DVC is Considering new Transportation Buses

[ztbz]

There is a rumor at work (I work at WDW Transportation) that DVC plans to run its own Bus Service separate from the other Non-DVC resorts at Disney, DVC’s current contract with Disney Transportation calls for 1 bus every 30 mins for each park, problem is that the DVC Resort such as the Saratoga Springs is so large (as large as one All Star Resorts) that many times the bus fills up a the first couple of stops then has to bypass the rest of the stops. So as a result Complaints are Up, So DVC wants to Hire an Outside Bus Company to run all the routes that go into the DVC Resorts, this would include all the DVC Properties.

The Thing is if an Outside Bus Company is bought in you will likely get worse Service, as Non-Disney Drivers will be the ones taking you to the parks. There’s also the Magic Kingdom question will the DVC bus take you direct to the Magic Kingdom or to TTC like the rest of the outside buses go too and if you get drop off at TTC you will have the added time of getting and waiting for the Monorail or Ferryboat to the Magic Kingdom.

Rumor was that DVC was putting this to a vote to the members, so good luck with this decision.

 

[RobDoc]

Thanks for the rumor. It's certainly something the members would want to consider as long as they understand all of the ramifications of such a change. At least an outside company would need to live up to the terms of any contract they might have with DVC or they could just be fired. Suggesting that an outside vendor could not provide the same level of service may not be fair either - unless you are suggesting that WDTC never has any shortcomings?

The odd thing about this "rumor" is that you make it sound as though ALL of the DVC resorts would be included - suggesting that BWV, BCV, VWL and AKV will have buses separate from their attached counterparts - BWI, BC/YC, WL and AKL?

From your description it sounds as though WDTC isn't interested in providing the service or isn't capable of meeting these needs?

 

[rsinj]

.

 

[paulh]

why dont they just increse the number of busses,insted of one every 1/2 hour then one every 15 min?
Paulh

 

[flyerron]

why dont they just increse the number of busses,insted of one every 1/2 hour then one every 15 min?
Paulh

I agree, This is almost stupid, why would'nt disney just increase teh number of busses????

 

[Chuck S]

Don't forget that Disney themselves contract with an outside company (Mears) to provide the services for Magical Express and convention/special group transportation. Disney could certainly give permission for an outside company to drop off at the MK bus stops. And remember, that the DVC resort rooms are also rented through CRO for cash...do you think Disney would allow a lower level of service (be it through an outside vendor OR WDTC) for their own profitable cash customers?

A more likely scenario is Disney themselves contracting with Mears to provide resort bus services, with Disney remaining the contractor, and Mears a sub-contractor, or Disney not having their own bus service anywhere anymore, and going fully with Mears for all bus services, using Disney's fleet of equipment. Our local school district owns the busses, but the day to day operations and drivers are contracted out to Laidlaw.

 

[ztbz]

DVC would have to raise the Dues.


Buses actually run every 20 mins but the contract is for 30 mins, overall if an outside company comes in, they will run one bus every 30 mins and won't send addition buses should the bus gets full at the resort or park. Also I have seen some of these outside bus companies and work with them sometimes. So I know what will happen should they Sub-out the Bus Contract.

 

[paulh]

think theres a bit of scaremungerin going on here.disney wont stop a new contractor dropping off at gate,there takeing from disney resorts.hell swan and dolfin not a disney resort and they drop of at gate
Paulh

 

[Chuck S]

DVC would have to raise the Dues.

Why? If the outside company has fewer CM benefits (as most certainly do, compared to Disney) it should cost us less for the same or even better services.

 

[Evil Princess]

think theres a bit of scaremungerin going on here.disney wont stop a new contractor dropping off at gate,there takeing from disney resorts.hell swan and dolfin not a disney resort and they drop of at gate
Paulh

Swan and Dolphin is a totally different story, they run under Disney Transport, and their busses are sometimes shared with Boardwalk, Yacht, and Beach. They are serviced by DT, even though they aren't owned by Disney. Do a little searching and it'll be explained why.

 

[paulh]

think it might be a case that disney might ousource all transportation.like most things
Paulh

 

[ztbz]

Here another thing about outside buses dropping off at the MK Front Gate.
Most of the Outside bus companies use very tall coach buses that won't fit under the monorail beam at the Magic Kingdom where the Clearance is pretty low, the outside buses can only drop off at the South Loop, not the North Loop as the North Loop has to go under the monorail bean.

One note about how they Sub-out Buses, Disney subs out buses to run in the morning during mod to Mears Transportation which can't always find enough buses that Disney wants, so Mears in turns subs out to another bus company or to many bus companies and Disney is just happy to get the extra buses, they will overlook complaints from guest about those bus drivers from these outside bus companies. This is the problem about Sub-Contracting, outside companies tend have different standard of conduct then Disney has, so not much gets fix.

 

[paulh]

ztbz i understand your problem,best place to raise your concerns is with you union.disney will ousorce all there buses not just dvc if there thinking about it
Paulh

 

[Chuck S]

Here another thing about outside buses dropping off at the MK Front Gate.
Most of the Outside bus companies use very tall coach buses that won't fit under the monorail beam at the Magic Kingdom where the Clearance is pretty low, the outside buses can only drop off at the South Loop, not the North Loop as the North Loop has to go under the monorail bean.

One note about how they Sub-out Buses, Disney subs out buses to run in the morning during mod to Mears Transportation which can't always find enough buses that Disney wants, so Mears in turns subs out to another bus company or to many bus companies and Disney is just happy to get the extra buses, they will overlook complaints from guest about those bus drivers from these outside bus companies. This is the problem about Sub-Contracting, outside companies tend have different standard of conduct then Disney has, so not much gets fix.

But again, you're saying that Disney would be willing to provide less service to someone that rents an expensive DVC villa from them from CRO than those that rent a $100 room at POP. That would be like providing less service at a Deluxe resort than at a Value resort.

And don't forget, that DVC pays part of the transport costs at the combined resorts. If DVC had their own transport provider, it would also increase costs for Disney to provide service to the Y&B, BW and WL. I don't see that happening. I think we'll see Disney totally outsorce all transport rather than see DVC with their own services.

 

[Chuck S]

ztbz i understand your problem,best place to raise your concerns is with you union.disney will ousorce all there buses not just dvc if there thinking about it
Paulh

And if Disney decides to that, it won't require an expensive vote from the DVC membership.

Printing ballots, mailing, tabulating 100K ballots isn't cheap.

 

[dwelty]

I have stayed at SSR twice now and NEVER waitied more than 20 min for a bus. If this is truly an issue, and they needed additional busses. My fellow DVC owners and I know that that cost, spread out over the 100,000 members that DVC has, would be a few dollars a year at most. If Disney is threatening to outsource the bus service, I believe it will be across the board and not just DVC. They have done this with bell service already. Since DVC does not pay transportation costs, we as the members do, why would they care?

 

[ztbz]

But again, you're saying that Disney would be willing to provide less service to someone that rents an expensive DVC villa from them from CRO than those that rent a $100 room at POP. That would be like providing less service at a Deluxe resort than at a Value resort.

Yes, WDW Management just doesn’t care, I know that’s sad to say, but I seen the worst in management these days. They basically trying to replace any cast member that’s been at WDW with 5 years or more service. It’s the Front Line Cast Members that you see at Walt Disney World and High-Level Managers won’t hear your complaints or be on the front line for that matter.

Bottom Line if you have happy well-qualified employees, you will have very happy guest, but inexperience employee’s lead to poor service, but it’s cheaper to have inexperience employees than higher paid experience employees these days.

Also I have not been pushing the Disney Unions these days, I been letting others do that, but the contract now is settle for the next 3 1/2 years, so nothing will be done on the union side, but if other companies start paying more, then Disney may be force to make changes and hang on to its staff that they currently have now.

As for the Unions I told them they better start targeting Mears Transportation in order to hang on to the Dues that they currently get otherwise they will soon not be getting as much income should the Buses gets Sub-contracted out.

Oh and by the way Buses is not the only area Disney is considering Sub-Contracting, just about every Resort, Every Shop, and Restaurants, Housekeeping and Security could be Non-Disney Cast Members soon.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Thanks for the rumor. It's certainly something the members would want to consider as long as they understand all of the ramifications of such a change. At least an outside company would need to live up to the terms of any contract they might have with DVC or they could just be fired. Suggesting that an outside vendor could not provide the same level of service may not be fair either - unless you are suggesting that WDTC never has any shortcomings?

The odd thing about this "rumor" is that you make it sound as though ALL of the DVC resorts would be included - suggesting that BWV, BCV, VWL and AKV will have buses separate from their attached counterparts - BWI, BC/YC, WL and AKL?

From your description it sounds as though WDTC isn't interested in providing the service or isn't capable of meeting these needs?

That's exactly what I was thinking too. Not only do the above resorts share transportation with their non-DVC counterparts, but mixed use resorts (partial DVC/partial "regular" resort) as those are have been rumored to be the wave of the future. This transportation change might work at SSR and OKW, but how would it work at the others?

 

[RobDoc]

Yes, WDW Management just doesn’t care, I know that’s sad to say, but I seen the worst in management these days. They basically trying to replace any cast member that’s been at WDW with 5 years or more service. It’s the Front Line Cast Members that you see at Walt Disney World and High-Level Managers won’t hear your complaints or be on the front line for that matter.

Bottom Line if you have happy well-qualified employees, you will have very happy guest, but inexperience employee’s lead to poor service, but it’s cheaper to have inexperience employees than higher paid experience employees these days.

Also I have not been pushing the Disney Unions these days, I been letting others do that, but the contract now is settle for the next 3 1/2 years, so nothing will be done on the union side, but if other companies start paying more, then Disney may be force to make changes and hang on to its staff that they currently have now.

As for the Unions I told them they better start targeting Mears Transportation in order to hang on to the Dues that they currently get otherwise they will soon not be getting as much income should the Buses gets Sub-contracted out.

Oh and by the way Buses is not the only area Disney is considering Sub-Contracting, just about every Resort, Every Shop, and Restaurants, Housekeeping and Security could be Non-Disney Cast Members soon.

Ahhh - perhaps an anti-management rant was the true purpose of this "rumor".

Thanks again for the heads-up!

 

[tjkraz]

DVC would have to raise the Dues.

So you're saying that DVC resorts would get a lower quality of service, less frequent service AND higher rates, and still they're considering such a change. Somethin' don't add up here.