Euro Bus Expo is back at the NEC Birmingham in November. The three-day flagship event will represent a return for the UK’s only coach and bus trade show on the biennial frequency that was adopted after extensive engagement with the industry.
Much has changed for the sector since the diet of yearly trade shows. The shift to a new schedule was, and is, the right decision. As any September approaches, summer holidays are winding down, efforts are turning to readying for the new school year, and the prospect of a gathering of the industry in Birmingham has always been part of the diary.
That coming together will still happen in ‘off years’ for trade shows via the annual routeone Awards. But a biennial Euro Bus Expo grows scope for suppliers to showcase new products, services and vehicles to an ever-interested market. It also freshens the theatre approach. Both of those will be in evidence for 2024.
Consideration of what has advanced from legislative and policy perspectives over the almost two years since Euro Bus Expo 2022 gives an idea of how valuable those theatre sessions will be.
Topics for discussion are to be announced in due course, but a ‘one-industry’ approach to dialogue will be valuable as the sector goes along with, and looks towards, change to what is expected of it both in the short-term and over an extended outlook. It is an opportunity for all to learn and contribute, and it cannot be had anywhere else.
Euro Bus Expo and the routeone Awards also give an opportunity for the smallest operators and the largest to mingle. As has been seen in nascent coach decarbonisation work and growth of the trade body landscape in recent years, a coach or bus businesses has more in common with others not in its direct sphere of operation than may always be obvious.
Are there learnings to be shared between a hypothetical three-coach rural business and an operator of hundreds of buses in the urban environment? Yes, in both directions.
The former will likely have its customer relationships and community presence as a fine art. The latter may well be skilled in maximising efficiency. All that is needed is a conversation, perhaps in the queue for coffee or at the bar, for a ‘lightbulb moment’ to form that leads to longstanding benefit to an organisation.
Few in coach and bus have time to burn. Most everyone is busy. But the opportunity to connect with peers (direct or otherwise), suppliers, thought leaders and more is why Euro Bus Expo remains one of the industry’s key engagements.