Dealer Spotlight: MacAllister Transportation
Dealer: MacAllister Transportation
Interviewee: Matt Lomas
Title: Account Manager
MacAllister Tranportation’s Matt Lomas worked hard to get his foot in the door with Lake Central School District. Once in, he was able to bust through.
The district’s region director, Christian Flores, was introduced to gasoline and propane buses at a regional presentation by Blue Bird and ROUSH CleanTech. At the time, the district was running International diesel-fueled school buses. This meeting sparked more conversations with the school.
Then, it was at a Blue Bird PIT Stop where the buses really caught on. Christian and some of his mechanics got to drive both models and were taken by the simplicity of the fuel system itself and the ease of maintenance that they expected to experience by switching away from a diesel bus.
In order to get the district even more comfortable with the Ford powertrain, Matt lent Christian a demo bus. Then, Matt brought him for a tour at ROUSH CleanTech to learn more. That combination sealed the deal. The school district made its initial purchase of five Blue Bird Vision Gasoline buses!
Once Lake Central School District ran the gasoline buses and became comfortable with the Ford powertrain, Matt felt that the district would be more open to the idea of propane buses. He explained that with propane, the school district would experience less expensive fuel costs. He let the fleet manager know that there would be additional maintenance savings compared with diesel. These two factors, lower fuel and maintenance costs, will help the total cost of ownership of a propane bus be significantly less than that of a gasoline bus.
Matt was successful. The school district now has 10 propane buses on order!
Selling propane over gasoline was an easy task for Matt. He understands — and conveys to customers — that the significant fuel savings at the pump and in maintenance will more than cover the upfront cost of a propane bus.
Congratulations Matt on securing a conquest customer from the competition!
