Business Plan Ptst Uk

Table of contents

Executive summary 1

Industry analysis 2

Description of the public transport industry 2

Business concept 5

Opportunity identified 5

The concept of the company 6

Unique features of the services 6

Strategy 7

Mission Statement 7

Objectives 8

Competitive strategy 8

Marketing plan 9

Market research evidence 9

Competition 12

Segmenting, Targeting, Positioning 13

Segmenting 13

Targeting 14

Positioning 14

Marketing plan 14

Financial Plan 15

Sales forecast assumptions 18

Operations plan 21

Human Resource management plan 22

REFERENCES 24

Executive summary

Personal Special Transport Services (PSTS) is a private hire vehicle (PHV) company located in North-East London that offers an alternative transportion for customers with special needs.

The company will offer door-to-door transportation with specially accustomed MPV vehicles to suit different disability customer requirements. Our main customer groups will include people with limited mobility in need of extra care - people with disabilities and elderly people.

PSTS is established in 2007 as an answer to the growing demand for transportation of people with decreased mobility in the UK. The rapid growth of the aging population will lead to a third of UK residents being aged 60+ by 2019 (Mintel, 2006).

Additionally, current public transportation shows limited quality of service for people with disabilities. Around 80% of this passenger group uses taxi/PHV transportation for their everyday activities (DPTAC, 2001).

The unique features PSTS will offer to customers will depict the company’s strategy of focus differentiation. The added value of PSTS services will be reflected through the various vehicle integrated devices that will ease the use for transportation of customers. Furthermore, a professional experience will be reflected through our drivers’ awareness and knowledge of the needs and requirements of customer groups. Innovative booking and alternative charging systems are going to enhance customers’ experience.

Industry analysis

Description of the public transport industry

In the UK, the inland public transport industry market size is estimated at 43, 6 billion pounds annually (TAS, 2004). Assuming continued government grants, public transport's share of trips is expected to grow from 36% to 39% of all daily trips by 2016 (Webb, 2005; DFT, 2005).

In 2003, around 650 million journeys were made by taxi and PHV in the UK. Households spent Ð'Ј3 billion on taxi and PHV journeys (DFT, 2006). This excludes spending by businesses and foreign visitors, which would result in an increase of these figures. Additionally, this sector has seen a continuous growth of 0, 8% since 2000 (DFT, 2006).

In the five year period, since 2000, London has seen an incline in public transport usage by 4% (TFL, 2004). This is supported by a decrease of transport by car - 4% and an increase of 30% of bus transport and 5% of train and underground transport.

Albeit the growth of car ownership, the trend for increasing public transport in London is due to affordable and simple fares, service improvements and the impact of the congestion zone charging.

The public transport industry structure is outlined by 4 main parties: bus operators, rail and underground operators, taxis and PHV and other community based transporters.

In 2005 bus journeys in London accounted 18%of the public transport market share, underground вЂ" 10%, Rail -7% and 0,8% by taxies/PHV.

Figure 1. Public transport industry structure in London

Source: TFL (2006, pg. 2)

Below are presented the weekday journeys by transport mode and purpose.

Table 1: Weekday journeys by transport mode and purpose in London

Source: TFL (2006, pg. 3)

Business concept

Opportunity identified

A specific niche segment in the public transport market does not seem to be addressed properly. Passengers with decreased mobility share a general feeling of dissatisfaction with the current public transportation supply. This segment constitutes people with disabilities and elderly people above 60 years old.

Bus services receive mixed appreciation for disable people, with 38% dissatisfaction and 42% satisfaction (DPTAC, 2001) . This shows a significant voice against bus services. Dissatisfaction is mostly attributed to the low quality of transportation, such as ease of use and frequency, but also bus routes and walking distances to bus stops. However, alternatives are not favoured due to increased costs (DPTAC, 2001). Rail services receive even more negative reactions with only 20% rate satisfaction.

Despite taxis and PHV vehicles having the least market share of the public transportation, a recent research by MORI (OFT, 2003) shows that disabled people use this service 67% more then non-disabled passengers. In addition, 80% of disabled people will use taxi/PHV service for everyday activities such as shopping and taking medical examinations which is in contrast with the normal patters of usage of the UK population as a whole (RADAR, 2006).

From the above it can be seen that there is a significant gap in public transportation