Growth, Innovation Just Part of Success Story at Cline Tours

In 1996, John McCommon, president of Ridgeland, Mississippi’s Cline Tours Inc., purchased the operation, which at the time was about 13 years old but only consisted of one bus. “It was a well-known business at the time with a great name in the region, which is why I chose to keep the Cline Tours brand,” explains McCommon. “But obviously, you can’t make a living with one bus, so I looked to grow the business and was able to do so fairly quickly.” Flash forward to today, McCommon has grown Cline Tours to eight locations across Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee, which transports more than 10,000 passengers at any given time. Growing its stature in the industry, Cline Tours prides itself on providing excellent customer service, remaining vigilant with its safety practices, and using cutting-edge technology throughout the organization. From McCommon’s start, he not only rebuilt and expanded the company’s fleet but did so with only new coaches engineered with the latest features — a strategic tactic that distinguishes Cline from its competitors and bolsters its bottom line. For these reasons and more, McCommon and Cline Tours was named METRO Magazine ’s Motorcoach Operator of the Year at this year’s United Motorcoach Association’s EXPO, which was held in Charlotte, N.C., in February. “Receiving this award certainly means a lot, especially coming from METRO Magazine , which is very well respected in the industry,” says McCommon. “Also, to be recognized as a real contributor to our industry means a lot to us and we are very proud of it.” Cline’s Growth and Strategy Cline’s Growth and Strategy Since purchasing Cline, McCommon has brought a progressive and ambitious touch to create one of the nation’s most innovative tour, charter, and corporate shuttle operations. Upon purchasing the operation, McCommon secured work at the then burgeoning casinos in Mississippi, growing the fleet to about 13 coaches by 2001 in the process. Following 9/11, McCommon bought out his business partner and saw the growth of his company eventually begin to grow by the mid-2000s. “Once the shock of 9/11 and the change of ownership wore off, we started to really grow organically,” he explains. “Over the years, we’ve also had numerous opportunities to grow our company through acquisitions and have done so through the purchase of 19 companies, not only in Mississippi but also in Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee.” While recognizing casino business was helping to pay the bills at the time, McCommon used his company’s success to take advantage of other opportunities to diversify as they arose, including a military contract at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Miss. “That contract produced great revenue and allowed us to start buying new buses,” says McCommon. “Once we started adding those buses, the business seemed to follow.” Another successful avenue for Cline Tours came in the way of the NCAA’s Southeastern Conference (SEC) colleges and universities, including the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State, and the University of Alabama. “We probably do more SEC football business than any other bus company,” says McCommon, who adds that Cline’s clientele also includes smaller, lesser-known colleges and universities, as well as a junior colleges and private schools. He says a heavy saturation in this market was key to the operation getting back on its feet after COVID-19 took away so much of the company’s business. “Many of those schools were less affected by COVID, and after about four months or so, that business started to come back, especially at some of the high schools, and then eventually those Division 1 college programs, who were the first to start competitive sports again,” says McCommon. “Once that business started to come back, it came back strong.” Today, the majority of Cline’s business is charter. New Coaches, Safety, and More New Coaches, Safety, and More From McCommon’s start, he not only rebuilt and expanded the company’s fleet but did so with only new coaches engineered with the latest features — a strategic tactic that distinguishes Cline from any competitor and bolsters its bottom line. In his words, “That’s because everybody wants to ride on the new motorcoaches.” Cline tailors its coaches’ specifications adding important safety options such as 360-degree cameras for a bird’s eye view around the coach and the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) that provides collision mitigation, lane departure, and traffic sign recognition. “We’re very concerned with the safety of not only our passengers, but also our staff,” says McCommon. “One of the reasons we began to move toward using only newer coaches was because newer buses are generally safer buses because the technology is more up to date. They also typically get about 10 to 15 percent better fuel mileage, which helps us control fuel costs.” In addition to being named METRO ’s Motorcoach Operator of the Year, Cline Tours was also the winner of 2024’s International Motorcoach Group’s Safety Award. “We are really proud of winning that award as well, because safety is really how we sell ourselves to our customers,” says McCommon. With its focus on new equipment and ability to snap back from COVID-19 rather quickly, Cline Tours was among the first in the nation to place a new 10-coach order with MCI in 2021. The move was a step back toward Cline’s policy of swapping out its old coaches for new ones. “Before the pandemic, we were buying 20 to 25 coaches a year, at our peak, from MCI,” says McCommon. “And that practiced continued for about 10 years, where we’d sell 20 coaches and buy 20 coaches, but COVID killed that. We plan to get back on that cycle, but it’s going to take several years for us to do so.” McCommon says there have been several reasons for his operation straying from its traditional practice, including the value of previously-owned coaches cratering and soaring interest rates. Another reason, he adds, is the supply chain issues experienced by motorcoach suppliers. “Our suppliers have been devastated, particularly the manufacturers and parts suppliers. It is crazy what we had to go through during COVID, but it’s been especially crazy for them and we can’t operate without our suppliers,” McCommon says, adding that he plans on remaining patient and continuing to work as a partner with his suppliers. “We know they’ve been through a lot and we’re sure there’s going to be some good to come out of it, but until then we are going to continue to work with MCI and all our suppliers to find solutions and keep moving forward,” he says. Innovative Technologies, Maintaining Customers Innovative Technologies, Maintaining Customers Cline Tours keeps miles ahead of others by applying innovative technologies. From its front office, to dispatch, to operational data on its coaches, Cline is often the first to embrace new software and systems to improve customer service and operational profitability. “One of the first steps in the technology chain for us that was truly meaningful were electronic logs,” says McCommon. “We got on board with that technology about a year and a half before the mandate because we didn’t want to wait until the last minute to find out there were issues. Fortunately, the first supplier we partnered with worked out for us and they are still our partner today.” At Cline, every customer relationship starts with communication. Staff stay connected digitally with customers and drivers in advance, during, and after each trip. To successfully enable this next level of service, Cline uses C Spire, a Ridgeland, Miss.-based telecommunications supplier, for its VoIP phone systems, email, and software platforms, which link its locations and powers its online booking. More clients are navigating away from booking by telephone, McCommon said in a YouTube video promoting its partnership with C Spire. “Forty percent of our bookings are now online. It’s where everyone is going, and our mission is to get there first,” he says. While adding that 90% of Cline’s work is from repeat customers, McCommon says much of his operation’s work is driven through its website, which was revamped several years ago and is responsive for optimal viewing from a phone, tablet, or computer. With business strong and getting stronger, McCommon says his operation’s biggest issue is the same as most, which is having enough drivers on board to handle potential growth. “We had a lot of drivers who moved on to other opportunities or just didn’t come back after COVID because they were retired already and didn’t necessarily need the income,” he says. To combat the issue, Cline has raised wages, offered sign-on bonuses, and created competitive benefits packages, including insurance and 401K programs. “The buses aren’t going to drive themselves,” says McCommon. “We need drivers, and to get them in the door, we’ve got to make working here as attractive as possible.” While the trucking industry does supply some competition for drivers in the areas Cline serves, McCommon says with that industry down they have been able to address another talent issue the operation has been experiencing. “We have been able to hire some mechanics from the trucking business, or from shops that serve the trucking industry, because business their business has been falling off, but ours is not,” says McCommon. “While that remains to be the case, we want to continue to take advantage of while we still can.”