BUS charter companies are having to park buses and let drivers go as bookings are cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
West Coast Bus Charters owner Geoff Mead said his northern suburbs, family-run business had received cancellations for most of its bookings by schools and government departments last week as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Mead said he and his wife Renee owned 18 buses and had been employing 16 drivers as well as two office staff and a cleaner, but had to let them go.
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READ NOWHe said almost 50 bookings for one day – March 25 – were cancelled, and they had been down to two jobs a day since March 16.
“We’ve gone from a healthy business to nothing,” he said.
“We’ve had to let the drivers go because there is no work; it’s just unviable for us to have them here.
“We are not the only ones; there are about seven or eight bus operators up here in the northern corridor that have all got the same problem.
“Private companies across the whole country are on their knees; they have got no work.
“Thousands of vehicles are now parked up so they are not using fuel, not using tyre products, not using cleaning products – it has roll-on effects.”
Mr Mead said he had removed number plates from the buses to take to the Transport Department to de-register the vehicles because it cost about $6000 a year to licence each bus.
“We are not going to pay for them to sit in a depot,” he said.
A State Government spokesman said the most direct channel to support businesses was through the payroll tax system.
“The payroll tax changes announced recently will mean around 1000 small businesses will no longer pay payroll tax, 11,000 will receive a payroll tax cut and 7400 businesses will receive a grant,” he said.
The spokesman said the government had frozen household fee and charge increases and doubled the energy assistance payment for about 300,000 households to support spending in the WA economy.
“Nonetheless, it is understood that sole traders and those that do not pay payroll tax will not receive direct assistance from these changes,” he said.
“As such, the treasurer is working with the Federal Government to identify other means to provide support with further announcements to be expected to be made.”
The spokesman said a March 16 stimulus package announcement included one-off grants of $17,500 to businesses with a payroll between $1 million and $4 million.
He said small and medium sized businesses affected by COVID-19 could apply to defer payment of their 2019-20 payroll tax until July 21.
Pearce MHR Christian Porter said the Federal Government’s second stage of its economic plan would help “small and medium businesses to bounce back”.
The plan includes up to $100,000 for eligible small and medium sized businesses, and not for-profits, including charities, that employ people, with a minimum payment of $20,000 in late April.
Small and medium business entities with aggregated annual turnover under $50 million and that employ workers are eligible.
The government plans to establish the Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme to support small and medium enterprises accessing working capital to help them get them through the impact of the coronavirus.
Under the scheme, the government would guarantee 50 per cent of new loans issued by eligible lenders to SMEs.
For companies in financial distress, the government is temporarily increasing the threshold at which creditors can issue a statutory demand on a company and the time companies have to respond to statutory demands they receive.
The package also includes temporary relief for directors from any personal liability for trading while insolvent.
Mr Mead said they would still have to pay almost $40,000 a year for insurance, but their private insurer had advised it did not cover COVID-19 and pandemics.
“Business disruption insurance doesn’t do anything for anybody,” he said.
While banks have offered loan relief for small businesses, Mr Mead said they owned their buses outright, and did not know if getting a loan that was interest-free for six months would cost more in the long-run.
“None of us know if six months is going to be enough,” he said.
Mr Mead said the buses were not designed to carry freight and it would not be cost efficient to do that.
The State Government created the Small Business Assistance Centre to help business owners navigate recently announced measures to alleviate the impacts of COVID-19.
Call 133 140 between 8.30am and 4.30pm week days or visit www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au.
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