Area businesses all across Oneida and Madison counties are navigating how to run a successful company in uncharted Covid-19 waters.
A Clinton transportation company keeps rolling along after seeing a standstill in business as pandemic guidelines restrict operations.
Hale Transportation rang in the new year of 2020 celebrating the major renovations that were completed on the bus company’s building and parking lot. At the end of December 2019, Stephen Hale, owner of Hale Transportation, transformed his 5,000-square-foot bus garage to five times that size.
The now 25,000-square-foot garage has a large maintenance facility for Hale’s fleet of buses. The space is so large Hale said 13 buses can be stored inside the new garage.
In addition to new equipment such as lifts and air compressors, there’s a large wash bay and new interior offices. The garage on Kirkland Avenue “has all the bells and whistles for the mechanics,” Hale said.
Mid-March coronavirus guidelines were being created and put in place. That’s when Hale’s company took its first hit.
“When everything took place March 13, all of our trips canceled out of the system,” he said.
In the next three months, Hale saw every trip scheduled become canceled. Hundreds of thousands of dollars had to be returned to clients.
Hale’s clients include small and large area colleges, local companies, wedding parties, and Major League baseball teams. Over the years he’s had Bill Clinton, Al Gore and other government officials on his buses.
“While juggling all of that,” he said of his company’s loss during the worldwide pandemic, “we’re trying to keep up with the times of what will happen, how long will…