Last week I had the pleasure to join with 4 members of the Castlemaine Rotary club and 4 from the Eaglehawk Rotary Club to travel to Cobar and Rose Isle Station (on the Darling River) in Northern NSW. This has been a joint project of the two clubs to work with the Rotary Club of Cobar to support local families and farmers who have been affected by the drought. With support from the D9800 drought fund and the NSW government, 10- B double trucks of hay, over 360 food packs, plus multiple pallets of dog food, plus the installation of a desalination plant has been provided. In all, an excess of over $300,000 of support has been provided. To further cement the relationship with the community the two Victorian Rotary clubs were invited to assist with the catering for over 100 people from surrounding stations at Rose Isle Station on the Darling River. This was a Wellbeing project developed by the Royal Flying Doctors Service and was a first. All who attended had the opportunity to have anything from a haircut, massage, facial, feet, teeth, skin and eye checks, nutrition, personal trainers, art and craft classes, golf, archery, fishing and talking circles, plus more. Our role was to prepare and cook the evening pizzas on Friday night, breakfast lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday. There was no shortage of food.

This was one of the best activities I have been involved with, not only working with our two neighbouring Rotary clubs, and the Cobar Rotary Club, but best of all to develop a great relationship with the teams from the Royal Flying Doctors, to be able to assist in any way that we can.

 

 

Toni reported on the District Assembly which was well organised and very informative. Toni also has organised some sample jackets for members to try on prior to purchase if required.

 

 

Our guest speaker for the morning was Michael Christian. Michael is a 4^th generation member of the Christians Bus lines team.

Commencing in 1896 in Mortlake as wheelwrights and funeral Directors, the business was founded by 3 brothers Bill, Frank and Jack and assisted by two of their daughters. As time progressed they moved on to sell cars, including Rugby, Plymouth, BMC and GM. By 1959 they had a business in Terang as well.

The third generations of the family from 1938-1977 sold Holden cars, (Michael is a self-confessed Holden fan) and to complement the car sales they started to run school busses as the soldier settlement farms were growing in the district. It was found that whilst the workshop was quiet, the mechanics could drive the busses in the morning and evening, which complimented the workshop nicely and maximized the effectiveness of all.

The school bus runs developed into charters and grew bigger by the years. In 1995, Kangaroo Flat Bus lines were purchased. This included 22 busses with school, V-Line and Council runs.

In 2000, McMillan bus lines from Ararat, then in 2003, Ocean Grove bus lines with 23 busses, and in 2009, Walkers from Spring Gully was added to the fleet. This was an interesting period as Walkers had all of the Special school contracts in Bendigo.

In 2012 Kings Bus lines from Colac  was purchased to now see 220 staff, 166 busses and coaches in 7 locations with 22 mechanics. Collectively Christians Bus lines travel over 14,000 km per day.

One of the new issues to emerge in the industry is compliance, particularly with vehicle emissions. At this time there is no need to move to the European standard of Euro 6. Autonobusses and Electromobilty are also on the horizon.

In 2012 a Programmed Maintenance Asset Program (Fleet Management) was introduced to provide all of the analytics related to the operation of the business. With all of the 4^th generation involved in the business, they have each an area of specialisation. With increased congestion in our cities, parking is a major issue, hence busses are a great option, however fare invasion is a serious problem for all providers.

A recent trial to check tickets by PSO’s (Authorised Officers) from Melbourne was very successful (albeit not so, from some of the passengers)

A recent trial also was a Hybrid bus from Latrobe Uni. and the Hospital, was successful with a 22% savings in fuel, however over 1,000,000 kms need to be travelled before the extra costs of the bus are covered.

Michael then gave a brief snapshot of his life after leaving school. Having pestered the teams in the workshop since a child, he was destined somehow to become involved (Peter Brock was his idol). Starting off at Uni in a Mechanical Engineering degree, he soon found the challenge of academia and the city too much. This lead to travelling, starting in the USA, Colorado ski fields, then joining with a mate in a Ford camper (similar to John and Caroline Harkins rig), travelling down to Costa Rica in South America.

Michael then found himself in Europe and support his lifestyle he admitted to an prospective employer, that he can drive a bus! This lead to a magical journey travelling across Europe driving large touring coaches with upstairs living and sleeping quarters. He drove in convoys of up to 13 coaches with touring musicians, including Kylie Minogue, Guns and Roses, Groove Armada and Natalie Imbruglia and their teams as passengers.

Now settled in Bendigo Michael has a clear passion and drive for continual improvement in their business.

As expected there were many questions. Thanks Michael for a great presentation.