The director of the National Business Federation of Bus Transport (FENEBUS), José Luis Pertierra, analyzes in this interview granted to our blog the major challenges facing the passenger road transport sector in Spain. He considers it unfair that the State does not treat this sector the same as others, such as railways, and points to unfair competition from platforms like Blablacar, which mediate between drivers and users, as a danger to the viability of the sector that FENEBUS defends.
What is FENEBUS and who are the members of this Association?
FENEBUS is the oldest Federation in the passenger transport sector in Spain. Its origins date back to 1924, when a small group of businessmen at the time decided to establish a trade organization in the passenger transport sector through the Chamber of Mechanical Transport. Subsequently, the National Union of Transport S.A. (LUNTSA) and the Commercial Bus Service (SECORBUS) were created, respectively, until in 1977, under the Law on Business and Trade Union Organizations, the National Business Federation of Bus Transport (FENEBUS) was created, which today brings together more than thirty territorial and sectoral associations, as well as a hundred directly affiliated companies. In total, more than 2,800 companies and nearly 19,000 passenger transport vehicles constitute the associative base of our Federation today.
What are the objectives promoted by the organization and what kind of actions do they carry out to achieve them?
The main objectives of FENEBUS are the representation of the passenger transport companies and associations integrated into our organization, defending their interests before the Administration and institutions and bodies related to passenger transport. We also provide advice, handle requests, and offer guidance on any request from our associates. We also carry out important informational work through nearly 200 informative circulars each year on matters of interest to employers, weekly digital newsletters like FENEBUS News, which we send them every Tuesday, and the quarterly FENEBUS magazine (which since this year we publish in digital format and freely accessible to anyone who wishes to consult it on our website).
Our associative work is characterized by a service activity for our associates, which is why shortly after Spain’s integration into the European Union, FENEBUS created its own delegation in Brussels, which is about to celebrate three decades.
Finally, for the past decade, FENEBUS has been internationalizing by promoting the creation in 2007 in Seville of the Ibero-American Association of Bus Transport –AITBUS– comprising organizations such as ANTROP (Portugal), CANAPAT (Mexico), ABRATI (Brazil), FENABUS (Chile), ASOTRANS (Colombia), CEAP (Argentina), and ANETRA (Uruguay).
What are the main challenges facing the Spanish bus transport sector?
In recent years, the passenger transport sector in Spain has evolved very rapidly based on three factors. Firstly, there has been a significant business concentration, and not precisely among small and medium-sized enterprises, which perhaps needed such concentration the most, but among large companies, a circumstance to which the arrival of international groups in the sector also contributed.
Secondly, greater business professionalization, with which owner-entrepreneurs have been placing executives outside the transport families at the head of their companies, entrusting them with the management of the companies, and thirdly, the introduction of new technologies as a fundamental management element in any passenger transport company and in its various departments.
As for the challenges currently facing the sector, I believe they stem from three very specific circumstances. First, the unequal treatment that road passenger transport suffers compared to other modes of transport. Second, unfair competition from these other modes, such as railways, which receive significant public subsidies allowing them to apply predatory prices to displace their competitors from the market, and third, new online platforms like Blablacar, which mediate between private drivers and users without being authorized to do so, in exchange for a commission.
What legislative initiatives need to be implemented to address these challenges?
For the first two cases of unequal treatment between modes of transport and unfair competition from railways to road transport, new legislation is not necessary, but rather the will and decision of the Administration to prevent it. In the same State General Budget Law, one can see the multimillion-dollar allocation of more than 600 million euros for railways and zero euros for road passenger transport. As for competition from online platforms, I believe that EU-wide regulations would be necessary to prevent more permissive internal regulations in different countries from harming our companies, which operate legally.
What is your assessment of the current state of the bodywork industry in Spain?
I believe that the bodywork industry in Spain is at the forefront of the European bodywork industry, at least that is what is evident at international shows or fairs. Furthermore, the major Spanish bodywork manufacturers have managed to balance their production between the domestic and foreign markets to achieve the greatest level of equilibrium. As for the profitability of bodywork companies, I suppose they are largely affected, just like the passenger transport sector, by the crisis, which fortunately seems to be starting to rebound.
How is the Castrosua Group perceived by FENEBUS?
Personally, I have the good fortune to know the Castrosua Group practically since its origins. Therefore, I am an exceptional witness to the group’s historical evolution and the constant improvement of its product, reaching leadership positions in the sector today. To achieve this, the Group has always had exceptional employees, tireless fighters, and permanent defenders of their company, its honorary president, Don José Castro, to whom I send a big hug from here. FENEBUS has always maintained close relations based on mutual collaboration with Castrosua, exemplified by their permanent advertising presence in our magazine and their participation in all our traditional coach week congresses. From here, I express our gratitude to the company and wish it a successful future.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to FENEBUS for their willingness to collaborate.
