Hurricane blows business in, away

Hurricane Irene may not have been the doomsday storm that was forecast when it began its windy and watery journey up the East Coast last month, but it was destructive enough to take more than three-dozen lives and cause an estimated $20 billion in property damage in a dozen states.

And, much like past major storms, it was powerful enough to stir up a mix of bad and good for the motorcoach industry.

Although a number of operators in the storm-struck states landed evacuation and utility crew shuttle work, many more lost revenue with the cancellation of hundreds of tours, charters, commuter-and-line runs, and airport shuttles.

The hurricane, which took four long days to creep up the coast from North Carolina to Maine, affected about 65 million people, including large numbers some estimates were as high as 3 million who evacuated their coastal homes and businesses.

While motorcoach operators were available to help with the evacuations, the lengthy and nonstop warnings residents received about the pending storm, and the East Coasts extensive mass transportation system, apparently allowed authorities enough time to manage the movements with minimal use of motorcoaches.

"A number of our members were ready to go if they needed us," said Tim Stout of Stouts Transportation in Trenton, N.J., and president of the Greater New Jersey Motorcoach Association. Stout said state emergency management officials made arrangements with individual operators to be on standby as the storm approached.

Several other states joined New Jersey in contracting with individual operators, while others hired two major transportation management companies to have operators at the ready.

But few of the companies were put to work.

Ready, set, stop

Transportation Management Services, a logistics company based in Sandy Spring, Md., lined up more than 100 operators that were poised to handle evacuations, but none were needed, said marketing director Brianne McManus.

"We were surprised, but it gave us an opportunity to test our procedures and everything went very smoothly," she said. "We were very impressed with all of the operators."

Carey International of Washington D.C., also rounded up a large number of coaches, but there was nothing for many of them to do.

Fabulous Coach Lines of Branford, Fla., was asked by Carey to place coaches at assisted-living facilities in South Carolina and Pennsylvania, but they were not used and after three days of sitting were sent back to Florida.

"We expected more work but we are pleased with the small bit we did," said company spokeswoman Laura Fowler Goss.

Stouts Transportation was among those that did get work, according to manager Marjorie Kunkle. The carrier was contracted by New Jersey to move U.S. Coast Guard personnel to an inland military base, and to transport residents of two senior-living centers to safer facilities.

Also, Newton Bus Service of Gloucester, Va., got multiple jobs from the storm, said owner Warren Newton. It evacuated patients from a hospital in West Virginia, transported military personnel to safe locations, and ran several Richmond, Va.-to-New York commuter trips for Greyhound Lines. After the storm it shuttled utility repair crews to and from work sites.

Tom McCaughey of Flagship Trailways in Rhode Island, and immediate-past president of the New England Bus Association, said a number of association members were placed on call and some did storm-related jobs.

He said his company was among those hired to shuttle repair crews are the hurricane blew itself out.

Location, location, location

James Kelton of Kelton Tours and chairman of the Southeastern Regional Motorcoach Operators Advisory Evacuation Committee said his group was not activated to help with storm work, although some individual member-carriers in Virginia were used for evacuations.

"They have such an extensive mass transportation system on the East Coast that we really did not expect to be called upon," he said, noting that the committee has been used to help with emergencies on the Gulf Coast where there are fewer mass transit services available.

Although most operators were pleased to get the storm-related work, they indicated it likely was not enough to make up for the business many of them lost as a result of the hurricane.

"We got some work but lost work, too, and that was tough," emphasized Stout.

McCaughey said his company was part of a 60-coach charter that was put together by Trailways to transport people from New York to Washington D.C., for the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, but the hurricane forced cancellation of the ceremony and trip.

"They pulled the plug on that and then just about all of our other charter work tanked, too," he said. "The utility work we got helped a little bit, though."

Intercity carriers hit

Also hit hard were carriers that provide line-run service between major East Coast cities and those that operate daily shuttles to casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., and gambling venues in other states.

Greyhound and BoltBus, which Greyhound co-owns with Peter Pan Bus Lines, shut down most of its service in the area for two full days and part of a third day. "As a precaution, we terminated our runs across the Northeast," said spokesman Timothy Stokes.

Dale Moser of megabus.com said all service from its hubs in New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., south to the Carolinas and north to New England, also was halted for two days.

The carriers reportedly got a surge of business shortly after resuming service when Amtrak announced that flooding, debris and power issues made it impossible to immediately resume train service in the Northeast Corridor.

"During the past couple of days we have seen an increase in passenger activity throughout the Northeast," said Stokes. "We have seen in the past, when Amtrak or other transportation carriers are not operating due to circumstances such as weather, Greyhound sees a lot of those passengers utilize Greyhound service."

Weekend business lost

Susie Turner of Sheppard Bus in Millville, N.J., said her company was notified on Friday that the casinos were being closed because of the storm. "We lost the entire weekend," she noted. "It came at a bad time, but any time is a bad time."

Sunshine Travel in Boston said it was able to send two buses to the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut on one day, but had to cancel others that were scheduled to go the following day. Also, JRB Coach Lines in New Hampshire was prepared to make its regular run to the Mohegan Sun on one day, but riders apparently thought better and no one signed up for the trip.

The storm also forced carriers to close their offices because of storm damage, electrical outages and flooding.

Hampton Jitney in New York was shut down for the weekend after its office lost electricity, telephone and internet service. Spokeswoman Carly Shephard said the companys buses were not damaged by the storm.

The 160-year-old building that houses Sugar Tours in Wilmington, Vt., was badly damaged by flood waters that also made most of the town inaccessible. "It looks like World War III," said owner Chris Donnelly, who is worried about the 80 groups that have booked fall foliage tours with his company.

What about fall tours?

Greg Gerdel of the Vermont Department of Tourism said several of the traditional routes for the seasonal foliage tours have been closed and will require repairs before they can be opened.

"These are primary highways for Vermont and their repair will be a priority," he said. "Our expectation is that most areas and roads will be passable by the time the leaves begin to change."

He said operators planning to bring tours to the state can get up-to-date road closure information at the department's website at www.511vt.com and on its Facebook page.

The storm possibly could speed up plans by some motorcoach associations to develop procedures for quickly rounding up motorcoach coaches for storms and other emergencies.

Andrea C. Malamut, executive director of the Greater New Jersey organization, said her group plans to discuss possible ideas at a previously scheduled meeting this month.

"Irene just came too soon," she said.