It is at this time of year that we see and hear “State of the_____” messages and speeches. Well, you’ll find no speech here, but a personal perspective on the status of the transportation industry in Florida and the Florida Motorcoach Association (FMA).

FMA continues to grow and add value to the members who choose to participate in the meetings and activities. In December, we had our quarterly board meeting and Meet and Greet for operators at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino inHollywood. This was one of our most successful meetings. We had a total of 53 in attendance representing 31 operators. Two operators attending as guests made application to join FMA.

The meeting was very successful because it included important training and educational presentations for all operators on several important topics:

· Dealing with the MIA airport permit process
· The regulations and securing port cards for drivers at The Port of Miami
· The regulations and securing port cards for drivers at Port Everglades

Cindy Witty from USDOT/FMCSA also made a presentation on the CSA 2010 program. New regulations planned for 2010 will create an accessible company and driver data base, which should be an important tool for managing your business and yourdrivers.

Our next meeting is planned for April 13 at the Hard Rock in Tampa and will feature a program on some of the new electronics available for the coaches. We look forward to seeing you there!

Regarding the State of the Florida Motorcoach Industry, we have a very diverse state and several distinct regions with different problems and different opportunities. The economy and recession have had a very noticeable negative impact on the transportation industry across Florida, but nowhere more so than in the Central Florida markets.

In Central Florida (Orlando) the school market is down as many schools and districts have mandated few field trips and the use of the yellow buses whenever possible. The convention business is down significantly as demonstrated by the hotel occupancy levels and the senior travel market is also down slightly. In order to capture business and keep their bus wheels turning in theCentral Florida market, we have some companies offering incredible discounts. These discounts have often been as deep as 50% or more from the normal market rate pricing. This deep discounting has simply provided a shift of some business to the discounter, but not an incremental increase in the overall business. The consultants who have made presentations on pricing at UMA and FMA on how to establish prices and maintain profitability have consistently recommended that the current economic conditions call for maintaining or actually increasing prices. It will be very difficult for these deep discounters to justify their price increases when the economy returns to normal.

In all of the Florida markets, our goal should be to stabilize fair prices and work for incremental new business opportunities. This way we all win!

I hope you have a prosperous 2010.

Sincerely,
Bob Rial
FMA President