The American Bus Association (ABA) and Busworld Foundation announced a partnership that will bring Busworld’s education programming — the Academy — to ABA’s 2020 Marketplace in Omaha, Neb., which will be held Jan. 11 to 14. This is the first time Busworld Academy will be offered in the U.S., in conjunction with another association’s existing program.

While normally paired with Busworld exhibitions, which take place in seven locations around the world, this partnership with ABA was one that the Busworld Foundation saw as an opportunity to bring together motorcoach operators, transportation planners, academics, and all forms of bus transportation — transit, school, scheduled, etc. — to address the future of the bus and motorcoach industry.

“The mobility sector is worldwide one of the fastest evolving industries. Most of these evolutions are technology driven,” said Busworld Academy Director Jan Deman. “The implementation of these technologies in the daily operations of a bus or coach company can be extremely challenging. Hearing experts and exchanging ideas, experiences, and perceptions in order to bring more accurate services, answering the demands of society, of clients and potential clients, is the direct objective of the Busworld Academy.”

The Busworld Academy is recognized for bringing together key industry influencers who shape the trends today and in the future.

Past Busworld Academy topics led by international business leaders and journalists included transportation terrorism attacks, industry market forecasts, future products and innovations, safety and maintenance technologies, main trends and developments of the public transport sector, affecting bus and ebus production, and operation and more.

Looking to the future both ABA and Busworld Academy look to co-locate their education programming at ABA Marketplaces throughout the country.

"The addition of Busworld Academy to ABA's Marketplace will not only bring increased attention to the industry at large but start the process of the bus and motorcoach industry learning from each other and working together globally to not only maintain our relevance in the transportation market but continue growing as the safest form for transportation available to customers worldwide," said ABA President/CEO Peter Pantuso.