery plans BIM 2021, General Manager Colin Jones, attended the Britain & Ireland Marketplace, a one full-day B2B workshop for international tour operators and travel buyers, the opportunity to meet new clients, re-establish old friendships and partnerships, build innovative programmes and packages

The leading B2B event was organised by the European Tour Operator Association (ETOA) and took place online.  Colin had arranged sales and marketing meetings throughout the day with Inbound tour operators, tourist boards, business and corporate clients, the event focussed fully on an agenda of pre-scheduled face-to-face appointments and networking meetings.  Though a very busy and challenging day, Colin reported this was a great success and came away with encouraging business and opportunities for touring in Wales and throughout the UK from the incoming group travel buyers.  The networking also gave Colin the opportunity to discuss new developments and opportunities with clients, building plans for a recovery in 2021 and into 2022.

The development of a recovery in coach touring for later this year was a welcome boost.

 

Other News

Filming with Mainline Coaches …

During January and continuing the first two weeks of February saw Mainline Coaches supplying coaches for the staff and crew in the Netflix filming of “Sex Education 3”.  The filming took place in Monmouth, Penarth and Newport and Mainline were delighted to be involved with this comedy-drama, which made the streaming platform’s top-ten most popular series of 2019 both in the UK and US and it now continues for a third and eagerly waited series.  Don’t worry the drivers were only used for the driving part and transporting the crew during in the filming!

 

Have you booked your Coach Hire?

Mainline Coach Travel are the ideal coach operator for domestic group travel and visitors to the UK from abroad. We work with many groups and group tour operators from all over the world to provide quality coach hire for tourists so they can see the best the UK and Ireland has to offer.

Our transport is ideal for all types of groups visiting the UK including schools, choirs, church groups, large families, corporate groups and Rotary Clubs to name just a few.

We work with you to ensure you receive top quality coach transport for your group travel in the UK – so call us today and enjoy your travel experience from the start.

 

Coach industry and MPs called upon to support  Coach Tourism

Mainline Coach Travel and other leading Coach operators have encouraged their MP’s to lobby parliament in support of the tourism industry. Our local MP Chris Elmore (Ogmore) has taken particular interest in the support of the coach tourism industry which we are grateful and he continues to communicate with the Chancellor, Reishi Sunak calling the government to support the toursim industry during these very difficult times.

Our thank you letter of support …

Dear Mr Elmore

Thank you for your letter and support for the coach tourism industry and we do appreciate your continued backing and voice.

2020 taught us the real value of being part of something bigger. Working together gives the bus and coach industry greater presence and influence, and a voice that can’t be ignored. This approach will be vital in meeting whatever challenges lie ahead to ensure our business – and our industry – continue to thrive.”​

 But while we leave behind a year where the pandemic dominated our personal and professional lives, 2021 looks set to be just as challenging, with a return to a ‘new normal’ not yet in sight.

With the dawning of the vaccine programme a light is now visible at the end of the tunnel, there is now real hope that we will see progress made in restoring businesses large and small to their rightful position and for our coach tourism industry as part of the backbone of the UK economy.

Over the last twelve months I’ve been incredibly proud of the hard work and resilience shown by everyone within our industry, quickly adapting to change and continuing to provide high quality services in the most challenging of circumstances.  Our company and well as countless examples of other bus and coach operators working tirelessly to keep communities connected; delivering vital supplies to the elderly and vulnerable, safely transporting key workers and getting children to school, workers to their jobs and, of course, saving the day for thousands when planes or trains are disrupted. Day trips, excursions and holidays have been disrupted for most families and the elderly and the incoming tourists into Great Britain who generate so much to our economy has stopped.

To help us do everything we do, we need your support. Last year, the coach industry fought tirelessly to take our case to government, and we thank you for your continued support and effort in doing this. Working together gives us greater presence and influence, and a voice that can’t be ignored. This approach will be vital in meeting whatever challenges lie ahead to ensure our business – and our industry – continue to thrive.

Our focus for the year is to recover from the effects of the pandemic and the damaging Government messages we saw around avoiding public transport. With your help we want to continue to spell out to government the vital role that coaches and buses will play in getting the country back up and running, and the support and operating conditions we need to make it happen.

Our finances were hit by the pandemic, and we anticipate a further reduction in sales and revenue in 2021. We’ve acted early to minimise the impact – taking tough decisions on staff and operational costs, we sleeved our plans to re-locate to a new site, which would have increased our business and staff levels in South Wales, we have needed to mothball coaches until the Spring and we’ll continue to cut costs where we can to avoid further job losses.

The Industry is now requiring to meet new Environmental emission standards, PSVAR disabled coach facilities, the challenges of Brexit and the new rules and regulations on travel to Europe and most importantly the renewing confidence of travelling public and bus users to get back on our vehicles.  

Mr Elmore, I hope you’ll continue to get involved in any way you can to ensure our industry’s voice and messaging is heard louder and clearer than ever before.

Coach Tourism is vital to our country, contributing £14billion to our economy, many businesses are family owned like ours and we need your support now more than ever.

Yours Faithfully

 

 

 

 

 

Written by: Mainline Admin

Time to book your holiday or day trip

18 January 2021

We are already a few weeks into 2021 and we sincerely hope you are Keeping Safe & Well during these very difficult and challenging times.

Coach Hire for Summer & Autumn

We’re delighted to be able to open up our coach hire and Group Travel reservations lines for your summer and autumn bookings, and we so look forward to hearing from you. For the time being our sales office will be open between 9am and 4pm, Monday to Friday, so we’ll be very busy and ask for your patience. Sadly we are still unable to welcome visitors to our head office until it is safe to do so.

Whilst there is no doubt that the pandemic continues to put a huge pressure on our business and tourism throughout the country, there is now a small amount of sunshine for a back to normal travel by the middle of the year.

With the announcement of the new vaccine programme we have been seeing increasing confidence in coach hire bookings over the last few weeks, especially for the over 65s who are looking forward to a summer and autumn getaway break together and we can’t wait to see you again on our coaches after all this time.

Travel with Confidence and Safety

We have been very busy ensuring our coaches are of the very high standard for safety and hygiene and our sanitization procedures throughout our coaches has been our top priority – the ease and safety of coach travel paramount, we ask passengers to wear masks, we have hand gel stations on each coach, the air-conditioning units have been fitted special virus filter units and screens have been fitted around the driver, every precaution has been taken for your piece of mind and safety.

During lock-down we have been busy planning for the future, for a “Greener and Cleaner” environment, for our touring coaches to meet the latest Government Euro-6 pollution standards, our air-conditioning systems are in the process of all having virus purifying units fitted for cleaner air, we are also looking at the future requirements of the disabled passenger, these plus many others developments will give you the confidence and safety in our coach travel for your group(s).

Brexit

Europe is the number one overseas destination for UK travellers and many groups will be looking to travel there with us in 2021. Travel to Europe from 1 January 2021 has changed, so it is important you plan early to make sure you have everything in place in time for your trip. If you have a British passport, you will need to have at least six months left on your passport and your passport must have been issued within the last 10 years. You can use the Government’s passport checker to see if you need to renew your passport. We always advise travellers to take out comprehensive travel insurance with sufficient healthcare cover, including cover for existing medical conditions and any activities you plan to do. We are aware travel times will be different as longer periods will be spent at each border, but travel is expected to be no different from previous years and we look forward to taking your group once again to the cities, theme parks and countries of Europe.

Going Forward

We appreciate your patience, loyalty and support during these past months, but happy days are just around the corner, and we look forward to seeing you soon and welcoming you back on our coaches soon.

To request a quotation or book your coach you can contact our office on 01443 670 095 and we will be delighted to take your call or you can email us on info@mainlinecoaches.co.uk

We are here to help and advise so call us today – we have information and safety sheets for your passengers, our recommendations for care-free travel and up-to-date knowledge on all Government regulations.

Get ready to holiday, book your coach for Summer and Autumn breaks and look forward to sharing happy memories with your friends and family once again

With best wishes and thanks from us all at Mainline Coaches.

Coach Guidelines for Group Leaders 

27 July 2020

8th July 2020

With the easing of restrictions within the UK and across Europe, there is cautious optimism tours will begin to operate again in the coming weeks.
We are looking forward to assisting you and are already contacting our partners to request information on their preparations to re-open. We will notify you as required, with updates closer to tour departure dates, so you can keep clients informed.
We anticipate compromises may prove necessary with planned visits and excursions and thank you in advance for your understanding.  Rest assured we will work closely with you if revised arrangements are needed and as we return to normal operation, it is very important that we follow some simple guidelines to protect our staff, you and your passengers – and anyone else that we may come into contact with as we carry out coach travel services for you.

Transport is vital to support our economy and public services and we want to work closely with our group organisers to ensure a safe system of work for all passengers and for our staff.

We are committed to proactively reducing the spread of any disease and maintain the health of our staff and passengers.  As such, you and your passengers are urged to follow this guide to help maintain the hygiene levels that we have in place to reduce the spread of any disease.

We’re Good to Go

In Partnership with; The National Tourist Organisations of Great Britain & Northern Ireland

Mainline have acquired the industry standard and followed government and industry COVID-19 guidelines,

we have a Risk Assessment in place and a process to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing

PASSENGER ON COACHES.

The following guidelines are based on the current official government guidelines and are also based on the measures identified and required through our Covid:19 Risk Assessment, a copy of which can be provided upon request.

The primary concern on board coaches is that of social distancing; all your passengers should keep their distance from people outside their household, and we recognise that this is not always possible. The transmission of Coronavirus is primarily through people touching surfaces contaminated by the virus and then transferring that contamination to their mouth, eyes or nose. There is also a possibility of breathing in droplets expelled by another person when in close face to face contact.

With these facts in mind, please be assured that your coach will arrive in a sanitised, virus free condition; and that we have the following measures in place prevent the spread of the virus during coach hires. Furthermore, these protocols comply with World Health Organisation guidelines, which are fully achievable on our coaches. Our normal front facing seating arrangements avoid ‘face to face’ proximity and the physical barrier of the high-backed seats, plus the use of face coverings and masks will all help to ensure maximum safety.

In order to set out passenger recommendations for our coaches, the following provisions and policies are in place during the course of this pandemic.

  1. Our coaches all have forward facing, high backed seats, which do create an important physical barrier between passengers.  And passengers will be seated on alternate seats on each row.
  2. All passengers will be requested to wear a face covering, preferably their own, however our drivers will carry a stock on board.
  3. Our coach cleaning system includes daily cleaning of all floors, seats and all glass surfaces, mopping with disinfectant of all floor surfaces, disinfectant wiping of dash areas, driver controls and handles. It also includes cleaning all hard surfaces, handrails, hand grabs, seat belt buckles, armrests and floors between all journeys and also includes vehicle anti-viral fogging on a weekly basis.  Toilets will be closed
  4. You and your passengers should look to maintain at least 1 metre distance from each other during all boarding, travelling and alighting from our coaches.
  5. For the on-going safety of our drivers and passengers, the double seat immediately behind the driver will not be available for use.
  6. Passengers who live together in the same household, may sit together on a double seat. Where this occurs, the seat opposite, next to the aisle must not be used and some passengers will be seated immediately behind each other.
  7. Upon boarding, passengers are encouraged to use the hand gel provided on board.
  8. Mainline will be using X-Mist within its air-conditioning units – this is BS EN1276 standard and offers a way to clean the quality of the air in the coach from Microscopic Health Hazards

 

General Review

All customers should follow sensible guidance to reduce their risk of exposure to Corvid-19 while this outbreak is ongoing. Viruses can easily be passed from person to person, however the best preventative measure to stop the spread of infections is to wash your hands frequently and thoroughly with soap, then rinse them well under running water. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Always cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in a bin and wash your hands with soap and water.

KEEP SAFE & HEALTHY

Written by: mainline