Volvo Buses
Global
Starting his own small taxi company in Vilnius in 1995, Olegas Radionovas soon dreamed about growing his business. Together with his brother Edvinas, who managed the company’s finances, he gradually began expanding the firm’s services, offering rental cars and coaches to tourist groups from Lithuania and abroad.
In 2016, the company decided to buy its first 10 Volvo coaches, and Radionovas has been happy with the performance of the vehicles ever since. He understood that in a very competitive industry, his company needed to put customers first and deliver high-quality services if he wanted to be successful.
From the onset, Radionovas focused on providing his customers with a pleasant travel experience. “We don’t just bring our customers from A to B. Our business is also about doing everything we can to ensure our customers enjoy their journey with us.”
A business built on quality and service
Today, Ollex is one of the leading transportation companies in Lithuania and provides car, bus and minibus rental services, airport shuttles as well as private transfers. Radionovas employs more than 100 people – and his brother Edvinas is still by his side, looking after the financial side of things.
Planning to expand his coach fleet, Radionovas was looking at different models and brands for more than three years, in search of coaches that would suit his requirements. When attending the regional launch of Volvo’s new coach range in Volvo’s facilities in Wroclaw in autumn 2018, he decided to order 25 of the new Volvo 9700 and 15 Volvo 9900 coaches.
“I was impressed with the Volvo coaches I had in the past, and I knew that with these new models our company could continue to offer first-class services to our customers and run a profitable operation,” says Radionovas.
Janis Rorbaks (Volvo Buses), Dzintars Spengelis (VFS), Olegas Radionovas (Ollex)
Quick and simple financing
Ollex bought a total of 40 coaches, 20 of which were financed through Volvo Financial Services (VFS).
“VFS was very quick in dealing with my application. The whole process was much simpler than with a regular bank,” explains Radionovas. “Because VFS has its roots in the bus and coach business, they understood our operation and were able to provide us with a tailored solution, one that also covered insurance.”
VFS investigated several insurance options before they selected the suitable broker to deliver a tailored solution for this deal. Ollex received its first Volvo coaches in March this year, with the rest being delivered during 2019.
“With Volvo, we got the whole package: high quality coaches with a competitive lifecycle cost and high uptime, as well as a tailored financing solution that covers all our needs,” says Radionovas.
Comfort above all else
Over the next few years, Ollex plans to gradually renew its entire coach fleet to further increase customer comfort. In fact, customer comfort was one of the main reasons for Radionovas choosing Volvo.
Volvo 9900 is especially popular on long-distance journeys as its extra-high floor level and large glass panels provide exceptionally good views, both to the front and the sides.
Taking care of their customers
Ollex drivers have a wider responsibility; they plan and schedule the route and are also able to provide passengers with tourist information along the road. The drivers also speak several languages, making it easy for passengers.
“After all these years of expansion, our business is still growing because we are continuously improving what we do,” says Radionovas. “Once you stop listening to your customers, you have already lost.”
