Bus Company Alliances Make the Trip

by
Robert Janis

Whether you have been on a packaged bus tour or not, you probably think that the tour managers at the bus company simply pull out a map and plot out a route via interstate highways and local roadways. Trace the route in a magic marker color and give it to their drivers.

In fact, the package tours created by the bus company are very elaborate and are based upon alliances that the bus company has with a variety of entertainment attractions, restaurants, hotels and other service providers.

If you book a tour from a bus company that takes you some distance from home, then that tour needs to include restaurants where the bus can stop so that you and your group can have meals; hotels that will provide you lodging as well as meals; and even special attractions that might be a part of the tour package because they are on the way or within easy access from and back to the route.

A large independent bus company may be independent but it may have also been able to negotiate alliances or partnerships with entertainment attractions, restaurants, hotels and other service providers on their own. I feel save in saying that depending on how big that individual bus company may be may have an influence as to the reach it has beyond its headquarter city. For example, a bus company in Montreal, Quebec, Canada may have reach only into the suburbs of Montreal. So it can provide you with a great tour of Montreal taking advantage of alliances or agreements it may have worked out with restaurants and sites of attraction, but is unable to go beyond that boundary.

Other companies are large and have offices in many regions of the country so they have a longer reach and can provide you with a choice of more restaurants, special entertainment attractions, hotels and other service providers.

Then there are alliances like International Motorcoach Group. International Motorcoach Group is an alliance of 50 bus companies in Canada and the United States and each has access to the entertainment attractions, restaurants, hotels and other service providers that the alliance has been able to partner with.

Let’s face it. An alliance of many companies which can include large and small bus companies have more strength than one bus company. And it is an alliance that can negotiate partnerships with a better standing than say one large company.

What does that mean to you the traveler? It can mean stays at top rated hotels, meals at top rated restaurants, appearances at top rated entertainment attractions all across the country.

International Motorcoach Group partners with 41 entertainment attractions which include:

• Andy Williams Moon River Theatre
• Branson Variety Theater
• Crazy Horse Memorial
• Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theatre Complex
• Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede
• Dollywood
• Graceland/Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel
• Grand Ole Opry/Gaylord Attractions
• IMAX Entertainment Complex
• Jamestown/Yorktown Foundation
• Jim Stafford Theatre
• Longwood Gardens
• Lookout Mountain Attractions
• Newseum
• Quebec Casinos
• Ripley’s Aquarium
• Sands Casino Resort -- Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
• The New England Aquarium & Simons IMAX Theatre
• And more.

The Branson Variety Theater has a number of presentations including a Broadway style show; The Spirit of Dance, an Irish dance program; and 12 Irish Tenors. Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theatre Complex includes rock n roll performances with Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Billy Joel Royal, the Gatlin Brothers, and more. There is also a classic car museum, a grill and a club that features jazz, rockabilly and Las Vegas style shows. Dollywood has rides and attractions; special events; shows that include 50s and 60s songs, animal acts, bluegrass and country singing, comedy, heritage and gospel. In addition, you can watch skilled artisans making crafts by hand, and enjoy southern style cooking at a number of restaurants.

If you are interested in history then you have access to the Jamestown Settlement and the site of the battlefield in Yorktown where General George Washington defeated Cornwallis to end the Revolutionary War.

International Motorcoach Group has partnerships with 20 hotels and resorts including:

• Allenberry Resort Inn & Playhouse
• AmericInn International
• Beau Rivage Resort and Casino
• Best Western Oceanfront
• Country Inn of Lancaster
• Country Inns of America
• Fairfield Inn Properties of the Smokies
• French Lick Resort & Casino
• Hiltons of Branson
• Quality Inn Gettysburg
• Turning Stone Resort & Casino
• Wyndham Hotel Group

Then International Motorcoach Group has an alliance with Tour Operators who have access to entertainment and other special sites in their region. These Tour Operators include:

• Branson Vacation Company/Edgewood Receptive Services
• Northeast Unlimited Tours
• Ozarks’ Kirkwood Tour & Travel
• Smokey Mountain Tour Connection
• Sweet Magnolia Tours
• The Maine Tour Connection

So if the Northeast section of the U.S. and the eastern portion of Canada is your fancy, you have access through Northeast Unlimited Tours. This partner has package tours to Revolutionary War sites in Boston; a Pioneer Tour in which you will visit old villages of New England; and you can also see Cape Cod, Montreal and Quebec, Canada, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

If you favor the U.S. South, then Sweet Magnolia Tours can take you to Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans.

The restaurants with which International Motorcoach Group is associated include:

• Branson Best Restaurant.com
• Dandy Restaurant Cruise Ships
• Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre/Prather Entertainment Group
• Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn

Finally, International Motorcoach Group has ties to 44 convention visitors bureaus that stretch from the East Coast to the West Coast with a large number in the middle of the country too. These visitors bureaus include:

• Adirondack Coast Visitors & Convention Bureau
• Branson (Missouri) Lakes Area Convention Visitor Bureau
• Chattanooga Area Convention Bureau
• Explore Minnesota Tourism
• Gettysburg Convention Visitors Bureau
• Kansas City Convention and Visitors Association
• Louisville Convention Visitors Bureau
• Maryland Office of Tourism Development
• Memphis Convention Visitors Bureau
• Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention Visitors Bureau
• Pennsylvania Dutch Convention Visitors Bureau
• Philadelphia Convention Visitors Center
• Valley Forge Convention Visitors Bureau
• Vermont Tourism Network
• Virginia Tourism Corporation
• VISIT Milwaukee
• Visit Pittsburgh

Interested in knowing about other cities? You have access to such metropolises as Memphis, Tennessee; Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; St.Louis, Missouri and more.

You’re interested in gambling. How about the Mississippi Gulf Coast? And if you want to observe a different lifestyle, then visit the land of the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Maybe the Civil War is your passion. Then go to the sites where it happened -- Gettysburg, for example. And if you fancy the U.S. Revolution, then how about Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

So, again the question is what does all of this mean to you? Well, regardless what your interest, you can find package tours that fit it at International Motorcoach Group. Interested in gambling? As you can see, there are connections with gambling resorts. Interested in ante-bellum housing and pre-Civil War or Civil War history, International Motorcoach Group and turn you toward a bus company that can satisfy that. Interested in good old American family entertainment? You can get that too.

Go to imgcoach.com and check out their lists of entertainment sites, resorts and casinos and visitors bureaus. Click on any listing and you will be guided to the website of that listing.

It’s a great way to hone in on a particular tour you may want to take.

Bus Charter Trips Are Green Mode of Transportation

by
Robert Janis

As the price of gasoline and diesel continues to rise, people are looking for an alternative to driving long distances to an event in the family car. One alternative is to take the bus.

Let’s crunch the numbers. A recent study by Nathan Associates, a research firm based in Arlington, Virginia, found that a motorcoach or bus charter is the most fuel-efficient mode of transportation in the U.S. The study shows that motorcoaches offer 148.4 passenger miles per gallon of fuel. Other modes of transportation do not compete. The same study shows that passenger miles per gallon of intercity trains is 74.1, air carriers achieve a figure of 40.9 and the passenger automobile is 35.4.

Moreover, the number one people mover is motorcoach or bus charter transportation. For example, a 2000 study by R.L. Banks & Associates showed that motorcoaches carried 863,000,000 passengers in the United States and Canada in 1999. In the United States alone it has been reported that about 774,000,000 were carried by motorcoaches. It has been reported that motorcoaches or bus charters carry one-fourth more passengers than the airlines and two times more than Amtrak and commuter rail lines combined.

And the motorcoach or bus charter industry has steadily improved on its fuel economy through the years. In 2004, consumption of fuel per passenger mile was 5.3 percent lower than the average from 1992 through 2004. And, although the air carriers industry witnessed the best reduction of fuel consumption per passenger mile (6.6 percent), it still consumed three times more fuel per passenger mile as the motorcoach or bus charter industry in 2004.

In addition, bus charter transportation is more efficient as far as energy intensity is concerned. For example, in 2004 the motorcoach industry consumed 938 BTUs per passenger mile. Air carriers had a figure of 3,341; passenger cars were measured at 3,527; and intercity passenger trains achieved 2,134 BTUs per passenger mile.

It has also been discovered that driving habits can account for a fuel savings of as much as 30 percent. And bus charter companies diligently train their drivers and no doubt teach them the best driving habits that not only assure safety but also helps to conserve on fuel.

In addition, technologies are constantly improving things. For example, there is more use of six speed automatic transmissions with a second overdrive that helps with fuel efficiency.


More Green Facts to Consider

Motorcoaches used on charter bus trips for many companies include GPS technology which helps to control unnecessary idling and the company can also monitor the speed and braking patterns of the driver. This helps conserve on tire wear and fuel economy.

It is also said that a motorcoach can replace as many as 55 vehicles from the highway; produce less carbon emissions than a passenger car and helps to reduce carbon dioxide because it replaces so many vehicles from being on the road.

Here are more green facts concerning bus charters or motorcoaches:

• Since 2006 motorcoaches use ultra low sulphur diesel fuel which nearly eliminates sulphur emissions.
• As more coaches with new engines introduced in 2007 that burn the low sulphur diesel fuel appear, 90 percent of black smoke will be eliminated.
• A study done by Transport Canada indicated that motorcoaches emit less greenhouse gases than trains, airplanes and automobiles.
• More and more motorcoaches are using biodiesel.
• Motorcoaches reduce congestion and pollution by taking more than 425 million cars off the road each year.
• A study by the American Bus Association shows that motorcoaches have a fuel efficiency of 32.5 miles per gallon. Passenger cars average 27.7 mpg.
• If a motorcoach is used to travel the average 12,500 miles a year the average automobile travels, then carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 4.3 tons per car per year.
• Carbon dioxide emissions are reduced an average 85 percent per passenger mile for every person who chooses to travel by motorcoach instead of driving alone.
• Diesel motorcoaches used today are more than 98 percent cleaner as far as emissions are concerned than the diesels used in the 1980s.


The Future

And the motorcoach industry is not resting on its laurels. Green advancements as they concern bus charter travel continues. For example, in 2010 motorcoaches will be even more fuel efficient in order to comply with new Environmental Protection Agency standards. The industry is already working on design components and emission hardware meant to reduce emissions even more. For example, an engine scheduled for release in 2010 will eliminate most nitrous oxides.

So the next time you are thinking about a long trip with a lot of people think about taking it in a bus.
www.imgcoach.com

Chartering a Bus just got easier!

The IMG website now includes City Listings showing all the Gateway cities serviced by IMG Members. The A-Z City Listing is designed to help find Bus Charter and Motor Coach Companies that service North America. The International Motor Coach Group has nearly 60 members with over 7,000 vehicles servicing both Canada and the United States.

For Bus Charter and Motor Coach Tours IMG have the Experience, Reputation, Dependability, Maintenance, Safety and Equipment unlike any other organization.

*For a complete list of IMG Companies Click Here.

International Motor Coach Group (IMG) Blog

Welcome to the first post on the IMG Blog, a Blog that will not only highlight IMG and it's members but also discuss issues that relate to the Bus and Motor Coach Industry.