After a global pandemic and a longstanding driver shortage, Canada’s motorcoach industry could literally be one bad fall/winter season away from a total collapse. However, the good news is that it could also be one tool away from being saved.
“Whenever we have an economic downturn, be it a pandemic or financial crisis, leisure travel is one of the first cuts consumers will make. Bus drivers will feel it first when people stop travelling,” says Angie Ricci, Owner/ Operator of Angel Tours & Entertainment Inc.
“Now when you take a global pandemic and combine it with a pre-existing global shortage of drivers, it means that the backbone of the tourism industry is now at a tipping point,” she says. “If we’re locked down again this winter, I don’t know if the industry, as a whole, can recover.”
In an attempt to raise awareness of the crisis, Ricci recently published an impassioned video that shows all of her company’s buses parked because, quite simply, she has no business and even if she did, she doesn’t have enough drivers.
“Pre-pandemic, this yard would be empty. In fact, we would hire other companies to do our overflow because we were short of drivers,” said Ricci while walking between stranded buses.
“You might think that is a success story, but it’s far from the truth. In fact, the stress and struggles of having to find drivers during the drivers shortage crisis were impossible. Now, the crisis dates back over 15 years plus. This is not a Canadian crisis, it’s a global crisis.”
This already dire shortage has been exacerbated by the pandemic.
When Canada locked down, the few drivers that the industry had were sent home for over a year. However, as the nation started to re-open, tourism and land travel did not. Being a part of the hardest hit industry, with no clear path in sight, has forced drivers to move on. Some opted to retire early, while others have pursued other careers. Meanwhile, some out-of-work drivers are still sitting at home because they’re having trouble connecting with the companies that desperately need their skills.
In an attempt to help restart the industry and help drivers get back to work, Ricci has parlayed her 23 years of experience in the industry into DriverDX, a new SaaS-enabled tool that connects carriers to drivers, and drivers to work.
“DriverDX has two key functions that can really help people in the industry right now. The first is a professional driver marketplace where qualified drivers of buses, trucks, and vans upload their availability. Companies can come in and use our marketplace to find new drivers. We have SaaS-enabled tools to help them search for the driver and actually dispatch the driver,” says Ricci.
DriverDX also offers a unique opportunity for drivers that lost their jobs during the pandemic to leverage their unused licenses.
For example, a school bus driver can find a new opportunity to drive motorcoach, small trucks, or delivery vans.
“We want to become the builder and the supplier of the next generation of professional drivers. We’ve created a platform that can bring drivers and companies together. And we’re also the human power company to bring drivers into the industry, potentially train them, and match them with the right companies,” says Ricci.
She adds that she has already been contacted by a number of desperate motorcoach companies asking if DriverDX is ready.
But she says, while getting closer, the company is looking for Canadian investment to fund a national plan, adding that “Canadian women in tech are under-funded both by government and private money.
“Ironically,” she says “we have a ‘Made In Canada’ solution that may get funded by an investor in the USA. We need a Canadian investor to save the Canadian transportation industry.”