Bouden seizes the initiative during pandemic

As the media reports on the the latest phase of the coronavirus response from the government causing confusion over what businesses and the public should be doing, Bouden Travel says it has seized the initiative.

Adel Bouden, Director of Bouden Travel, said: “The lack of clarity offered by the Government has left the country confused,” . “The rather contradictory explanation of the phase two measures encouraged people to go back to work if they could, but also to avoid public transport, something that people rely on heavily within the region to commute. Avoiding the use of public transport is only necessary if the operator is not taking the appropriate steps to ensure the safety of passengers and staff. Although we cannot speak for other operators, we have come up with our own measures to ensure that when people travel with us, they can be confident that they are protected.”

Bouden Coach Travel has for many years enforced a deep clean policy on its vehicles, working all hours to fully valet its fleet between every job. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has ramped this up further with an investment in chemical fogging equipment to fumigate vehicles on their arrival back to base. Andrew Jones, workshop manager, explains: “This is not only antibacterial but also kills all germs and viruses which could be left behind by passengers. Cleaners are provided with the appropriate PPE which includes a full body suit, gloves and masks to ensure that they do not breathe in any of the fog. We have also used this in the offices too so that staff can feel safe returning to work.”

Sophie Baugh, Sales and Operations Manager for Bouden Travel, said: “It became clear to us in the beginning of lockdown that the support and guidance available to us would be limited and so myself and the director discussed at length the various different scenarios and how we could minimise the risk of transmission for both our workforce and our passengers. As the named Transport Manager for the company, it was clear to me that we would need to take responsibility and impose new procedures and regulations within our organisation so that our message could be clear even when the Government’s messages were not.”

Beyond cleaning, Bouden Coach Travel has also implemented the following measures:

 

1. Social distancing measures have been put in place on all coaches with a capacity reduction of 30%. In addition to this, the first two rows behind the driver seat will are unavailable to the public to ensure a 2 metre space between driver and passengers.

 

2. Drivers are supplied with PPE including masks and gloves and on high risk transfers such as repatriation transport, they will wear full body suits.

 

3. Face masks must be worn by passengers during travel to reduce the risk of transmission to others. These will be provided to passengers by Bouden Coach Travel.

 

4. Non-contact thermometers will be used to check passenger temperatures as they board coaches from overseas.

 

5. Antibacterial hand sanitiser units have been fitted to all coaches and must be used by passengers when boarding the vehicle. In addition to the above measures, posters are displayed in all vehicles and drivers give a short safety announcement at the start of the trip to ensure passengers are aware of the measures in place.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Cookies

This site uses some unobtrusive cookies to store information on your computer, these are in place to ensure that you receive the best possible experience when using the Bus & Coach Buyer website.