Passenger Transport: April 21, 2023

FORTEVERYNIGHT

TUC proposes £9.9bn net zero transport plan

New report aims to address ‘gaping hole’ in the government’s recently published net zero strategy - a plan for achieving modal shift away from cars

A new report released by the Trades Union Congress proposes a £9.9bn annual investment plan for public transport networks across England and Wales. The plan aims to help the UK achieve its target to cut emissions by 68% by 2030, meet net zero targets and boost the UK economy.

The investment plan - produced for the TUC by Transport for Quality of Life - is based on the combination of reducing car mileage by 20% (with 10% of that achieved by modal shift to public transport), increasing bus and tram journeys by 120%, and increasing rail journeys by 80%. The TUC claims its plan would

require an average of £9.9bn in annual capital expenditure up to 2035 and the additional operating cost of expanding the network to such an extent would reach £18.8bn annually by 2030.

The TUC aims to address what it claims is a “gaping hole” in the government’s recently published net zero strategy. It claims this did not explain how to achieve the modal shift away from cars that

New campaign aims to woo rail users back

04

‘Nothing beats being’ highlights role of rail

is necessary in order to achieve net zero targets. “Public transport improvements on this scale would greatly expand travel horizons for millions of people.” added the TUC. “Better public transport does not just mean more trains and buses, it means better lives.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak added: “Investing in public transport will help us meet net zero targets and reduce the threat of catastrophic climate change. And it creates jobs throughout England and Wales, boosts the economy in every community, and improves everyone’s quality of life.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

Scotland’s bus infrastructure target ‘at risk’

11

Transform Scotland warns on progress

INNOVATION & TECH

‘Tech can make transport accessible’

16

New report by RNIB considers technology

Who are the transport legends?

18 Urban Transport Group director

26

Alex Warner on those who leave their mark

Jason Prince succeeds Bray

“Investing in public transport will help us meet net zero targets”

AND THEY’RE OFF! Passengers travelling to and from this year’s Aintree Festival and Grand National got the chance to travel on Liverpool City Region’s new Class 777 trains following their phased roll out on Merseyrail’s Ormskirk line.

Buses need a deallong-term to fulfil their potential

IN THIS ISSUE

22 A SIMPLE OFFER MADE COMPLICATED

The Deutschland-Ticket will slash travel costs and accelerate digitisation, but it’s an enormous task, says Marc Bichtemann

“The Deutschland-Ticket has somewhat unsurprisingly become a bureaucratic monster,” he adds.

14

Robert Jack Managing Editor

Despite long overdue recognition of their value, buses are stuck in reverse, and services are being cut. In England, the Commons Transport Select Committee has lamented that progress on the National Bus Strategy is too slow. In Scotland, there are fears that the planned £500m investment in bus priority infrastructure won’t happen in the short or medium term (see page 11). And in Wales bus operators are warning of deep cuts if post-Covid funding is axed (see page 12). How can a sector that is vital to levelling up, economic growth, social inclusion and decarbonisation be allowed to go backwards? Covid changed our travel behaviour, encouraging those who can to work from home, and shop online. It made others nervous about travelling after strong ‘avoid public transport messaging’. Additional funding has been essential to avoid service cuts and fare increases (beyond those we have already seen), but the sector can’t plan ahead on the basis of short-term extentions to ‘emergency’ funding.

In England, Scotland and Wales, the tone of the conversation is now changing. It’s not about holding out the begging bowl to government to keep things going for another three or six more months, it’s about agreeing stable and robust mechanisms - such as fair reimbursement for concessionary travel - that underpin the economics of bus operation in the 2020s and help buses to fulfil their potential. The bus sector needs a long-term deal to move forwards.

PASSENGER TRANSPORT

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Managing Editor & Publisher

Robert Jack

Deputy Editor Andrew Garnett

Contributing Writer Rhodri Clark

Directors

EDITORIAL editorial@passengertransport.co.uk

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SUBSCRIPTIONS

WARRINGTON’S £10M ELECTRIC DEPOT OPENS

Warrington’s Own Buses has opened a new £10m bus depot, as the town prepares to introduce a fully electric bus fleet next year. The facility, which replaces the previous depot, has been equipped with chargers ready for the zero-emission electric bus fleet.

20 BUS SERVICES FACE BEECHING-STYLE CUTS

60 years since Dr Beeching’s hotlydebated recommendations for Britain’s railways, today’s bus sector has some interesting parallels, says Nick Richardson. “Today, bus services are vital to many but are irrelevant to a majority,” he adds.

25 T RANSPORT POLICY FAVOURS THE MOTORIST

Great Minster Grumbles: Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT. Isn’t it time that the policy agenda was tilted far more in favour of public transport and against the motorist?

REGULARS

Garnett, Robert Jack

New campaign aims to woo rail users back

‘Nothing Beats Being’ seeks to build on 2021 post-lockdown adverts

PATRONAGE

The Rail Delivery Group, train operators, Network Rail and the Great British Railways Transition Team have launched a new advertising campaign aimed at wooing passengers back to the railway. The ‘Nothing Beats Being’ campaign highlights the role of rail in connecting people with the places and things they love.

While leisure travel has seen revenue rise to 125% of prepandemic levels, industry figures show that overall revenue is still at around 78% of 2019 levels, with commuting and business travel at considerably less than in 2019. RDG said taxpayers are making up the lost revenue of the rail

CHILTERN FOR EWR FIRST PHASE

Variation of Direct Award will allow service launch

CONTRACTS

The government has modified the Direct Award contract granted to Chiltern Railways in December 2021 to include services on the first stage of East West Rail (EWR) between Oxford and Milton Keynes via Bletchley. Construction of that phase is now well advanced.

This stage, known as CS1, is expected to launch between late 2024 and September 2025. The full EWR service, which includes the next two phases (CS2 and CS3) and connects Oxford to Cambridge, is under consideration for future procurement of the operator.

industry by up to £175m a month, hence the need to attract new and existing passengers back to the railway.

The advert, which uses a mix of shared social media footage and filmed footage, seeks to boost demand from the leisure, commuter and business markets. The campaign is a call

to customers to take the train to experience something in person whether that is to attend a meeting, have a business lunch or visit some friends as it is a reminder of real-life experiences and there is no better way to experience them than by rail.

Jacqueline Starr, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group,

emphasised the significance of rail in connecting people and promoting economic growth, and noted the importance of the Nothing Beats Being campaign. She said: “It has been over a year since the latest restrictions were lifted, revenue for commuting and business travellers has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels. So we want to use this campaign to encourage everyone back to rail, so they can experience what rail has to offer, and to help put industry finances on the best possible footing and secure rail’s long-term future.”

The advert follows the ‘Let’s Get Back On Track’ campaign from 2021, which saw over half of the people respond stating that the campaign made them feel more confident to travel again. It will run across social media, digital, and traditional advertising channels, with a focus on key commuter routes and leisure destinations. It will also be supported by an extensive PR campaign.

DEADLINE AFTER D-STOCK AXE

Marston Vale Line trains suspended until autumn

ROLLING STOCK

London Northwestern Railway (LNR) has announced that a full train service will not return to the Marston Vale Line until the autumn. Services on the 12-station route between Bedford and Bletchley were suspended after Vivarail went into administration in December. LNR said it had no option but to withdraw its three Class 230 units, which had been converted by Vivarail from former London Underground D78 stock, as the company’s collapse meant there was inadequate support for what that the train operator branded an unreliable fleet.

However, LNR confirmed that replacement trains are expected in June, but it will not be possible to restore services immediately due to staff training requirements. As a result the rail replacement bus service that has been in operation since Vivarail’s collapse will continue until the autumn.

An LNR spokesperson stated that only a limited number of trains in the country are suitable for use on the Marston Vale Line, which has hampered the train operator’s efforts to find a solution to the problem. They said LNR has been working with the Department for Transport to identify a solution to to allow services on the Marston Vale Line to be restored as soon as possible.

“We expect we will be able to introduce morning and evening peak-

time train services from autumn 2023, leading to the reinstatement of the full timetable in January 2024,” they added.

Other Vivarail fleets remain in service on the Isle of Wight where they were introduced by South Western Railway on Island Line services and they have also recently entered service in Wales (PT286).

Campaign takes aim at leisure travel

RMT mulls updated offer to end rail strikes

Union reviews revised offer from train operators

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

The RMT is reviewing a revised offer from train operating companies in an effort to end ongoing strikes. While the union had resolved its disagreement with Network Rail (PT286), it continued to be at odds with train operators. However, strikes scheduled for the end of March were called off after talks with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG). At the time, the RMT had reported receiving a proposal that could have led to a resolution of the national rail dispute, but further talks were required to secure an updated offer that addressed pay, job security, and working conditions.

HS2’S EUSTON TUNNEL AXED

Work to cease as attention turns to Midlands sections

HS2

HS2 Ltd has confirmed that the planned London section of the high speed rail route between Old Oak Common and Euston has been delayed, as the UK Government prioritises construction to the Midlands. According to officials, works have been put on hold due to “impacts to the works” being delivered by current contracts.

Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) were due to start hollowing out a tunnel from Old Oak Common in west London to Euston in 2024. However, HS2 said this has been paused without a revised start date

An RMT spokesperson has stated that the NEC is currently examining the contents of the updated offer, and that no decisions have been made.

Meanwhile, the Rail Delivery Group expressed optimism that the revised offer would lead to a positive outcome, stating that it offered important clarifications and assurances about job terms and conditions for employees.

A spokesperson for the RDG continued: “Our ambition remains to secure long-term, rewarding careers for our people, a better service for passengers and a railway that takes no more than its fair share from the taxpayer. Our hope is that the RMT executive will put this proposal to its full train operating company membership and allow them a say on the deal, so we can end

being confirmed.

The tunnel’s schedule was thrown into doubt after the Euston station project was put on hold last month, with spiralling costs due to inflation cited as the reason. However, immediately following the decision to pause the station works, neither HS2 Ltd nor the Department for Transport were able to confirm the fate of the Euston Tunnel.

In response to these delays, a spokesperson for the project said: “Since the government announcement to prioritise the delivery of HS2 between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street, we have been working on the detail of which works will be deferred.

“We can confirm that there are impacts to the works being

this dispute and work together to deliver a strong future for Britain’s railway and all those who work on it.”

The union had suspended its strike action against 14 train companies last month for discussions. Strikes were planned for March 30 and April 1, however, the RMT is presently balloting its members for a further six-month mandate to take strike action if the dispute is not resolved. The current strike mandate expires in mid-May.

While the TSSA has resolved its disagreement, the other major rail union, ASLEF, is still in dispute, although it has not yet called any additional strikes.

The RMT has said it is seeking job security guarantees, better working conditions, and a 15% pay increase.

delivered under the Main Works Civils Contract, awarded to Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture, specifically the section between Old Oak Common and the Euston Approaches. The two TBMs building the tunnel on this section from the Old Oak Common Box towards Euston were scheduled to begin in 2024, but this is now deferred.”

They confirmed that piling work, tunnel cutting, tree felling and further demolitions will cease. However, current excavations for utilities in Euston Road and substation works for London Underground will be completed as scheduled.

Work will also continue on an 853-metre long logistics tunnel between Old Oak Common and Atlas Road in Park Royal where a HS2 works yard is being established.

RESEARCH PROBES STRIKE RESPONSES

Switch to private vehicles followed spate of rail strikes

RESEARCH

The Department for Transport has revealed the results of research seeking to understand changes to passengers’ travel behaviors in response to rail strikes and measure any related impacts.

The research by Savanta probed the views of over 17,000 rail passengers. It revealed that just over half of respondents had planned to make a rail journey during a strike week, with 29% planning at least one commuting journey to/ from work, 17% a leisure journey, 4% a commute to/from education, 3% a business journey, and 1% a healthcare appointment.

In terms of the impact on passenger journeys, 42% of all respondents, and 81% of those who had intended to travel by rail during a strike week, had their journey impacted in some way.

Half of those who had planned to make journeys by rail made none of their planned rail journeys during the week when strikes took place. A total of 21% reduced the number of rail journeys they made and 9% travelled on a different day. The most commonly reported impacts from strike action were on work and working arrangements, followed by disruption to social plans or time with family (17% of all respondents).

At least one impact on work or working arrangements was reported by 29% of all respondents, and 47% of those who had planned to travel during a strike week. Amongst those who had planned to commute to/ from work by rail during a strike week, 70% reported a work-related impact. Some took alternative modes - 8% reported using bus or coach - but the largest proportion (13%) switched to private vehicle.

“Our hope is that the RMT executive will put this proposal to its full train operating company membership”

ICE consultation over transport strategy plan

England national transport strategy benefits probed

PLANNING

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has launched a consultation to determine whether England could benefit from having a national transport strategy, and if so, how such a strategy could be developed and implemented.

The consultation, which is open until May 12, is seeking input from infrastructure and transport professionals, civil engineers, civil society groups, and other interested parties.

The ICE said an effective, accessible, and reliable transport network is critical to enable the UK to achieve its long-term strategic objectives. These objectives include decarbonsing the economy to reach net zero by 2050, adapting to the impact of a changing climate, and

MPS TO PROBE NETWORK PLAN

National networks policy revisions scrutinised

PLANNING

The Parliamentary Transport Select Committee has announced a new inquiry into the UK Government’s proposals to revise the National Networks National Policy Statement (NNNPS).

The NNNPS is used by the transport secretary to determine planning applications for nationally significant infrastructure projects for both road and rail. The current NNNPS was published in 2015,

achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. However, the ICE believes the UK is falling behind in meeting many of its long-term and interim targets toward these goals.

The ICE originally recommended developing a national transport strategy in a policy paper on accelerating the delivery of the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and

Midlands (IRP). A subsequent industry discussion showed there is broad industry support to develop a national strategy but not consensus about what such a strategy should look like.

The consultation will take in the views of consultees and then the ICE will make recommendations about developing a national transport strategy in a follow-up paper.

The ICE said Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have each developed national transport strategies, but England, with a much larger population than the other UK nations, does not have its own transport strategy.

This fragmented landscape of modal, thematic, and regional strategies encourages siloed planning and results in transport services that often do not serve the needs of transport users, nor ensure that transport investment in the UK’s largest nation is directed towards the UK’s strategic objectives.

Jonathan Spruce, ICE trustee for policy and external affairs, said, “With capital budgets frozen from 2024/25, the transport industry is trying to meet ambitious goals with less money, so good decision making and prioritisation is more important than ever. However, England lacks a clear strategic plan for its transport network. We need to think strategically about what we want our country’s transport network to deliver so we can focus investment on the projects that will achieve the best outcomes for people and the planet.”

and the government is looking to introduce a new statement that considers the UK’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

A draft revised NNNPS was published on March 14 and includes projections of future demand for rail travel and road usage for passengers and freight. The committee will examine how the revised NNNPS could support economic growth in different regions. It is expected to report on the issue later this year.

Committee chair Iain Stewart commented: “The NNNPS is hugely important to deciding the shape of our country’s rail and road infrastructure for years to come, and

will have big implications for efforts to reach net zero and connecting towns and cities.”

The inquiry’s terms of reference ask for evidence on the effectiveness of the draft revised NNNPS compared to the current version and whether opportunities to further improve have been missed.

The committee also wants to know how effectively the draft revised NNNPS will allow the government to deliver nationally significant infrastructure projects while ensuring proper scrutiny of proposed projects. It will also consider how the revised NNNPS will prevent delays in obtaining Development

Consent Orders and how effectively it supports the ambition to achieve net-zero by 2050.

In addition, the inquiry will examine how effectively the draft supports levelling-up and growth, the effectiveness of the assessment framework, and the robustness and transparency of the appraisal of sustainability used in the draft.

Finally, the committee will consider the effectiveness of the Department for Transport’s consultation on the draft and its ability to ensure alignment with local transport plans and networks while taking into account the impact on communities where networks are located.

ICE claims broad support for a nat a national transport strategy

Stagecoach gains with GM school contracts

Stagecoach big winner from TfGM school bus franchise round

CONTRACTS

The latest round of Bee Network contracts in Greater Manchester have been awarded. They cover school bus services in Wigan, Bolton and parts of Salford and Bury.

Transport for Greater Manchester has confirmed Stagecoach was awarded 17 school bus contracts and local independent operator Vision Bus six. They cover services to a total of 31 schools and will commence at the start of the new school year in September.

Commenting on the contracts, Anne Marie Purcell, TfGM’s bus franchising director, said: “We’re pleased to have once again received such high levels of interest from operators to run the first school services.

“We have made performance and reliability a key part of these contracts to ensure a positive

experience for all those young people who will be relying on them to get to and from school.”

Capturing the contracts is good news for Stagecoach which lost out in the race for contracts to operate mainstream bus services in the first round of Greater Manchester franchising at the end of 2022 (PT280).

Lee Wasnidge, managing director of Stagecoach Manchester, said: “The award of these contracts is a testament to the hard work, dedication and exceptional service delivered by our fantastic team at Stagecoach Manchester.

“We are committed to providing safe, reliable and efficient services to enable young people in Wigan, Bolton and Salford to access education.”

Meanwhile, TfGM has secured changes to several bus services in the Bolton area. Most had been placed at risk of withdrawal by Rotala subsidiary Diamond Bus after the results of the first tranche of bus franchising

Stagecoach places

GM electric bus order

Order for 170 zero-emission buses placed with Volvo/MCV

Stagecoach has announced it plans to introduce 170 fully electric vehicles in Stockport as it places its largest electric bus order to date.

The order comprises 150 double deck and 20 single deck vehicles and all will be produced by Swedish manufacturer Volvo

in partnership with Egyptian bodybuilder MCV. They will start to enter service in summer 2024. The buses are being jointly funded by Stagecoach and local and national government.

Stagecoach’s £37.2m investment has been match-funded by £35.7m from Greater Manchester’s

contracts had been announced.

Five of the routes have passed to Go North West, which will inherit the bulk of routes in the Bolton area later this year after it won two large franchise contracts. To service the additional routes it has opened what it calls a ‘pop up’ bus depot in Heywood and recruited 45 drivers. A total of 40 vehicles have been drafted in from other Go-Ahead companies to operate the emergency network.

Nigel Featham, Go North West’s managing director, said: “The removal of these services would have seen many communities effectively cut off from the bus network, so we’re really proud that we’ve been able to keep them running.”

A further Bolton route, which was previously operated by Vision Bus, has passed to Diamond Bus. The Rotala subsidiary has also agreed to continue the commercial operation of another threatened route until the start of the franchised network in September.

The free bus network has operated since 2002

FREE CITY BUSES GET A REVAMP

New two route network aims to reflect demand

NETWORKS

Changes are afoot for the free bus service in Manchester city centre after Transport for Greater Manchester and Manchester City Council agreed to continue funding the service for the foreseeable future, despite the existing contract for the network with operator Go North West coming to an end.

successful Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) bid and an additional contribution of £12.5m by Transport for Greater Manchester and the combined authority.

Stagecoach is introducing a further 122 new fully electric buses in key transport networks across the UK in the next 12 months, building on commitments to have a completely zero-emission bus fleet by 2035.

The revised routes, launched last weekend, aim to better reflect current demand, with two routes and new timetables replacing the existing three route service that was first introduced in 2002. The new routes will allow passengers to travel from Piccadilly to new destinations such as HOME and Deansgate Locks, while maintaining links to Deansgate and Victoria rail stations, Spinningfields, Chinatown and the Science and Industry Museum. During the main part of the day, each service will run every 10 minutes.

Stephen Rhodes, TfGM’s director of bus, said: “The free bus has been a staple of Manchester city centre’s transport network since it was first introduced as Metroshuttle more than 20 years ago. The service is provided by TfGM and Manchester City Council, and by delivering these changes we are keen to build on this partnership and continue delivering the service for years to come.”

“We’re pleased to have once again received such high levels of interest from operators”

STAFF SHORTAGE LEADS TO LICENCE REVOCATION

Inquiry finds small operator struggled to find engineers

COMPLIANCE

A Devon-based bus and coach operator has had its 20-vehicle bus and coach operator licence revoked by south west traffic commissioner Kevin Rooney following multiple reports of serious mechanical defects as a result of a shortage of qualified engineering technicians.

One vehicle operated by Millmans Coaches Ltd, trading as Grey Cars and Coaches, was checked by the Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency and was found to have a completely dry brake fluid reservoir. Another minibus had a dislodged fuel tank, requiring Devon County Council to re-surface 100 metres of road. Moreover, eight out of 21 recent DVSA inspections found vehicles were so dangerous that they could not continue in service.

The commissioner discovered that the company had a shortage of professional PSV technicians, despite offering market-average salaries and making multiple attempts to recruit.

Former driver and current transport manager Paul HamlynWhite had adopted the title of fleet engineer, despite having just a few days of technical training. During the hearing, Rooney said HamlynWhite had demonstrated a lack of fundamental knowledge and the company acted recklessly in allowing the fleet’s maintenance to be managed by an unqualified person. Revoking the operating licence, Rooney concluded: “The person in charge of the fleet has no relevant qualification and demonstrated in the hearing a lack of even the most basic understanding of vehicle systems and the physics that lies behind them.”

ADL confirms major electric bus order

New order will take electric bus fleet to over 300 vehicles

FLEETS

Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis and electric bus chassis partner BYD have secured a firm order from National Express West Midlands for an additional 170 double deck electric buses.

The vehicles will be delivered by the end of 2024 and will take the total number of BYD ADL Enviro400EV double deck buses operated by National Express in the West Midlands to 329. It will mean the operator will have the largest fleet of the type in the UK.

That figure includes an earlier order for 130 buses that are part of the UK government’s ambitions to make Coventry England’s first

ARRIVA CLOSES CHESHIRE DEPOTS

Stagecoach and D&G make gains from move

NETWORKS

Arriva North West has confirmed its Winsford and Macclesfield depots will close this week.

The company had previously announced operations were at risk in February (PT284) as a result of financial challenges that had been exacerbated by the impact of Covid-19. The move will affect around a dozen Cheshire bus routes.

A spokesperson for Arriva North West said: “It is with great regret we announce we are closing our Winsford and Macclesfield depots and will no longer operate any bus services in the Winsford, Northwich,

All-Electric Bus City by 2025. National Express West Midlands has confirmed that over half of the buses are already in service. The operator’s parent company has committed to operate a completely zero-emission bus fleet in the UK by 2030. Tom Stables, chief executive of the group’s operations in the UK and Germany, said the latest bus order

proved the operator was on-track to deliver on this commitment.

“These new British buses, built in Falkirk by Alexander Dennis on a BYD chassis, are clean, green double decker buses that are popular with customers,” Stables said. “As a result, they are not only more economical to run but they will boost passenger growth and revenue by getting more people to ditch their cars for the bus; and of course they do their bit to help tackle the climate emergency.”

ADL group commercial director Martin West added: “We are excited to help National Express deliver its ambitious plans in support of the West Midlands’ target to become a zero-carbon region by 2041. This repeat order from National Express shows the gathering pace of the transition to zero-emission mobility.”

Crewe and Macclesfield areas.

“Our priority throughout this process is that everything runs as smoothly as possible, for both our customers and our colleagues.

“We have put in place support for our colleagues through this difficult time. Arriva have been working with Cheshire East, Cheshire West on route transitions from Arriva to new operators.”

Arriva added both depots had been loss-making since before the pandemic and the number of journeys being taken by passengers in Mid Cheshire has not recovered to the same levels as comparable operations.

The operator said this was coupled with the bus sector facing “sustained and significant” cost inflation, meaning revenue from operations no

longer covered the cost. It claimed actions had been taken by Arriva to address these challenges, including launching a largely new network in late 2021, but this has ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Alternative operators D&G and Stagecoach will take over operation of some of Arriva’s services in the affected areas.

Arriva has attempted to relaunch network

NXWM will have 329 Enviro400EVs by the end of 2024

Edinburgh seeks better orbital public transport

Move could support reorganisation of city centre bus routes

STRATEGY

The City of Edinburgh Council is proposing investment to facilitate direct bus travel between suburbs, rather than through the city centre, in an action plan which went to public consultation this week.

The Scottish capital is the latest British city to acknowledge that diverting journeys away from central districts can help reduce congestion on arterial routes as well as creating new travel and employment opportunities for suburban residents.

London mayor Sadiq Khan recently unveiled Superloop branding for a new network of limited-stop express bus routes connecting hubs in outer London (PT286). Last October, Leicester began the first of four

phases of development of its Orbital-branded service, currently operating hourly clockwise and anticlockwise and calling at trip generators such as Leicester General Hospital, two shopping centres and the racecourse.

Edinburgh’s Public Transport Action Plan (PTAP) is part of a suite of action plans designed to help the city reduce car mileage by 30% by 2030, in line with the City Mobility Plan. Respondents have until July 9 to submit their views.

Scott Arthur, transport and environment convener, said: “Combining all the plans into one big city-wide conversation means we can really capture the interrelated issues and ensure actions are mutually supportive of each other.

“As a city we know and agree that we must cut congestion, boost the economy and hit net zero. This consultation is a chance for people

to both comment on our proposals and also make alternative suggestions for delivering these key policies. Doing nothing, however, is no longer an option as we have a duty to face these challenges.

“We need to balance different travel needs with the limited street space we have, and that’s going to involve some real dilemmas. I’m particularly pleased, however, that making public transport more accessible and reliable is at the heart of these plans.”

The PTAP says: “Investment in orbital bus connectivity will be key in supporting new journey opportunities; development of West Edinburgh will require services across rural West Edinburgh to be reimagined.” The planned investment will also enhance opportunities for interchange between orbital and radial bus services.

“To support growth, Edinburgh must deliver an efficient and

attractive public transport system, competitive with peer cities. To achieve this, further investment in rail and tram networks is required. Bus has a key role to play and journey times need to be reduced, particularly from and around the periphery of the city,” says the PTAP.

As well as seeking modal shift from car to bus, the improvement in orbital transport could also support reorganisation of bus routes in the city centre, where the council is concerned at the impact that large numbers of buses have on some streets. There are frequent open-top tour buses in addition to scheduled passenger transport services.

“There are challenges in respect of bus domination and congestion in certain corridors in the city, with an associated impact on public realm,” says the PTAP.

The PTAP makes no commitment to reopening the South Suburban railway to passengers. It says: “An exercise will be undertaken to review previous South Suburban Rail Line studies and changes in policy and demand since these were undertaken.”

Reopening the line was one of the most popular suggestions in the council’s 2020 public consultation on its City Mobility Plan. A proposed circular route through Haymarket and Waverley would improve connectivity between southern suburbs.

The council also seeks to improve direct travel opportunities between suburbs via the city centre. The tramway extension which is about to open will connect the Waterfront at Leith and Newhaven to western suburbs and the airport, and a planned extension south of the city centre would see trams operate from the Waterfront to the Royal Infirmary and beyond.

FUTURE PUBLIC TRANSPORT NETWORK FOR EDINBURGH AND SURROUNDING REGION (~2035)

Source: Public Transport Action Plan - Delivering the City Mobility Plan, City of Edinburgh Council

‘Scotland may miss bus infrastructure target’

Transform Scotland warns on flagship Bus Partnership Fund

PROJECTS

The Scottish Government’s commitment to investing over £500m in bus priority infrastructure has yet to be fully realised, according to a report by Transform Scotland.

The Bus Partnership Fund was launched in 2019 to invest in bus priority measures on local and trunk roads. The fund has allocated £25.8m for appraisals, business cases, and small-scale interventions, known as ‘quick wins’. However, Transform Scotland reports that no substantive infrastructure has been funded yet.

Transport Scotland temporarily paused work on the Bus Partnership Fund in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but

HOLYROOD URGED TO BACK BUSES

CPT Scotland calls for a review of bus funding

FUNDING

Paul White, director of the Confederation of Passenger Transport Scotland, has called for a full review of bus funding in Scotland following the end of the Network Support Grant Plus (NSG+) funding stream on March 31.

Ending the emergency postCovid-19 funding stream makes Scotland the first part of the UK to remove pandemic recovery support mechanisms for buses. Removal of the funding has already led to announcements of steep network

announced the Bus Priority Rapid Deployment Fund, which supported local authorities in responding to congestion. This included temporary bus lanes and gates, with £10m drawn from the Bus Partnership Fund.

As the Bus Partnership Fund is currently closed for applications, the bulk of the funding may be spent on the major projects which have already received preliminary funding. Projects in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh have received funding for preparatory work, including evidence for bus-only streets, bus lanes, and

traffic lights. However, major projects have yet to enter the consultation phase.

“The funding allocated so far is being spent on a combination of ‘quick win’ projects and preparatory appraisals and development work,” said Transform Scotland. “Representing 5-10% of the total available, this might be considered to be a fairly typical spend profile.”

Meanwhile, the lobby group also reports that plans to reallocate road space on parts of the motorway network around Glasgow to high-occupancy vehicles such as buses have made little progress. The first phase of the second Strategic Transport Projects Review, recommended reallocation of road space on the M8, M77, and M80, but this has not happened as yet.

Transform Scotland suggests that without a heavyweight ‘champion’,

or ‘champions’, it is possible that the project may slip off the radar. The lack of progress in planning to reallocate roadspace around Glasgow contrasts with the £500m investment in bus priority infrastructure, which has seen some progress but is still off target.

“It looks increasingly unlikely that the goal of investing over £500m in improved bus priority is going to be met in the short or medium term, although it may be achievable within the lifetime of the next Scottish Parliament,” said Chris Day, Transform Scotland’s policy advisor.

He admitted the Scottish Government’s plans were ambitious, particularly given the lengthy development and consultation phases of major projects. Day continued: “The challenge for scheme promoters and their allies is dealing with the opposition that inevitably arises when specific plans are published. The Bus Partnership Fund is getting spent currently at less than £9m annually, whereas the original plan implied that it would be spent in five years.”

cuts by a number of Scottish bus operators in recent weeks.

Writing in The Scotsman, White said that claims that the Scottish Government had provided comprehensive support for the bus sector failed to take into account what this funding consists of and how it measures up against spending on other transport modes.

“The budget to support the rail franchise is 13 times greater than the budget to support the bus sector, despite buses carrying almost five times as many passengers,” he said.

“The support grant rate for buses has not increased for over a decade. Meanwhile, as operational costs have grown, investment in zero-emission vehicles - to meet the government’s

ambitious net-zero targets - has soared to more than £130m over the past four years.”

He said that free concessionary bus travel in Scotland had been wildly successful, with people under 22 joining the over-60s and disabled people in having access to free bus travel. However, he said this success had come at a cost to operators.

White continued: “Government often cites the concessions scheme as a form of support but, in reality, it is reimbursement for carrying journeys on the government’s behalf and is based on the objective that operators should be no better or worse off for doing so.

“Supporting concessionary travel without providing equivalent support

for operators to retain and grow the bus network will leave some people with a bus pass and no bus to use it on. The Scottish Government plans to look at all bus support in the coming year, with the aim of protecting services and reducing fares. The bus sector will be more than happy to engage.”

White concluded that giving priority to buses “is not solely about a fair allocation of road space”.

“It is about receiving a fair allocation of transport spending, providing the choice of a reliable, affordable alternative to the car, and the country meeting its net-zero targets,” he said. “My hope remains that the Scottish Government will choose the bus.”

“The Bus Partnership Fund is getting spent currently at less than £9m annually”

Welsh operators hope Bray can be saviour

Former director of the Urban Transport Group will chair panel of experts, and bus operators hope he make case for funding. Rhodri Clark reports

FUNDING

Welsh bus operators are pinning their hopes on Jonathan Bray, who will chair an expert panel on Welsh bus policy, to secure funding and stability as the Bus Emergency Scheme ends.

Some operators believe that most of their services would no longer be viable if no additional funding replaces BES. The Welsh Government says it has to taper off the emergency funding which began during the pandemic, and has deferred the end of BES by three weeks to July 24 to avoid disruption to schools transport.

It has also commissioned Bray, former director of the Urban Transport Group, to chair a panel of experts which will advise on the government’s reform plans.

“I think panic is beginning to set in,” said Bev Fowles, vice-chair of the Coach and Bus Association Cymru, which represents independent operators. “Their

rail budget is all over the place, so there’s no money left for bus operators from July 24.”

Operators are preparing lists of what they could and could not operate in a worst case scenario

DIGITAL DISPLAY FUNDED AT DISUSED BUS STOP

FUNDING

The Welsh Government has provided over £28,000 of funding for installation and maintenance of a digital screen for next bus departure times at a bus stop which appears to have no scheduled bus services.

after BES. Fowles said there were indications that only 30% to 35% of current networks would be able to continue in that scenario. Nine of the 13 routes operated by his company, South Wales

Transport, would not be viable without support. He said some bus managers were now preparing consultations with trade unions over redundancies.

The expert panel has not been appointed and it is not known yet whether it will include operator representatives, but the government told Passenger Transport this week that “collaboration and detailed engagement with operators will remain a key part of our bus model”.

Fowles said: “I don’t know what they [the panel members] are going to come up with. It sounds to me like another mini quango, but I’ve got a lot of time for Jonathan Bray. It’s being led by somebody who is very much passenger transport orientated. We hope he will say, ‘We can’t do anything without more money’.

“The Welsh Government and the civil servants have got an idea that the services which were commercial before Covid are still commercial, and the opposite is true. I get that if Welsh Government haven’t got the money they can’t manufacture it, but I would query why buses are the poor relation when about 77% of public transport journeys are by bus and only about 21% by train.”

The government tasked

The screen at Plas yn Dre

While most bus stops in Wales lack

digital departure screens and many do not even display an up-to-date timetable poster, scarce funding was prioritised for the Plas yn Dre stop in Llanrwst, Conwy Valley. According to the local authority, the stop has two scheduled bus services per week but searches on Traveline Cymru, the definitive source for bus timetable information, identified no scheduled services at Plas yn Dre.

The stop, like the rest of Llanrwst, is served by fflecsi Demand Responsive Transport, but this is not designed to provide scheduled departures from

Plas yn Dre or other stops.

Details released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the Welsh Government provided £56,844 of funding for two digital bus departure screens in September 2020. A similar screen has been installed in Watling Street, Llanrwst, where the town’s few surviving scheduled bus services depart from. The cost of maintaining the Plas yn Dre screen and providing the electricity for it is “included in contract” and paid for by the Welsh Government.

Welsh Government has provided over £28,000

“I think panic is beginning to set in. Their rail budget is all over the place, so there’s no money left for bus operators”

Bev Fowles, Coach and Bus Association Cymru

Only four of South Wales Transport’s 13 bus routes would remain viable without funding to replace the Bus Emergency Scheme

Transport for Wales with producing regional bus network plans three years ago. TfW commissioned consultants for assistance. Asked why plans had still not been published, a government spokesman said: “TfW continues to work closely with local authorities to support them to make improvements to their bus networks where they can. This work will inform decisions about post-Covid local bus networks and will underpin discussions on publicly contracted bus networks once new legislation is in place.”

Under Bray’s leadership, the new panel could help to address the sense that some in the industry have of the government, officials and consultants operating in an echo chamber. When asked why the panel was needed although TfW had recruited its

own bus experts, the spokesman said: “We are bringing the panel together to provide us and TfW with advice and challenge based on experience of bus franchising and other major public projects elsewhere. This will offer us further expert independent scrutiny to ensure our plans are robust and effective.”

Fowles said that a full inflationary uplift to reimbursement for concessionary journeys would soften the blow of BES withdrawal. Passenger Transport asked the government what inflationary increase would be applied and when. The spokesman replied: “We are discussing with local authorities and operators how to ensure that operator reimbursement for Mandatory Concessionary Fares meets the statutory requirements of the scheme.”

GWR users fear delays

Opposition to Old Oak Common platforms on fast lines

PROJECTS

The government’s plan to build platforms on the fast lines at Old Oak Common should be cancelled because long-distance Great Western Railway passengers will not need to interchange with HS2 services there, according to a rail user group.

“Swansea to London trains stopping [at Old Oak Common] will incur a five-minute penalty, resulting in longer journey times to Paddington.”

The display at Plas yn Dre shows blank spaces for the next three departures from the stop, along with QR codes for further information. The codes connect to the Traveline Cymru and Fflecsi home pages. The information shown could have been printed on a sticker or A4 sheet. Asked why the apparently unused stop was prioritised for the funding, when the screen would be switched off to save energy and whether the screen would be moved to a busy bus stop, a Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We provided

grant funding to the council for the screens. The procurement, installation and operation are all the responsibility of the council.”

The Welsh Government recently confirmed its intention to legislate for bus franchising because it believes public sector control will result in better use of bus funding. Deputy climate change minister Lee Waters said last month the current bus system was “inefficient” and the legislation would “create a planned and strategic bus system so there isn’t leakage out”.

Construction is well under way of the new HS2 station at Old Oak Common, west of Paddington. It will be the terminus of the initial HS2 service to Birmingham, after transport secretary Mark Harper announced further delays to construction of HS2 from there to Euston last month. This will make Old Oak Common a major interchange point for local and regional transport, including the Elizabeth Line and GWR’s Thames Valley services. However, the Department for Transport also expects every long-distance GWR service to stop at Old Oak Common, where new platforms are due to be constructed on the fast lines. The Welsh branch of the passenger group Railfuture claims that this will impose a time penalty of five minutes for people travelling to London from South Wales and South-western England. It says platforms should not be built on the fast lines. “The logic is that passengers from South Wales to London will not wish to change into HS2 at this location - they will travel directly to Birmingham and the north of England - and can access the Elizabeth Line at Paddington.

CrossCountry’s frequent services are scheduled to take about 80 to 90 minutes between Bristol Temple Meads and Birmingham, which is comparable with the GWR journey time from Temple Meads to Old Oak Common. An allowance for interchange time would be needed for onward travel to Birmingham on HS2. Passengers would also face higher fares to travel via HS2.

GWR faces significant disruption to its services from 2023 to 2028 as construction of the new station ramps up. Railfuture Wales argues that there would be less disruption for longdistance trains if construction work were not to take place adjacent to the fast tracks.

A GWR spokesman told Passenger Transport: “Development work is ongoing on the exact timetable for trains on the Great Western main line. In the meantime we’re continuing to work with the DfT and other train operators to minimise disruption to customers travelling into and out of London while the station is constructed.”

Passenger Transport asked the DfT for the justification for building the platforms on the fast lines, whether the business case for those platforms was being reviewed, and the estimated cost saving from not constructing the platforms. The DfT did not answer the questions but provided a statement about why it was committed to delivering HS2.

Jonathan Bray

“I’ve got a lot of time for Jonathan Bray

... We hope he will say, ‘We can’t do anything without more money’”

Warrington’s £10m electric depot opens

Warrington’s Own Buses has officially moved into new home

FACILITIES

Warrington’s Own Buses has opened a new £10m bus depot, as the town prepares to introduce a fully electric bus fleet next year.

The facility, which replaces the previous Wilderspool Causeway depot, has been equipped with chargers for the town’s new zero-emission electric bus fleet, comprising 105 new buses.

Ben Wakerley, managing director of the council-owned bus operator, praised his team for their efforts during the move.

“The support from all of the organisations involved in supporting our new depot has been immense - everyone has really pulled together and I’m pleased that another important step in the continued

TfL MAKES SWITCH TO LED LIGHTING

More than half of bus shelters now converted

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Transport for London has now converted more than 50% of lighting in bus shelters across London to LED lighting to reduce waste, energy consumption and carbon emissions. Across London, there are around 12,100 bus shelters that have long relied on traditional lighting to keep them illuminated. However, advancements in technology have meant that TfL has been able to roll out more environmentally friendly LED lighting. Before and after testing by TfL showed that the new lighting

development of Warrington’s bus services has been made,” he said. “Better facilities will improve bus maintenance, reliability and, ultimately, customer service.”

Hans Mundry, cabinet member for highways, transportation and public realm, said the depot would pave the way for further improvements.

TUC PROPOSES £9.9BN NET ZERO TRANSPORT PLAN

Continued from Page 1

uses around 57% less energy, but provides 10% brighter light, improving safety for customers.

TfL expects to have converted all lighting in bus shelters, including those used in advertising panels, to LED lighting by the end of March 2024. Once complete, this will reduce costs by £1.5m a year and associated carbon emissions by more than 1,000 tonnes CO2e.

In addition to bus shelters, TfL is working across its entire network to upgrade lighting to LEDs. At least a quarter of all Tube stations across London have been converted to only use LED lighting, with more planned for conversion in the coming months and years. Customer lighting at tram stops served by London Trams have

He continued: “We have already seen a good increase in passenger numbers since we introduced our Better By Bus campaign - which has brought reduced fares and improved timetablesand we can now look forward to the new depot supporting the arrival of our cutting-edge, all-electric bus fleet next year.”

“With this report, we’ve done the work that Conservative ministers should have done with their empty and incompetent net zero strategy.”

The TUC’s plan would create 140,000 new jobs working directly in bus, tram, and rail operation and a further 830,000 jobs in manufacture, construction, and infrastructure for buses and trams up to 2035, supporting up to 1.8 million jobs indirectly through the rail investment.

It estimates such a plan would boost annual GDP by £52.1bn by 2030 through productivity gains, including GDP growth from construction work and supply chains across the period of capital expenditure to 2035.

been converted to LED lighting, and work is also taking place to upgrade lighting at bus stations across London, as well as at a number of Tube depots, and the London Trams depot in Croydon. Around 50% of all lamp columns on the TfL Road Network are also now LED lights.

The TUC believes that the investment plan could fund the completion of both branches of HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail including connection to HS2, the Midlands Rail Hub, and electrification of the full rail network.

The report also backs what are a growing number of calls for a minimum level of service for Britain’s buses. In this instance the TUC backs proposals made by CPRE, the countryside charity, last year of at least an hourly bus service for every settlement with at least 200 people (PT263).

The TUC concludes that in 2020 a fifth of UK households had no access to a car, rising to 35% in the lowest income bracket. It believes that the investment plan will extend inclusion by facilitating better access to work, public services, retail and leisure.

The depot has been equipped with chargers for the town’s new zeroemission electric bus fleet, comprising 105 new buses

TfL expects to have converted all bus shelters by the end of March 2024

‘Technology can make transport accessible’

New report by RNIB highlights how technology can be a great enabler for public transport use amongst those who are either blind or partially sighted

ACCESSIBILITY

A new report from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), working in partnership with Motability, has highlighted the role technology can play in making public transport more accessible for blind and partially-sighted people.

The move follows the UK Government’s decision to introduce new legislation that will require almost all local bus and coach services in Britain to provide on-vehicle audible announcements and visual displays.

The report reveals that for many blind or partially-sighted people, public transport use can be a daunting experience due to a wide breadth of accessibility issues which reduce their ability to travel independently.

RNIB is calling for transport providers to use a checklist to make their services more accessible to enable blind and partially sighted people to travel independently and live a fulfilled life. RNIB’s key recommendations detail how public spaces and transport hubs can incorporate best practice in design to improve accessibility. Availability and consistency of some of the recommended design features and services varies greatly across transport modes

and regions and is especially poor in rural areas. These include tactile paving, detectible kerbs, handrails, lifts, clear routes, step-free access, clear signage and markings with colour contrast, as well as accurate, frequent and clear audio announcements on buses and trains.

Over half of those surveyed for the report found it difficult to navigate transport facilities, while more than three-quarters felt nervous about travelling to unfamiliar places. Although passenger assistance schemes are highly praised, they are not available on buses.

Nearly a quarter of people with sight loss rely on friends and family for support, while planning unfamiliar journeys is a challenge for over half of respondents.

Technology, such as travel apps and smartphones, can provide significant support, helping people with sight loss to access maps, check timetables, and find accessible routes. However, research found only a quarter of people with sight loss use technology regularly on public transport and just 1% of those probed use electronic kiosks.

RNIB said people with sight loss rely heavily on personalised ‘workarounds’ to feel a sense of control. They may avoid specific routes, unfamiliar journeys, or specific times of day when trying to get to work, see friends and family or to go shopping.

The checklist provides a number of changes transport operators can make in order to make their networks more accessible. They include: Make sure websites and apps providing information about services and networks are accessible, explain layouts, and have real-time information and journey planning tools; Ensure online ticket purchasing processes meet web accessibility guidelines WCAG 2; Maintain offline options (like telephone) for ticket purchase and booking assistance; and Include accessibility features in any specifications for the procurement of touchscreen ticket machines.

RNIB also suggests that signage should be clear, large print and in appropriate locations and that more bus stops should have real-time information displays. It also suggests existing displays should be made more accessible by including audio options. Operators are also urged to ensure that all frontline staff and senior management are trained in disability awareness in order to support blind and partially-sighted passengers.

Technology can provide significant support for people with sight loss

“Over half of those surveyed found it difficult to navigate transport facilities”

Smart codes improve transport accessibility

Wolverhampton Bus Station is testing inclusive technology

ACCESSIBILITY

Transport for West Midlands has unveiled new smart codes at Wolverhampton Bus Station, giving passengers immediate access to wayfinding details and live travel information on their mobile phones.

The six-month trial is part of a strategy by TfWM, which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), to improve accessibility, create a fairer society and tackle the climate emergency. Wolverhampton joins New York and Barcelona in testing the latest, inclusive technology.

The NaviLens codes are implemented to make the bus station smarter and more inclusive. Using free apps (NaviLens and NaviLens Go) and

LEICESTER BUS CAPPING SCHEME ANNIVERSARY

183,000 passenger journeys in first 12 months

TICKETING

It has now been a full year since multi-operator ‘Tap on Tap off’ contactless price capping was launched by the Leicester Buses Partnership. It was the first multi-operator capping scheme to launch in the UK, covering over 99% of passenger journeys.

The partnership reports that over the past 12 months, bus users in Leicester have made combined savings of £131,000 thanks to the

the camera on a phone, codes are detected automatically, and the details presented to a user on screen or read aloud.

For blind and partially sighted passengers, NaviLens codes present an accessible alternative to traditional signage providing context and ability to independently navigate the station. Sighted passengers can also benefit from using NaviLens codes to navigate the station, including automatically translating station information into more than 30 languages.

At Wolverhampton the codes are installed at floor level decision points along the tactile path,

providing timely and relevant wayfinding information. Codes are also positioned on walls at all points of interest providing context and improved situational awareness. This combination enables personalised directions around the station, details of how to access and use amenities together with real time departure information for every bay and bus service.

The colourful tags can be picked up by a phone camera at long distances without the need to know where they are, this can be done whilst moving and several can be scanned at once providing context on route. This enables

all passengers to independently access relevant and timely information within the station.

Steven Hayes, TfWM’s head of network transformation, said: “It’s crucial that everyone, regardless of their personal circumstances, can easily access and use our region’s public transport ... We are looking forward to working with NaviLens to see how these new smart codes can further improve accessibility for everyone using the transport network.”

Journeo has supported this project and has integrated real time journey information into the NaviLens codes at Wolverhampton Bus Station.

Kim Bradley, group projects manager at Journeo, commented: “Combining these technologies will increase everyone’s confidence and encourage more people to choose the bus, which is essential for communities across the UK to meet their carbon, health and transport goals.”

The trial at Wolverhampton Bus Station is scheduled to be in place until September.

launch of the scheme, with 183,000 passenger journeys being made.

Supported by technology partners Ticketer and Littlepay, multi-operator Tap on Tap off contactless capping is available on First Bus, Arriva and Centrebus services in the city, allowing passengers to pay with their contactless card or phone and simply ‘tap on’ when they board the bus and ‘tap off’ when they alight. Whatever journey the passenger makes, the system will always calculate the best value fare for their journey(s).

The partnership won the Transport Ticketing Global Award for Best Smart Ticketing Programme 2023 (<200k daily journeys) last month. The award recognised

the complexities of having three separate companies involved in rolling out the multi-operator contactless scheme.

The roll-out of multi-operator Tap on Tap off price capping was one of the first projects to be delivered by the Leicester Buses Partnership, as part of its ‘Big Bus Plan’ which aims to bring about “a transformative change in bus travel, that’s electric, frequent, reliable, easy and great value”.

Together the Partnership, which includes Leicester City Council and bus operators, hopes to introduce further multi-operator price caps to make Tap on Tap off the payment method of choice and make bus travel even more attractive.

“It’s crucial that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, can easily access and use our region’s public transport”

Steven Hayes, TfWM

ALEX WARNER

Transport legends - past, present, future

Who have been national treasures of transport, our equivalents of Dame Judi Dench and Sir David Attenborough? Who’ll be next?

Last week’s memorial service for the late railway icon Adrian Shooter made me reflect on the role of genuine transport industry legends, particularly during these moribund times where ticking boxes and working within tight constraints are the norm. Fatigued by grumbling in this column, I pontificated on more positive matters and remembered that the good folk outnumber the cads and over my lifetime there have been other Shooters who we should be lionising. Who have been the other national treasures of transport, our equivalents of Dame Judi Dench, Sir David Attenborough or Sir Trevor McDonald, for instance?

Sadly, I never really knew Adrian well, though I had been in a few meetings with him. I’m sure, had our paths crossed properly, we’d have got on well - he struck me as more of a legend for being an entrepreneur, a challenger, entertainer and innovator, not one of those dullard sycophants who just follow the crowd. Legends for me are larger than life and that’s what he was, alongside others who fall into this category.

Let’s start though with the bus sector and it’s easy to romanticise the stories of Sir Moir Lockhead and Sir Brian Souter, sniffing a big opportunity at the time of deregulation and creating vast empires, but also being philanthropic in the process. History has shown they were not just unprecedented but very much ‘one-offs’. Transport owning groups are now fully developed and run, machine-like, with CEOs and divisional MDs coming and going, almost as if it’s just a job. There’s little, if

any scope, for another Lockhead or Souter to carve out something big. In the case of those who worked for them, they left an indelible impact on their lives and although they both had different management styles.

The post-deregulation period was a fertile ground for entrepreneurial leaders, but also for those who had an eye for detail and got their hands dirty in a way that became characteristic of the bus sector, in particular. Chris Moyes, whose life was cut short so tragically, had such an impact, along with Trevor Smallwood and Giles Fearnley. The latter made his name at Blazefield and then catapulted himself into rail by founding Prism Rail, selling it to National Express, and then, among other roles, spending just under a decade at First Bus.

Big names abounded back then and maybe I’ve always been one to be in awe of the stars, but there seemed to be more transport household names. I recall as a 28 year old being interviewed at the Strategic Rail Authority and, as part of a presentation I had to prepare, I brought in, as props, an N Gauge Wales and West Class 158 and some track from my model railway. I impersonated their supremo Giles Fearnley to answer the exam question around how private companies could be contract managed but also have a great impact on the industry. I’d never met the bloke but he was a hero from a distance and if you would have said 24 years later he would be a business partner in my consultancy venture, I’d have called for the men in white coats to take me away. He was also my lucky mascot, as the interview went well and I got the job!

The characteristics of legends, such as Fearnley, tend to be similar in that they are seen as national treasures because they tend to be grounded, dignified and affable. Throughout their career they would diligently answer letters, phone calls or emails from those of us who might consider ourselves to be plebs, and would always give up their time to coach, mentor or just give avuncular support. They’d also be high profile on the conference and seminar scene, not because they’d use it as a microphone to self-promote, but as observers in the crowd, to learn, network and be approachable to others. They wanted to be there because they had a genuine interest in the transport sector and it coursed through their veins.

Thankfully, it’s not a totally barren landscape devoid of modern day heroes. There are a few who are on the trajectory to be lionised nostalgically once their time is up. Have you ever heard anyone say a bad word about Go-Ahead’s Martin Dean? I kid you not, I never have - not a single whispering of anything but unbridled positivity about transport’s ultimate, decent bloke. Deano, who has split his career between bus and rail, has more roles than Greggs the bakers - he currently oversees Go-Ahead’s regional bus businesses, is chair of Edinburgh Trams, CPT England and Wales and a director of Traveline. He is one of the most knowledgeable transport professionals of his generation and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of transport businesses and routes past and present and is

Legendary railway pioneer Adrian Shooter was honoured with a statue at London Marylebone station last August

also incredibly approachable, empathetic and caring. The only flaw in his ointment is his obsession with Watford FC, but then, I guess, even deities have skeletons in their closet. Watch-out, meanwhile, for Deano’s boss, Christian Schreyer, who, I predict, will take the industry by storm and we’ll be talking about in years to come. He strikes me as one of the most knowledgeable and astute transport professionals around, with a global lens and experience that is second to none.

The bus sector is fortunate to be well populated with industry professionals who understand that it is all about serving local markets. They make it their place to ensconce themselves on a micro level in the complexities of these markets. The knowledge they have accumulated over the years is gold dust and newcomers to the sector, some who may be just passing through, would do well to appreciate that when they diss these folk as quirky, mavericks or bus spotter types, out of touch with the modern world and consumer trends. They are holding it altogether during adversity and my fear is that in some parts of the bus industry, the beleaguered bus experts of old feel that their experience is being traduced because it’s unfashionable.

As part of creating Great Scenic Journeys (www.greatscenicjourneys.co.uk - hint hint), I have been more actively involved than ever before with bus company folk and in doing so, been overwhelmed by their expertise and unstinting commitment to the cause. Although they aren’t on a UK-wide stage currently, in the way that some other contemporary legends or those of yesteryear were, the likes of Paul Lynch, Paul Matthews, Marc Reddy, Andrew Wickham, Rob Jones, Douglas Robertson, Matt Kitchin, Matt Cranwell, Robert Williams, Ben Gilligan, Simon Goff, Ben Wakerley - I could go on - they are the heartbeat of this industry, the glue keeping it all together through thick and thin - tomorrow’s James Freeman, Roger French or Les Warneford. Then, of course, there are others, traditionally from the supplier and industry body ranks, who I’d have on the legends list. Cat-loving Ray Stenning would be a cert on the team sheet for the way in which he made us all think differently about how we present our customer service proposition - and he did it in an outspoken and engaging way that made us rebels purr but would have caused

many a poor, hapless transport CEO wince uncomfortably. Where Ray was opening our eyes to brand and customer satisfaction before its time, so too Claire Haigh, of Greener Journeys was focusing our attention on sustainability while outgoing Transport Focus CEO Anthony Smith was keeping transport operators on their toes, backed up with research and insights.

Cerebral Chris Cheek is up with the greats too. He’s transport’s very own Google, with his instant access to any statistic relating to market dynamics old, new and future, all of which he will have analysed in copious detail, continues to contribute infinitely to the sector.

In hoity-toity rail, where industry professionals enjoy nothing better than congratulating themselves and each other on a job well done, despite performance indicators suggesting otherwise, legends can be found, current and in the past. When I was growing up as a kid and in the early stages of my career, proper heroes and big personalities aboundedSir Bob Reid the second, Gordon Pettitt, John Nelson, Chris Green and Dick Fearn, to name but a few. I have had the pleasure of working with Nelson and in more recent years Fearn and their reputations were garnered not least because they did fine jobs, but also due to their ‘down to earth’, approachable demeanour, able to hit it off and make time for the depot cleaner or divisional CEO. Chris Green too - a thoroughly decent chap who, alongside former Crystal Palace FC manager Steve Coppell, was my hero during my formative years.

This generation passed on their wisdom and tuteleage to those behind them, the likes of Sir Michael Holden and David Frankswhom I have had the privilege to work for. Not too many years behind is Andrew Haines, who, alongside charismatic Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill (in many respects, the ultimate multi-modal, multi-functional, entrepreneurial and corporate transport professional) has led the transformation of Network Rail and creation of Great British Railways. In Hendy and Haines, there’s a feeling of becalming, reassurance that Network Rail’s in good hands and the legacy of poor senior leadership and dating way back to the early beginnings of Railtrack has been consigned to history.

A word too for the Department for Transport’s passionate Pete Wilkinson who, in the darkest days for the franchised industry,

including during Covid, played a lead role in keeping the show on the road.

In the TOC community currently, with maybe the odd isolated exception, there are, believe it or not, less egotistical and more grounded and experienced MDs than in previous eras. Although morale seems low, there seems more stability and longevity of senior leaders at MD level and the team-sheet is strong, with big names such as Tom Joyner, Mark Hopwood, Jan Chaudhry and David Horne, joined by talented relative newcomers on the scene and supported at divisional level in the owning groups by well-respected, savvy folk, such as Dave Kaye and David Brown.

In reflecting on legends, it did make me realise how male-dominated the transport sector really has been over the years. That’s not to say there haven’t been huge contributors and heroines. Diane Crowther, Nicola Shaw and Charlene Wallace, who sadly passed away recently, are three such examples of massively respected and inspirational leaders, but history shows that there have been too few women commanding senior roles. That Stagecoach and First Group’s bus divisions are now headed by impressive female leaders (Carla Stockton-Jones and Janette Bell respectively) is encouraging and hopefully in years to come, we’ll be talking about their legacies in transport, just as there are more women than ever before rising through the ranks across all modes and on the cusp of great things.

The next five years are going to be so critical for the transport industry, with the transition to Great British Railways alongside the continuous need for the bus and coach sectors to modernise and remain relevant. The future is on a knife-edge and could irreversibly go either way. We’re going to need to draw on the inspiration of heroes present and past, more than ever before.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of recruitment business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration and chair of Surrey FA.

“We’re going to need to draw on the inspiration of heroes present and past, more than ever before”

COMMENT

NICK RICHARDSON

Bus services face

Beeching-style cuts

60 years since Dr Beeching’s hotly-debated recommendations for Britain’s railways, today’s bus sector has some interesting parallels

Now 60 years since Dr Richard Beeching unveiled his plan for British Railways, it is still a hot discussion topic. Then a fully nationalised concern, the railway network was much greater in capacity and coverage than it is today but was grossly inefficient. The plan intended to rescue the railway from this untenable situation and in doing so, eradicate much of it. Opinion remains divided about whether the outcomes were worth the pain or if putting the business back on a commercial footing was a success. However, there are some interesting parallels with the current situation facing the bus sector where shrinking the network appears to be happening, similarly based on commercial realities and with limited government support - the contrast between Britain’s railways and passenger transport in Europe remains. Despite huge uplifts in spend on rail infrastructure and services and a relatively recent recognition that bus services are vital to many communities, our spend is relatively poor.

Historical problems

Some figures from the early 1960s set the scene. One third of the railway’s route mileage carried approximately 1% of passenger and freight volumes; half the network carried 4% of passengers and 5% of freight. For rolling stock, 5,500 vehicles were needed to run the all-year timetable with a further 2,000 for additional summer trains. However, there were another 11,000 carriages used for relief trains,

each being used for between 10 and 18 journeys a year at a cost of £4.0m against revenue of £0.5m. Clearly something needed to be done because the financial situation was dire. The rail network had taken a beating during WW2 and much of the infrastructure was not as it should be. The context was of an economy trying to push its way into modernity and the rise in car ownership had started. With road improvements and affordable motoring, car acquisition was rapidly becoming a reality for many who abandoned the railway for the freedom of car use. Much of the commentary since has been on the savage cuts to the rail network. What is telling is that all the images of lines coming to the end of their useful life are devoid of people - trains stand in empty stations, many of which had never had buoyant demand simply because their catchment was limited. The infrastructure they used was high maintenance and signalling required thousands of staff to enable trains to go anywhere. A reliance on inefficient and costly steam locomotion and the subsequent mess made of procuring diesel rolling stock was accompanied by partial

electrification but not to the extent required, a legacy we are still failing to rectify.

Having said that, many parts of the country lost huge chunks of railways and some have never recovered. Hindsight is convenient of course but while Beeching dealt with the situation faced then, we are perhaps more mindful now of making provision for future generations. Some of the routes that were culled would now be really useful: connecting with container ports, providing corridors that could be upgraded to high speed routes without massive destruction, maintaining lines where road access was poor and retaining cross-country routes which are now notable by their absence. Add to this the pressures now being faced on some core routes for which there is no longer an alternative.

On the plus side, there was a recognition that coordinated multi-modal passenger networks would be appropriate for larger urban areas, leading the way to Passenger Transport Executives and subsequently Combined Authorities, although there remain some notable omissions.

The pre-Beeching railway has been responsible for some rose-tinted spectacled views of rural Britain that probably never existed: bucolic country stations with dedicated staff, an ability to send parcels virtually anywhere by train, cheap day excursions to the coast and an all-round sentiment that railways anywhere and everywhere were something to be perpetuated at all costs.

Part of the trouble of attempting to recreate some of the lost routes is that the problems will also be recreated unless circumstances have changed significantly. The reinstated Borders Railway has benefitted from changed journeys to work but the untouched section of route remains thinly populated. In other places, generating even a mildly convincing business case for reinstatement is pure fantasy.

Given that 60 years is a long period during which there has been significant change, the opportunity to recreate some routes has passed due to land ownership, built development, changing construction standards and redistributed populations. It sounds harsh but this is the reality, the legacy being largely limited to quiet and evocative remnants of infrastructure scattered across the country rather than investment opportunities.

“Many parts of the country lost huge chunks of railways and some have never recovered”

Current problems

I reiterate all this because bus services are facing a crisis. The scenario is very familiarrevenues fall short of costs so something has to give. While today’s bus services are provided by private sector operators, a move to large scale franchising in some areas, including all of Wales, puts the onus of service planning back into the public sector. In contrast to the railway, bus operators do not have to maintain infrastructure so having reached a point where operating costs cannot be covered by revenue, there is clearly a problem. We are now hearing familiar arguments about hardship caused by service withdrawals.

A point to note is that while many rail services were replaced by buses, many of these services faded away over time; this suggests that even a lower cost option was unrealistic.

It also highlights the inadequate role of the Transport Users’ Consultative Committees which considered the effects of rail closures. TUCCs could make recommendations but little else, other than highlighting instances where reduced travel options would adversely affect populations, however small in number.

Another much-criticised aspect of rail closures was the evidence made available in the form of the number of users. Examples

were cited in which not all users were counted or they were counted on the wrong day of the week and similar. While this was hardly best practice, the numbers that were counted still fell far short of anything that resembled enough revenue to maintain the service.

The current bus service shrinkage is a result of commercial decisions by operators, although most people seem to think that councils are responsible. However, the local bus can be put into the same category as the community shop, pub, school etc., in that if there are insufficient users it will not survive - this is the commercial reality. Many people like the idea of having a bus available for when they get old or can’t drive anymore but they don’t actually use it. This doesn’t stop vociferous objections to service withdrawals even from those who have shunned it. Service contractions emerge universally because there is no operator of last resort and no comfortable pot of government money on which to fall back.

This emphasises the unsatisfactory respective roles of public and private sectors, with neither being able to plan for the longer term. Much of this boils down to the availability or otherwise of funding, be it called subsidy or investment depending on your point of view. With the bus sector, the only means of maintaining

unprofitable services is to provide a public sector subsidy in view of the fact that services are vital to maintain communities. The other option is to accept that everything is subject to market forces and accept the consequences.

Potential solutions

While some of the rail closures were enacted clumsily, communities were forced to adapt, most by securing a car-dependent culture that continues to marginalise bus services. Today, bus services are vital to many but are irrelevant to a majority who continue to revolve around car use. The parallels between Beeching and bus service withdrawals today are that both train and bus services are valued by users but not by the wider society which oversees policies and funding. In some ways, policy has progressed little over 60 years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nick Richardson is Technical Principal at transport consultancy Mott MacDonald and Chair of CILT’s Bus and Coach Policy Group and is a former Chair of the Transport Planning Society. In addition, he has held a PCV licence for over 35 years.

The first Greater Manchester Bee Network bus. A move to franchising puts the onus of service planning back into the public sector

A simple offer made complicated

The Deutschland-Ticket will slash travel costs and accelerate digitisation, but it’s an enormous task

Pay £43 a month and have unlimited use of all local and regional public transport in the country. Sounds like a good offer?

Dear reader, I present to you the Deutschland-Ticket.

From May 1, 2023, Germany will, with a bit of luck, offer this monthly subscription for 49 Euros, excluding only long distance trains (IC, ICE, EC) and intercity coach services such as Flixbus.

Just before the Easter holidays, the German parliament paved the way for the Deutschland-Ticket - the new name for the initially titled 49 Euro ticket.

If you’ve followed the news here in Germany, you could be forgiven for thinking, “Again? Didn’t they already approve this months ago?”

Unlike the 9 Euro Ticket last summer, the Deutschland-Ticket has faced quite a few more hurdles in the German legislature system, including approval from the EU that this kind of state help isn’t contravening any laws.

Each time one of these steps had been taken, it was accompanied by the headlines that the Deutschland-Ticket is now good to go.

Reality is quite different - the DeutschlandTicket has somewhat unsurprisingly become a bureaucratic monster and political football. Because of this it didn’t start at the beginning of the year as initially intended and may well not be implemented everywhere in Germany by the new target date of May 1, 2023.

The reasons behind this are as complicated as the German fare and reimbursement systems that make public transport a real whopper to get one’s head around. (I have been trying for the last 18 months and would still consider myself a novice).

“From May 1, 2023, Germany will, with a bit of luck, offer this monthly subscription for 49 Euros”

Public transport in the town of Ausburg, Bavaria

Marc Bichtemann

A political football

The current federal government wanted the Deutschland-Ticket to build on the success of the 9 Euro Ticket, a monthly ticket introduced for a three-month period in 2022 in response to the unfolding cost of living crisis. It aimed to bring a clear and simple offer, allowing people in Germany to use all local and regional public transport across the country for an initial cost of 49 Euros a month.

It also intended this ticket to be a purely digital offer and therefore another boost to Germany’s efforts to digitisation and bureaucracy reduction.

A number of German state politicians however rubbished the idea. Mainly because it wasn’t theirs but also because they saw the upcoming debate about the costs. In any case, after much debate, they settled for a subscription offer, still for 49 Euros per month, which can be cancelled on a monthly basis and can, for a limited period until January 1, 2024 also be issued as a paper ticket.

It is worth noting that there are local elections this year and the grassroots politicians have a small but loud base of voters who “have no access to digital channels”.

Those of us who have been in the industry long enough know that a surprisingly large number of people can check in for a Ryanair flight online but have to have a paper bus ticket to not be left by the roadside on the way to the supermarket.

Who’s going to pay for it?

Then there is the issue of funding. This battle between the German States and the federal government is ongoing. Funding requirement is about 3bn Euros for the first year to cover the expected fare box losses of the transport operators. Though this sum has now been split 50/50 between federal and state funds, the bone of contention is the ‘Nachschusspflicht’ (a real contender for the German word of the year as it has dominated the Deutschland-Ticket debate). The question is, who provides the money if the compensation payments end up exceeding the 3bn Euros estimate?

Add to that, that neither side wants to give the official “instruction” to make the Deutschland-Ticket a reality and we are in the German version of a Mexican stand-off. Remember, the Deutschland-Ticket is not a

DB NAVIGATOR IS ‘OVEN READY’

The well known DB Navigator app of Germany’s state rail operator Deutsche Bahn, will be enabled to sell the Deutschland-Ticket directly. Most transport associations already retail their tickets on the app, for which DB takes a sizeable commission (about 6%). Now, for a one-off five-figure sum (and the aforementioned 6% commission), each transport association can also retail the Deutschland-Ticket via the app. It’s an expensive way to go but the advantage of this is that revenue is channeled back directly to the transport providers rather than ending up in a big national pot before having to go through a long process that easily rivals the Rail Settlement Plan. It also means that the transport providers have a digital offer “oven ready” when ticket sales start in April.

three-month experiment but intended as a permanent offer.

Whichever side blinks first is the one underwriting the new ticket and therefore responsible for carrying any extra cost.

The effect on the operators

Without this clear instruction, the numerous transport associations and their members are quite understandably refusing to accept or even sell the ticket. These are often familyowned coach and bus businesses who are at risk of bankruptcy should the drop in revenue not be quickly und fully compensated.

As of today, an agreement has been reached that the federal government will ensure funding until September 2023 - not exactly the long term security needed by the transport providers. But as one politician said to me: “a solution will be found - we can’t really get out of this anymore anyway”.

The issue of capacity increases has

been largely ignored. In many areas, peak time services are near or at capacity. The Deutschland-Ticket is more likely to drive modal shift in the commuter traffic than the 9 Euro Ticket which increased leisure traffic but did not do much for the regular traveller.

Making it happen

Politics and reimbursement sorted - let’s go? Well, no. Most of the smaller transport associations and their members do not currently have the digital means to sell the Deutschland-Ticket and have to install those sales channels. Estimates for enabling the background infrastructure range from a few thousand Euros to several hundred thousands… for each business.

Then there are the ticket checks. The VDV (Germany’s equivalent to the CPT) has defined a standard to enable everyone to validate tickets issued across Germany (something that we couldn’t do during the 9 Euro Ticket era). Here too are significant costs to be expected. Enabling the technology (scanners) on the existing ticket machines of a medium sized operator (circa 70 vehicles) was quoted to be around 70,000 Euros.

There is currently no assurance that these costs will be covered.

The Deutschland-Ticket will be a great step forward for public transport in Germanythough not quite as simple as the summer success of the 9 Euro Ticket. It will provide huge savings for the travelling public, reducing the monthly travel cost by up to 75% and make journeys easier.

The hard work to make it happen will be done by the countless heroes in the back offices of public transport providers, city and local council officials and a good number of software engineers. Being digital only from next year may just boost the overdue digitisation in bus, tram and rail that Germany desperately needs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marc Bichtemann is managing director at Kahlgrund-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (KVG), a public transport operator in central Germany. He previously worked in the UK as managing director of bus operator First York and in various management roles with Virgin Trains East Coast.

The DB Navigator app

“The Deutschland-Ticket will be a great step forward for public transport in Germany”

GREAT MINSTER GRUMBLES

Transport policy favours the motorist

Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT

In March we announced a further £75m of taxpayers money to subsidise bus travel with a £2 cap on bus fares. You would like to think that up and down the country people would be jumping out of their cars and leaping onto the bus to take advantage of this. Compared to the normal commercial fare charged by operators, a £2 bus fare is a bargain.

Yet research by Transport Focus shows that just one in ten people took advantage of this generous offer. That’s better than nothing, but if nine out of ten people are doggedly refusing to take advantage of this offer, that’s telling me that we will have to introduce considerably more generous schemes or find other ways of encouraging people out of their cars if we are to promote bus travel. As our recent press release promoting the £2 bus fare cap pointed out, somebody travelling from Lancaster to Kendal would enjoy a saving of 86% on the normal fare or a saving of 87% on a bus trip from Leeds to Scarborough.

As a taxpayer, I would say that spending £75m to get just one person in ten to travel more by bus was poor value for money. Even from a policy perspective you would be hard pushed to say this scheme was a rip-roaring success. What does it tell us? It tells me that people prefer to travel by car if they can and that we are going to have to do a great deal more to persuade people to leave their cars at home.

The difficulty is that transport policy remains in favour of the motorist. You only have to see the constant pressure on the

chancellor at every budget not to increase fuel duty to recognise that. The relative cost of motoring has declined over the years while the cost of public transport has increased. The advent of driverless cars may well make motoring even more attractive to many, many people. Rail may take up 60% of this department’s budget but it accounts for less than 5% of all journeys made.

And political resistance to introducing road pricing simply underlines that policy-making is tilted in favour of the motorist. At one

level I don’t blame our politicians. You only have to see the public outcry against the London mayor’s plans to extend the Ultra Low Emission Zone scheme to cover the whole of Greater London to understand why politicians get very queasy at the idea of taxing motorists.

Yet, as I’ve said before, and as I am sure I’ll say many times again, road pricing, properly introduced, can be an incredibly fair and progressive form of taxation given technology’s ability to impose variable pricing levels according to type of vehicle, vehicle occupancy, time of day and location. Use the M25 at 8am and you get a maximum charge, which could be quite high. Use a rural road in Cornwall at 10am and you get almost no charge at all. Who can argue with the fairness of that?

Isn’t it time that the policy agenda was tilted far more in favour of public transport and against the motorist than it is today? Where is the clarion call from all public transport interests to demand that the motorist pays a greater cost of motoring than they do today? Now, I am not saying that the car has not had a huge beneficial impact in so many ways. Of course it has. All I’m saying is that the balance of policy making continues to favour the motorist over the public transport user. While we froze fuel duty, we managed to put up rail fares this year by 5.9%. A lot less than it could have been, I’ll grant you, but I hope you take my point.

I’m sure that every public transport operator and reader of this magazine would agree with the general sentiment I’m expressing, at least from a business perspective. But I guarantee you that every executive in every public transport company has a nice comfortable car, possibly even a company car, as is their right, of course..

All I’m trying to highlight - probably not very well - is that there’s no really serious debate about why motorists should be taxed more, or more fairly. There seems to be a presumption that the motorist mustn’t be upset by the introduction of new or greater taxes to ensure they pay a greater share of their true costs on, for example, the environment and the impact of congestion. The London mayor’s ULEZ proposals aren’t unreasonable even if he has made a dog’s breakfast in selling them to outer London boroughs and residents. I wonder when we will be able to have a mature and well-informed debate on these issues.

“I wonder when we will be able to have a mature and well-informed debate”

Retirement for award winner

Richard Sherratt, winner of the first Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year Award, has retired

Trentbarton scheduler Richard Sherratt has retired after 32 years of planning how the operator’s services run and its drivers are deployed.

In 2020 he was named the first winner of the Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year Award, co-organised by Passenger Transport and CitySwift. Sherratt was one of five finalists for the national award. More recently he was also named an Unsung Hero at Trentbarton’s Really Good Service Awards.

As well as helping plan future services, Sherratt has been responsible for scheduling the rotas of hundreds of drivers and the deployment of hundreds of buses since he first joned the business. He said winning the Joe Wood Award was a career highlight: “It was nice to be recognised as schedulers are the glue that hold everything together, satisfying the public’s needs whilst providing workable shifts and rotas that keep the

APPOINTMENTS

URBAN TRANSPORT GROUP

STAGECOACH SOUTH

Award winner: Richard Sherratt

drivers happy.

“Schedulers usually work in the background so it was good to know that we are appreciated.”

The Covid pandemic and lockdowns caused major changes to bus services and ushered in a new era of fluctuating passenger numbers and pattens of demand, many of which are still evolving.

“In some ways we were doing what we had always done, but the difference was how quickly things changed,” Sherratt said. “Instead of reviewing our services and resources every 12 months we were doing it every six weeks as restrictions changed.”

Trentbarton managing director Tom Morgan said: “In having Richard in our team we have been blessed with one of the best - probably the best - schedulers in the industry. We wish Richard a very happy retirement and he leaves with our heartfelt thanks for such sterling service over so many years.”

Jason Prince has been appointed the new director of the Urban Transport Group, the UK’s network of city region transport authorities.

Prince (pictured) is currently head of public affairs for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, a position he has held for over three years. Prior to this, he worked for Transport for Greater Manchester for four years.

He will take up the post of director in early July 2023. Until then Rebecca Fuller, UTG’s assistant director, is acting as interim director following the departure of former director Jonathan Bray earlier this month.

GO-AHEAD NORWAY

The Go-Ahead Group has appointed Emil Eike as managing director of the group’s Norwegian rail business.

Eike has more than 30 years of experience as a manager from the Norwegian armed forces, and the public transport and mobility industry. His track record includes 12 years at NSB, the Norwegian state-owned railway company.

He has also worked as a consultant advising transport companies on strategy, and he is chairman of Bybanen, the light rail network in Bergen.

Eike will take on the role on May 1. Magnus Hedin, chief executive of Go-Ahead Nordic has been filling the position of managing director on an interim basis. He will retain his position as chair of Go-Ahead Norwegian rail company.

Stagecoach has announced the appointment of Marc Reddy as managing director of its Chichester-based Stagecoach South business.

Reddy (pictured) joins from First Bus where he has been latterly involved in contract bids. He joined the transport industry in 1992 at Bournemouth Transport. After progressing through the business to be coaching director in 1999, Reddy joined First Bus in 2001, initially as commercial director for Hampshire and Dorset. He took on his first managing director role in 2005 running the Aircoach services in Dublin. He has also led the group’s operations in Devon and Cornwall and the Hampshire, Dorset and Berkshire business.

Reddy succeeds Gordon Frost, who has led Stagecoach South on an interim basis since last year.

ALEXANDER DENNIS

Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis has announced the appointment of Mark Williams as head of operations of AD24, its aftermarket business.

Williams joins ADL with 25 years’ experience in operational management, two decades of which was spent at consumer goods giant Procter and Gamble. The senior appointment will see Williams oversee operations for all areas of AD24 which incorporates supply of spare parts to customers, mobile technicians and service centres.

He will be based at the company’s Skelmersdale facilities and will lead a team of 67 people.

Bernard the robot takes a Metro trip

System welcomes its first

ever robot passenger

The Tyne and Wear Metro was just the ticket for Bernard the robot dog, who amazed passengers and staff alike when he went walkies on the network with a team from the University of Sunderland.

Metro yellow Bernard turned heads as he trotted down to catch a train at the city’s University Metro station, with his proud owner, Professor John Murray, academic dean of the faculty of technology, at the controls.

PENGUINS ON EXETER STATION

Almost 90 years ago, Sir Allen Lane was inspired to launch Penguin Books after he couldn’t find a good book to read at Exeter St Davids station. Now the book

SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM

As one of the most advanced canine robots in development, Bernard is one very busy pooch, travelling from Sunderland into Newcastle to deliver one of his popular research talks.

publisher has gone back to its roots with the installation of a new book vending machine at the railway station.

Thanks to a new partnership between Penguin Books, Exeter UNESCO City of Literature and Great Western Railway, passengers will be able to purchase a wide range of Penguin Books. The books on sale will change on a regular basis, featuring new releases and perennial favourites, as well as marking key moments throughout the year.

Profits from the vending

Bernard, who was built by Boston Dynamics in the USA, joined the University of Sunderland in 2021 to promote technology and the University’s Faculty of Technology at open days and outreach and recruitment events. He showcases what technology can do and how it can be used in an applied way to solve tasks.

“I think the passengers were surprised to see a robot dog on the Metro and many were keen to have their photo taken with him,” said Professor Murray. “During the journey there were many questions about what he can do.

“Bernard certainly agrees with their colour scheme!”

machine will support Bookbag, a well loved local independent bookshop, and Exeter City of Literature, an organisation that promotes literacy and celebrates books in the local area.

“When Exeter City of Literature approached us about the Penguin Books vending machine, we knew immediately that it was the perfect way to celebrate our origins,” said Penguin head of brand Zainab Juma. “This machine is just what our founder Allen Lane would have wanted to see.”

HOP ON BOARD WITH BUS BUNNY

Stagecoach South East MD

Joel Mitchell donned an Easter Bunny costume for a second year running to travel across the operator’s network handing out Easter eggs to passengers and colleagues earlier this month.

Boasting a bunny suit, wicker basket and with little helpers in tow, the bus boss bunny enjoyed a day out in the sunshine chatting with locals and even hopping onto Eastbourne’s Dotto Train.

Asked about the event, Joel said: “It’s always exciting to get out and about, putting a smile on our passengers’ faces.”

It’s always good to encourage them to hop on board, eh?!

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Why not drop us a line at editorial@passengertransport.co.uk

Good boy!

‘Oh... that sort of penguin’