Capture More Charters Now 

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“Our platform technology is groundbreaking; no one else has anything like it,” said John Zaworski, Strategic Initiatives Manager, Dean Trailways, Lansing, Michigan, who spent two years spearheading the project and represents one of seven Trailways operators involved in the platform’s pilot. “We are already getting feedback that more charters are coming in and praise for the technology’s time saving benefits.”

Customers are also finding the platform convenient. “We heard about a customer booking one charter trip and came back to the site to book four more trips because he found the system easy-to-use,” continued John.

The new online booking system replaces Trailways’ charter lead dashboard as of the end of June 2022.

Changing habits

Customer shopping preferences have shifted. “More people are going online to book travel and they expect convenience and instant gratification,” said Louis Bookoff, cofounder of Busie. “This trend is a big driver of why Trailways made the switch. The goal is not to get rid of the personal interaction operators have with their customer, but rather enhance that and give operators the ability to spend more time with customers as a result of the time savings and efficiencies they gain.”

As the systems’ network of users grows, Louis says the value for each Trailways member increases, with no need for brokers or ad dollars spent on leads, resulting in profitable charters when using standard pricing.

“The platform lets Trailways members control and own every step of the process with a customer; controlling rates, profit margins, and inventory availability,” he says.

Amy Brooks, Trailways board chair and Susquehanna Trailways’ vice president of sales, first thought the Busie system would require doubling the entry work into her company’s current database.

“The person seeking the booking request is responsible for entering the information. You will only need to enter the data into your own business system once the charter reservation is booked,” she says, explaining that potential customers who cannot commit to booking a trip are automatically eliminated from the system.

Attracting new customers

If a member of the Trailways network cannot facilitate a trip, Trailways would like to create an affiliate base of operators to fulfill the booking. This group would have access to the system under another pay- scale structure.

“We see the new platform as a reinvestment opportunity to help members grow their markets and the organization’s network of members,” John said, adding that Trailways has budgeted for greater investments in SEO and campaigns to drive more people to Trailways.com.

Aries Trailways, serving the Chicagoland area, is among the first group of five additional operators added to Busie since its May launch. Sam Trevino, Sales and Marketing Manager of Aries, said: “We have been on the site for a week and see new business coming in.”

Next steps

Trailways is purposefully holding a soft opening for the new site to allow members to get up to speed on the technology. Amy suggests apprehensive operators try out the site booking smaller, one-time events such as weddings. “This will allow you to become familiar with the technology and gain confidence in the system,” she says. “You can build from there.”

Busie also offers a safe and intelligent mapping platform, with capabilities to include routing times, state-by-state tolling information, and more, with the ability to launch an SEO-optimized website in less than two weeks.

In case you missed the webinar, or want to replay any portion, email Sabina Dhami, Trailways Director of Accounting and Office Management at Sabina@Trailways.com , who will send you the video link and password.

If you want to be in the next group of operators to go live, please fill out this waitlist form or book an onboarding meeting and a member of the Busie team will contact you.