Though it may not seem as such with the number of personal vehicles on the road, the public and private transportation industry is crucial to maintaining societal structure. For every car owner on the road, there are hundreds of pedestrians needing to catch a ride to their destination. This is especially the case in urban areas such as major cities and high-traffic tourist locations. These pedestrians rely on the availability of public transit to get them to work, the grocery store, and other places they need throughout their daily routine. As such, there’s plenty of opportunities for new transportation companies to pop up and help cater to these individuals. This is the ultimate guide to starting a transportation business and how you can get in on this lucrative prospect.
The Planning Process
Prior to handing out fliers and taking on clients, take some time to plan out your business and how you want to run it. While the process might seem as simple as buying a school bus for sale and picking up a few pedestrians, it takes detailed planning to ensure that everything goes smoothly. These are a few of the key steps you should take when you begin mapping out your potential new transportation business.
Choose Your Transportation Type
There are numerous advantages to starting a business in the transportation field, but one of the most noteworthy ones is diversity. Whether you’re interested in offering private rentals or would rather get into the public taxi service, there are a wide variety of options for you to choose from. So the first step in planning your new business is to decide which one is best for you. When making this decision, you might want to take into account what vehicles you already have access to or what part of the market is currently open for you to pursue. Both of these methods are viable ways to assess the market needs and raise your chances of success by filling those needs. Some additional options for your business might include car rentals, moving van rentals, or senior transportation.
Create a Brand and Brand Image
Next, you’ll need to create the brand and brand image that will represent your company in the market. This brand should make it clear what service your business offers while also making you seem reliable and trustworthy to those looking for your services. Over time, as you market your business and allow it to grow, this brand will become the identifying feature of your offerings and character.
Write Your Business Plan
From a general overview of the service you offer to your pricings and mission statement, your business plan is the all-encompassing report of your business. Developing this plan also includes performing an in-depth analysis of the market and assessing where your business will fit into it. You’ll need to gather statistics, research your potential competitors, and get an idea of whether similar companies were successful in the past. This plan will become your roadmap for starting up your business and ensuring that the process runs as smoothly as it can.
Get the Appropriate Licenses
Before you can begin hiring drivers and taking on clients, you need to get the authorization to offer your services in the first place. This involves acquiring all the necessary legal documents and certificates to prove that you are a reliable service provider and that you adhere to established safety regulations. It’s only after obtaining these documents that you can legally sell your services and be allowed to ensure the safety of clients.
Making it Happen
This next part of the ultimate guide to starting a transportation business has to do with putting your detailed plan into action and getting your business underway without incident. These are a few of the tasks that should be on your to-do list when you’re trying to transition your business from a vision into reality.
Generate Your Initial Budget and Expenses
Starting a business comes with an assortment of initial costs and expenses for you to consider. As such, it’s essential that you track your spending, especially during the first couple of months, to properly manage your budget. Doing so will make it significantly easier to control your financial stability during the following months.
Obtain the Necessary Funds
If you have the money to start your business right away, that’s great. However, the majority of novice business owners often need to find other methods to fund their new start-up. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to do so. From taking out a loan from your designated bank to pitching your company to a panel of investors, there are plenty of opportunities to make your dream come true if you put in the research. Just be sure to carefully consider each of your funding options to find the one that works best for your financial position.
Acquire the Manpower and Equipment
Once you have access to the funds you need, you need to purchase the right equipment for the job as well and find employees to perform the service. You want to not only find the right vehicles for the service you’re providing, but you’ll also need to ensure that they’re reliable and safe to drive. For your drivers, you’ll want to perform background checks on each of your candidates and ensure that they have clean driving records.
Get Insured
As you’re starting to take on your first clients, make sure that you and your company are insured in the event of an accident. General business insurance can provide financial protection for everything from claims of personal injury to property damage and workers’ compensation. This will prevent your business from being financially devastated by an unfortunate accident and that all parties get the compensation they’re owed.
At Schetky Bus and Van Sales, we aim to supply all aspiring business owners with the vehicles they need to get their transportation business up and running. With our stock of church buses, school buses, and handicap buses for sale, we have everything you could ever need to begin growing your fleet. We also have the technical expertise to teach you how to care for these machines and keep them reliable for years to come.
