Leading-edge operators go high-tech

As airlines continue to cut services and amenities, motor coach operators continue to add them. From Wi-Fi Internet to satellite television, high-tech features are making inroads into ambitious operators' fleets. The hope, of course, is that customers will clamor to clamber aboard. And in some markets, it's what operators need to stay ahead of the pack.

Silicon Valley shuttle-service providers were among the first to make a big commitment to putting Wi-Fi on their coaches — but with clients that include some of the nation's leading high-tech employers, it's almost expected.

Wireless booms in Bloomer, Wisconsin

It's not just big, urban and coastal operators that are picking up on the signals. Dave Joswiak, owner with his wife of Blackhawk Express in Bloomer, Wisconsin, just ordered two MCI® D4005 coaches with Wi-Fi Internet and satellite television for fall delivery. While he expects the satellite television to appeal most to his senior customers, the Wi-Fi is primarily for the younger crowd. "We'll use it for college runs, so [students] can watch ballgames on their way to ballgames," says Joswiak, who expects that having the amenities on his D coaches will allow him to see revenues that would be more typical of the E4500s and J4500s in his 12-coach (soon to be 14-coach) fleet.

Joswiak said he was inspired by another operator that put high-tech amenities into its older coaches in an effort to keep them marketable — and they became the most-requested coaches in the fleet. Blackhawk expects to be the first operator in its area to offer such high-tech amenities, and it won't be the first time — Joswiak says his company was the first to offer coaches with video as well. He's looking forward to the new D coaches, and he's happy to note that his customers are as well. Says Joswiak, "People that I didn't think would be excited, are."

Wired Wisconsin, Part II

Derrick Boxrucker, vice president of Southwest Bus, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, says he bought Wi-Fi and satellite television-equipped coaches to satisfy customer demand — or at least desire. "It started with our 2007 coach with the 110-volt outlets. Then we had customers asking when we were going to have wireless," says Boxrucker, who runs a five-coach fleet that's popular with corporate, college and contract clients. Never one to disappoint a customer, he ordered two coaches with Wi-Fi; one of them has satellite television as well. Some of Southwest's other coaches have satellite radio as well. "It's going over really well," says Boxrucker, who says the coaches have actually won new customers and business — in particular, a corporate client that wanted to be able to use the technology while ferrying workers to seminars in Milwaukee. Says Boxrucker, "It's a selling point."

In Phoenix, Divine Transportation, a Michelangelo Company, has 12 MCI® J4500s — seven 2007 models and five 2008s — with Wi-Fi and satellite television. "It helps us rise above the competition," says owner Eugene Bronson, who believes he is the only operator in Phoenix to offer those amenities. He markets the Wi-Fi and satellite television to his customers, who include sports and school groups. Says Bronson, "New technology — I love it."

To learn more about high-tech amenities on MCI coaches, contact your sales representative or stop in at your nearest MCI Sales and Service Center.

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