Naples motorcoach owners heading to DC for rally to get financial help

Planes and trains have gotten their fair share of help during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, motorcoach drivers say it’s their turn – and they’re taking their message to Washington D.C.

Scott McGaughey, owner of MBI Tours, is hoping for some funds.

“Buses move America,” said Tim Rose, president of Dolphin Transportation. But the wheels on his Naples-based bus haven’t moved anyone in a couple of months. Neither have McGaughey’s buses.

“Everything that we had on the books from now to the future is done. Gone. Dried up,” McGaughey said.

His company MBI Tours would normally take sports teams to their games or help out with honor flights.

“Come about the 13th of March, the phones just kept ringing. Cancels. Canceling. Canceling. Canceling. Canceling.”

His is another industry impacted by COVID-19, and McGaughey believes Congress has forgotten about motorcoaches.

“They’ve already recognized the airline industry, the hotel industry, the cruiseline industry, the Amtrak. But the motorcoach industry wasn’t even mentioned.”

So, McGaughey is hitting the road again, with help from Dolphins Transportation, heading to Washington D.C. He’ll join hundreds of others in the motorcoach industry for a rally to get some recognition.

“Things have to be addressed, so that’s why we’re going to Congress to see if there is some way that they could put in a package or some way to help us get through this until things get better.”

The rally is planned for Wednesday.