Metro Magazine, December 2020

13 FACT BOOK 2021 METRO MAGAZINE COMtrillion before the President came out and said go bigger or go home In the middle of all that Majority Leader McConnell presented a 500 billion program which he was not able to get through the Senate Despite all that movement though it all just fell apart Now that we are post election McConnell has come back and said that maybe we dont need that much money after all because the economy looks better the unemployment numbers are less today than were predicted and there is some potential good news as far as a cure for COVID 19 With all that as a backdrop the gap between McConnells 500 billion and Pelosis 22 trillion is even wider than it was before and it seems the Administration is less engaged to move forward with a new stimulus package then they were before In addition to that now we must factor in that we have two Senate races happening in Georgia that are going to determine control of the Senate So with all that going on I just do not see a path to get a significant stimulus bill done in the next four weeks or so before they adjourn There is just not much time to do anything and there does not seem to be a tremendous amount of will on either side Democrats might want to wait until the races in Georgia are determined because if they control the Senate they wont have to negotiate against themselves and that number could possibly be even more than the 22 trillion initially discussed If the Republicans take majority control of the Senate then both sides will have to go back to finding some common ground again but with control of the House and the White House there should at least be some momentum So I am inclined to think we are not going to see any action until after the first of the year and probably not until after January 20 What impact do you feel President Elect Biden will have on the industry That is a great question that I do not have a definitive answer for President Elect Biden has been pro labor and I would consider him to be somewhat of a moderate so I am hoping that it bodes well for the industry He has also worked in the Senate for a long time so he understands the idea of working together to come to some common ground Unfortunately the bus industry is not a huge part of the Delaware economy The travel and tourism industry is however and so we do bring a lot of business and industry into Delaware At the same time then Senator Biden commuted back and forth to work almost daily on Amtrak so we know that he is very much a pro train pro Amtrak lawmaker So it is all to be determined at this point I guess We are starting to see some of the folks who will be part of Bidens transition teams and there are many who were part of the Obama Administration which focused on labor and the environment I dont know if hes going to be pro bus or anti bus but if a cleaner environment is something that at the end of the day the Administration is focused on that should be good news for the bus and motorcoach industry What do you think are the biggest lessons learned by the industry from the pandemic Well I think they have learned how to economize They have learned how to make sure there is no additional expenses I was on a call with a number of members a bit ago and they told me that when they were making money and everything was going well that they were able to to be prepared for but nevertheless I was prepared I spent six and a half years at MCI as a senior VP of sales and marketing but had been out of the industry for several years before this opportunity arose And while its been a completely different assignment than what I thought I was taking on its been fulfilling for me personally to be able to help our industry during such a challenging time particularly many of the friends and associates I have accumulated over the years Can you talk a bit about how your supplier partners are doing during the pandemic Yeah I think first and foremost their biggest challenge is there is currently zero demand for new coaches And with the industry potentially set to continue downsizing for some period there is going to be a glut of pre owned coaches on the market I think it is going to be a two or three year battle in the private sector motorcoach business to get back to selling motorcoaches at anything like the levels of the past Fortunately they are diversified and still selling some coaches to the public sector and some of these companies like Volvo or even New Flyer have other segments of business that are helping them get through this But even as they are going through their own struggles they have kept their boots on the ground to support their customers I think the most encouraging thing I can say is that our annual EXPO which is set for March just launched registration a few weeks ago and we have been gratified with the early response both from attendees and vendors In the first couple of weeks we had 40 to 50 vendors reup their space and it is setting up to be not only their first show since the pandemic but also the first time we as an industry will be able to get back together on a national basis Because of this positive news we are excited for this years EXPO and feel it will be both meaningful and impactful for our industry I know it is hard to say but how do you think 2021 will play out for the industry What I am hearing from our members is that their spring bookings are beginning to really pick up which is encouraging And of course there are also sports that have been deferred by colleges universities and high schools that are slowly beginning to ramp up So we are hopeful that that we will have gotten the virus somewhat under control and learned to live with it enough to where we can see a real pickup in business starting to happen around Q2 of next year After that I think it is just going to be a gradual build Of course the steeper the curve the better but the real key will be that we begin to see business grow month to month and then eventually year over year PETER PANTUSO President CEO American Bus Association ABA Can you talk a little bit about the possibility that Congress passes another stimulus bill during the lame duck session If you look at what happened right before the elections the White House and Speaker Pelosi were working to hammer out some kind of deal Speaker Pelosi wanted a program that was worth 22 trillion with the White House initially looking at a bill worth around 18 SPECIAL REPORT MOTORCOACH NOW THAT THE ELECTIONS ARE BEHIND US I THINK WE WILL SEE MOVEMENT TOWARD A SECOND CARES ACT AND MORE OF A PRIORITY ON GETTING THE VIRUS UNDER CONTROL AND MOVING OUR ECONOMY FORWARD LARRY KILLINGSWORTH