Experienced bus operator Tony Lugg is gearing up for a record cruise ship season by investing $750,000 in three new touring coaches.
His company, Bayline Coaches, has been contracted to take passengers on day tours from more than 60 of the 83 cruise ships calling into Port of Tauranga between October and April.
It was time to invest in more luxury coaches to take the increasing numbers of cruise ship passengers to all parts of the Western Bay, Rotorua, Matamata/Hobbiton and Waitomo Caves.
"It's going to be a big season and we have to be prepared for it. Often, you get one day's notice about the number of passengers and the different types of tours, but we will be ready for them. We need to provide a quality service so the customers will remember their visit and come back on another holiday," said Mr Lugg, Bayline managing director since 1989. He took full ownership of the company in 1995.
Bayline has bought the first four-star coach in Tauranga, a 44-seater Scania, equipped with luxury seats, toilet, air conditioning, air suspension and public address system.
Mr Lugg's other late model deliveries are a 53-seater Volvo B12 and 43-seater Scania, both three-star with similar features to the other Scania.
Some of Bayline's existing buses have been refurbished and re-upholstered, the work being done locally by McDonald Motor Trimmers, Smac Electrical and Auto Air, Shape & Spray Automotive, and Kiwi Bus Builders.
"The cruise ship growth has provided a big industry for the region, and revenue is going directly back into the community. It's such an easy earner as long as everyone switches into tourism mode and treats the passengers well," said Mr Lugg. "We want them to go back and talk about how good their visit was, and that's why it's important to deliver a consistent service and product."
Bayline, handling more than 75 per cent of the visits, is the main transport provider for the cruise ships. This season they will bring more than 200,000 passengers and crew from around the world to Tauranga.
Half of those - who booked on board - will take coach tours to Rotorua, Waitomo Caves, Otorohanga Kiwi or Hobbiton, and to places like Paparoa Marae in Te Puna, Kiwi 360 near Te Puke and Spring Loaded Adventures at Paengaroa.
Mr Lugg said 25 per cent-30 per cent of the passengers go to Rotorua, 10 per cent stay on board during the day "when it's quieter and they are enjoying the ship to themselves", and 40 per cent will organise their own independent tours after they disembark, or just walk around Mauao and go shopping.
On a day when one cruise ship is in port, Bayline will line up 25 coaches on the wharf to carry about 1000 passengers.
But, this season, on 12 occasions, two ships will be in port on the same day - the first being Pacific Dawn and Volendam on October 13 - and in January and February, three ships will berth in Tauranga on the same days.
That calls for more organising - Bayline has to provide more than 50 coaches, ranging in size from 22- to 61-seaters.
"We can muster them up by contacting other operators in Katikati, Whakatane and the Waikato," Mr Lugg said.
"We use the best quality coaches and drivers, whether they are ours or other providers. We know roughly within one or two coaches where each destination is likely to be because we have a pretty good idea of each ship's culture.
"We make sure the transport is seamless for the passengers and we get them there and back on time," he said.
Mr Lugg can be surprised. Last season he had to lay on six coaches for one ship that had organised a special event at Hobbiton, and on another day six coachloads of passengers went to the Redwood Forest near Rotorua for an Avatar event, for which the crew dressed up like the movie creatures.
The Bayline drivers, called coach captains, are trained to provide commentaries during the tours. "We have forums before the season starts so the captains can respond to each other and provide consistent presentations."
He said Port of Tauranga and Tourism Bay of Plenty had done a great job in working closely with the cruise ship operators and creating an i-SITE presence in the No 1 Shed on Mount Maunganui wharf.
Those passengers who haven't already booked tours will be directed to the more controlled environment of the i-SITE after they disembark.
"The presentations to the passengers wanting independent tours will be a lot more civilised," Mr Lugg said. "Over the past few years operators have touted for work and some have harassed the passengers. It gradually got a bit unprofessional.
"Tauranga is the only port where operators are allowed on the wharf to sell their tours. Now, Tauranga has the chance to set an even more professional standard and service to the passengers," he said.
Bayline, based in Greerton, has 87 buses and a fleet of 104 including service trucks and cars. It has 120 drivers and 10 mechanics.
The company reduced its bus fleet by nearly 30 after losing the Bay Hopper urban public transport service in Tauranga in 2009, missing out to Go Bus in a tender held by Bay of Plenty Regional Council.
"It hasn't been the end of the world," said Mr Lugg. Bayline has been busy with school runs, charters and tour groups. It also has the cruise ships' contract, and it takes kiwifruit workers to the orchards each day.
In these harder economic times, more family groups and clubs are getting together for one-day coach trips to Rotorua, Taupo and Waikato. "They go for picnics on a Sunday and it creates a lot of fun for them," Mr Lugg said.
Bayline was also getting business from the increasing number of Chinese tourists arriving in Auckland on South China Airlines. He's sent coaches to Auckland for tours to Waitomo and Rotorua.
Mr Lugg, who has worked in the transport industry for 40 years, still has his eye on the Tauranga urban passenger service when it comes up for tender again in 2014.
"We'll be giving it our best shot. I think we did a good job when we first had the contract."