HEADLINES Cook-Illinois ‘Goes Ahead’ with UK Partnership School bus contractor Cook-Illinois Corporation has taken the
next step in a joint venture partnership with UK public transit company Go-Ahead. Te initial contract was established earlier this year in St. Louis with about 120 school buses transporting local students with the “Go-Ahead” name on each bus. Te two companies originally announced their partnership last fall. “Go-Ahead is very well
known in the United Kingdom and provides services for about 1 million riders a year,” said John Benish, chief operating officer for Cook-Illinois. “Tey wanted to get into the America yellow school bus market.” According to Benish, Cook-Illi-
nois is using its local knowledge of the industry to assist Go-
Ahead in getting updated on how the American school bus market works day to day. In turn, the U.S. contractor is learning from its U.K. partner’s extensive knowledge of logistics, routing and time scheduling, security and operations on a much larger
scale. With the two companies working together and equally sharing responsibilities and accountability, Benish said he be- lieves the synthesis of local and global skills will make a beneficial combination for both parties. “Tey have been using different systems, different software,
different ways of accounting, and different ways to regulate their service,” said Benish. “We are learning some of these things and including them in our day-to-day service. For us, it’s taking a Mom and Pop company and treating it more like a global business.” One such system deals with customer service. Go-Ahead uti-
lizes a company-wide system that allows its service to be rated during all types of transportation provided. Tat level of service and how it is reported back to the customer will greatly benefit Cook-Illinois, according to Benish. Tese lines of communication will be further opened by the addition of school bus GPS sys- tems and a comprehensive report that will be generated if school buses arrive to their destination more than 10 minutes late. “Go-Ahead wants to be involved in the business, and they
want to do it the right way,” concluded Benish. Te U.K. company plans to increase its number of buses in the U.S. from 120 to 300 by next school year. ■
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36 School Transportation News Magazine October 2010
Oct10_STN.indb 36
See us at NAPT Booth #411 9/14/10 12:17 PM
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