Profili economici e strategici dei servizi di noleggio autobus con conducente nell’ambito del trasporto passeggeri

In planning the logistics of a territory, coach rental services with driver perform an important hinging function with other modes of transport, thus facilitating the capillarity of mobility supply and providing relevant support to the tourism industry. However, this segment is poorly treated by the literature on transport management because of the difficulty to disentangle data referred to this specific activity from those about regular transport services. This paper presents a focus on coach rental services by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of this business area and the need for intervention from both institutions and enterprises. The research makes use of a database built up from financial statements of companies, supplemented with a detailed questionnaire covering the period 2008-2010. The empirical analysis allows some assessments in terms of profitability trend, scale economies and diversification strategies. The findings identify a minimum efficient scale at 20 vehicles per firm, thus suggesting the need for a growth process involving smallest units, while diversification strategies are advantageous only for large operators with a fleet of more than 120 vehicles.