Travelling by Coach on Day Tours & Holidays

 

We are now back to operating Day Tours & Holidays! We can't wait to get back on the road again but there are a few guidlines we have to follow as a company to ensure we are providing the best duty of care to our staff and all those who choose to let us be apart of their Holiday experience.

 

We want to reassure you that we have carried out risk assessments regarding Coach travel and we have put a number of measures in place to make sure everyone is safe and the chance of Covid-19 being transmitted between others on our coaches are as low as reasonably practicle.

 

• We have carried out a number of different risk assessments and have achieved the 'We're Good to Go' certficiate which is recognised by Visit England, Vist Scotland and Visit Wales.

• Installed an air purifer system called 'Air Aura'

 

About air aura

The product uses both UV-C light and two patented technologies to kill bacteria and viruses, including COVID-19. A copper inlay is built into the Ray-Filter and a Sterionizer is targeted at significantly reducing mould, bacteria, fungus and MRSA.

In addition, a HEPA filter reduces CO₂  and removes both fine and large pollution, pollen particulates, volatile organic compounds from burnt fuels and odours. The manufacturer says that as a result, 99.9% of airborne particles as small as 0.3 microns as removed from the air as it passes through the unit.

The unit has been trialled in Sheba Medical Hospital in Israel and Aura Air claims that it is the only filter product that has been tested for its effectiveness in removing COVID-19.

You can learn more about the air aura here.

• Installed automatic hand sanitiser despensers at the entrance of our coaches.

• We use fogging machines on all our bus & coaches. We fog our coaches with UK approved products that work to kill all germs, bacteria and viruses.

• We have adapted stricter cleaning regimes, which touch points being wiped down frequently with products that kill any bacteria and viruses.

• 50% capacity has been introduced to aid with social distancing on board.

• The wearing of face coverings have been made mandatory by The Welsh Governement so we are asking you to please remeber to bring your mask when you travel with us.

 

As the guidance changes as we learn more about Covid-19, we may have to enforce more measures on board but we will always let you know in advance.

 

Recent guidlines tell us that no more than 6 people can mingle in a group.word

 

“All businesses, including transport operators, must take all reasonable measures to ensure that all people on their premises, including vehicles, maintain 2m social distancing (except between two members of the same household or between a person cared for and their carer). In addition, businesses must take any other reasonable measures for the purpose of minimising the risk of exposure to the virus, including the requirement to wear face coverings in indoor public places. If, however, maintaining 2m social distance in all cases would make their operations commercially unviable then they could feasibly go below 2m, but only so long as other reasonable mitigations are put in place to prevent transmission. Clearly, in such circumstances the importance of taking other reasonable mitigating measures increases. Risk assessments will need to consider carefully the balance between these matters if anything less than 2m social distancing is maintained. If it is proposed that less than 2m social distancing is maintained but other reasonable mitigating measures will not sufficiently mitigate the risk of exposure to the virus that will point to the need to revert to 2m social distancing, or the activity discontinued.”

 

The Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) and Coach and Bus Operators Cymru (CaBAC) have both identified a series of mitigation measures that are deemed to enable the loading of all forward facing seats on local bus services from Monday 21 June 2021. These measures underpin risk assessments that each operator will need to update and apply. The intention being to increase capacity safely and reduce the uncertainty that previously existed regarding the ability, or otherwise, to travel.

Guidance we have recived from the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK (CPT) states the following (from UK Goverment, Department for Digital Culture Media & Sport and the Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy);

Coach Tours

If it is possible to ensure that groups of more than six (or larger if they are from one household) do not mingle on a tour, it can go ahead. People must stay in their own group on all parts of the tour - for example whilst in hospitality settings and when visiting attractions as well as whilst on the coach. Legislation does not place any capacity constraints on public transport services, private hire vehicles or leisure tours. Operators should continue to provide Covid-secure transport services which can accommodate multiple groups of six people. DfT will update the transport guidance shortly to clarify and assist passengers and operators.

 

‘We're Good To Go’ is the official UK mark to signal that a tourism and hospitality business has worked hard to follow Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines, has carried out a COVID-19 risk assessment and has a process in place to maintain cleanliness and aid social distancing.

 

Updated guidance from 30/09/2020

 

There has been considerable confusion over the last few days concerning travel to the areas of Local Lockdown in Wales

CPTs Coaching Manager Andy Warrender has engaged in an extensive discussion with the Welsh Government and Visit Wales and we can now confirm that:

 

The view of Visit Wales is that the restrictions apply to both residents of the areas in lockdown, and visitors from outside the area

Therefore this means that:

 

• Travel in, to or from the area is restricted to anyone with reasonable excuse, holidays will not be considered as a reasonable excuse so tours to anywhere in a lockdown area must not operate

 

• Tours due to depart and which are due to arrive before lockdown restrictions apply, should not depart unless they have already done so

 

• Tours in the area at the start of lockdown restrictions (6pm on Thursday for Llandudno), should leave as soon as is practical

 

CPT is aware of a situation where a driver is currently in Llandudno and is required to take a regular rest period. We believe that this would be considered a reasonable excuse, and therefore the tour can remain in Llundudno until the driver is able to resume duty

Visit Wales confirm that Hotels are allowed to remain open, but can only legally accept customers with a reasonable excuse to stay there.

 

They are therefore required to cancel any holiday booking that they have previously accepted CPT remains in dialogue with Visit Wales on this matter and we will update members if there are any further developments.