WELCOME
A welcome message from Mark Yexley, Chairman of the UK Bus Awards
A
very warm welcome to the 2017 UK Bus Awards and this year’s edition of The Big Book of Winners. I would like to start by paying tribute to my predecessor, Tony Depledge, for all his efforts over the last three years and for giving me the chance to take over the baton. It is a difficult act to follow, because Tony brings a degree of elegance and polish to proceedings which is unique to him. He also likes to add in a classical flourish or two. The one I recall from our conversation about taking on the UKBA role was “Pro Bono” as in “Well, you do realise it is a Pro Bono position”…translated from the Latin means “for the public good “or in Tony’s native Yorkshire: “It pays nowt”. In truth I needed little persuading because, having left behind 36 very enjoyable years with London Transport and Arriva, the only two events I knew I would miss horribly were the CPT dinner in January and the UKBA in November. Both events are great occasions and a fabulous way of staying in touch. In the case of the UKBA it runs deeper because the awards really matter. I have sat in the audience many times experiencing the agony and the ecstasy. You have the Atlanta moments - one solitary award, so back you go to try harder next year. You have the John McEnroe “you cannot be serious” moments as the award which had your name on it goes elsewhere. And you may have had the basking in the glory experience - if you are good enough. More seriously, I have seen how much it means to those who suddenly find themselves in the spotlight. Everyone appreciates this, which is all part of the
powerful emotions generated by the event. So what has a year’s chairing of the UKBA taught me? First, organising an event like this is a big job. Just finding the right venue is a challenge. You may recall we had to quit the Hilton. And then the Waterloo pop up venue was always a bit of a Marmite choice. Hopefully we have found a new and enduring home at the Troxy. I have a deep respect for the effort which goes into the judging. We had over 250 entries this year. If you read through them all, the vast majority left you impressed, so to end up being shortlisted at the end of all that is a fine achievement - never mind if you then manage to pick up one of the medals. Everyone at the Awards ceremony will have made an impression on one of the six judging panels. We have over 40 judges who have given up their time to come down to London – because the UKBA matters to them too. They are the wily old birds from the industry who have worn most of the T-shirts. They are representatives of manufacturers, consumer bodies, the media and of our sponsors, so they are a very broad mix. And their views are supported by a band of mystery shoppers. They test whether a driver really does have outstanding customer service skills or the charisma of a tombstone. And mentioning sponsors brings me onto another lesson learned. Frankly without sponsors there would be no UKBA or, at least, a very much shrunken down version. I know that it is so easy to put a line through sponsorship along with the training and marketing budgets when money is tight and so I would invite you to clock the names of the organisations on the banners for whom the UKBA also matters to the extent of 3
continuing that vital support. Keeping the UKBA relevant and forward looking is a challenge given they are in their 22nd year. When they started in 1996 mobile phones were bricks, there was no broadband, no Apps, and emails were pretty thin on the ground too. So you just know that everything will change as radically over the next two decades. We need to keep pace. So why have the UKBA? It is simple: we need to use every way we can find to demonstrate to a wider world what we can do. Without that we will always struggle to win over the political support to take the bold decisions to really influence issues like congestion. That wider world is not well informed. Top of that list in 2017 would be the former transport minister who was most surprised, indeed staggered, to learn that the bulk of the country’s services run on a commercial basis and not on London style contracts. He was being briefed on the contents of the Bus Services Bill at the time. We also need to show ourselves what is possible too. We have talked about “recognising and rewarding” as part of the UKBA mantra. But “inspiring” is also crucial. There are some great ideas and initiatives out there and if the UKBA plays even the smallest part in encouraging others to adopt them, then that would be a fine result. I don’t need to labour the point about how challenging an environment we work in. However big the challenges, the bus industry always rises to them, but those with the best operations, the most innovative ideas and initiatives and the greatest depth of talent will always win through. Please draw handsomely on the contents of the Big Book of Big Winners to see how others have done it.