Passenger Transport: April 22, 2022

FO EV RT ER NI Y GH T

ISSUE 263 22 APRIL 2022

NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS FOR A SECTOR ON THE MOVE Bus use is back to 75% of pre-Covid levels in Blackpool

GREAT BRITISH RAIL SALE IS ‘FIRST STEP’ Campaigners believe it can generate extra income

While acknowledging the huge challenges their sector faces, there is optimism among Britain’s small and medium-sized bus companies ahead of next week’s ALBUM Conference in Blackpool.

Bill Hiron, chair of the ALBUM group of independent and

municipal operators, believes that smaller operators may benefit as big groups leave peripheral areas.

“You could get very depressed about the state of the SME sector, but on the other hand there are huge opportunities out there,” he told The ALBUM Report 2022,

which accompanies this edition of Passenger Transport.

Meanwhile, Jane Cole, managing director of Blackpool Transport, which is hosting this year’s ALBUM Conference, forecasts “a really prosperous and interesting future” for her company.

The rail industry is set to receive its equivalent of the government’s ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ campaign to help rebuild its customer base in the wake of Covid-19. One million rail tickets are being reduced by up to 50% with the launch of the government and rail industry’s ‘Great British Rail Sale’.

The public is encouraged to take advantage of this unprecedented sale, which sees for the first time multiple operators come together to offer nationwide savings. Tickets went on sale from April 19 with discounted tickets available on journeys from April 25 to May 27.

Campaign for Better Transport welcomed the initiative as a useful first step in getting people back onto trains. Norman Baker from Campaign for Better Transport said: “I hope the take-up of this offer will attract people onto trains and actually end up generating extra money for the government. It can show the Treasury that the way to increase income is to cut fares, not keep ratcheting them up and driving people off the railway.

This initiative, though very welcome, is but a first step.”

NEWS

NEWS

COMMENT

COMMENT

Telecoms boss is FirstGroup’s new CEO

Calls for Swiss-style bus revolution

What’s the future for ticket offices?

We need to talk about road pricing

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SME bus operators are optimistic about future Britain’s small and medium-sized bus operators face huge challenges but there is positivity ahead of next week’s ALBUM Conference in Blackpool

Martin Sutherland eyes opportunities

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CPRE seeks ‘Every Village, Every Hour’

Alex Warner on why a rethink is required

Nick Richardson says the time has come

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CONTENTS

PASSENGER TRANSPORT PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX 020 3950 8000 editorial@passengertransport.co.uk

Spring has given us good reasons to be positive It feels like the volume has been turned up in the passenger transport sector. The challenges have got bigger (Covid recovery, spiralling fuel prices, labour shortages, decarbonisation and changing travel patterns), but so too have the opportunities.

Robert Jack There is greater recognition than ever before of the Managing Editor important role that public transport plays in terms of connecting communities and making progress towards net zero.

There are good reasons to be positive. The government has worked with the rail industry to deliver the ‘Great British Rail Sale’, an opportunity to demonstrate to the Treasury that lower fares can generate increased revenue. Meanwhile, although much of the country missed out on funding for their Bus Service Improvement Plans, at least the prime minister restated his passion for buses in parliament this week. Some have suggested that this passion will fade.

I suspect not, and I think that Boris Johnson’s successors will have to show much more interest in buses than his predecessors ever did.

My final reason to be positive this spring is next week’s return of the ALBUM Conference after a three-year interval. This event brings together Britain’s independent and municipal operators - companies that often out perform their larger rivals in terms of innovation, local engagement and customer service. They will need to harness all of their skills and their agility in the coming years, but the ALBUM Report 2022 reveals that there is confidence about the future.

HAVE YOUR SAY Contact us with your news, views and opinion at: editorial@passengertransport.co.uk PASSENGER TRANSPORT editorial@passengertransport.co.uk forename.surname@ passengertransport.co.uk Telephone: 020 3950 8000 Managing Editor & Publisher Robert Jack Deputy Editor Andrew Garnett Contributing Writer Rhodri Clark Directors Chris Cheek, Andrew Garnett, Robert Jack, John Nelson OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS Passenger Transport Publishing Ltd PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX, UNITED KINGDOM Telephone (all enquiries):

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IN THIS ISSUE 18

STAGECOACH BOSS PLANNING REVOLUTION

Stagecoach UK managing director Carla Stockton-Jones told the Young Bus Managers Network about her strategy for the future.

She wants the Perth-based group to embrace new technology and become an inclusive organisation.

ORGANISATION

PAGE

ALBUM 1, 2 Alexander Dennis 9, 11 Arriva 8 Blackpool Transport 1 Campaign for Better Transport 1 Coach and Bus Association Cymru 8 ComfortDelGro 8 Cornwall Council 4 CPRE 9 Delaine Buses 9 Deutsche Bahn 13 DWS 5 Go Cornwall 4 Go-Ahead Group 5, 8 Great British Railways 6, 21 Great Western Railway 7 EPM 5 First South West 4 FirstGroup 5, 8 INIT 13 Journeo 13 Llew Jones or Llanrwst 8 Merseyrail 24 Network Rail 6, 11, 21 Nottingham City Transport 13 Office of Rail & Road 7 Powys Council 8 PTRC 16 Rail Industry Association 7 South Eastern Trains 14-15 South Wales Transport 8 Stagecoach 5, 8, 18-19, 24 Stagecoach Bluebird 11 Stagecoach South East 24 Transport Focus 14 Transport for Wales 22 TrawsCymru 8 West Yorkshire CA 22

11

STAGECOACH UNVEILS ELECTRIC DECKERS

13

IOKI HAMBURG DRT WINS MOBILITY AWARD

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GOING FULL CIRCLE ON THE MERRY-GO-ROUND

Bus operator Stagecoach Bluebird has unveiled the electric double decker buses soon to be on the streets of Aberdeen. The company has bought 22 electric buses with £4m support from the Scottish Government Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme.

On-demand service ‘ioki Hamburg’ received the German Mobility Transition Award from transport association Allianz pro Schiene earlier this month. The judges praised the project’s vision of modern mobility and a solution for “the last mile”.

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. With the prime minister and chancellor in trouble, will they still be in post come the autumn?

REGULARS NEWS ENVIRONMENT INNOVATION & TECH COMMENT GRUMBLES CAREERS DIVERSIONS

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Left to right: Linda Taylor, Simon Goff and Richard Stevens launch the bus fares pilot

Cornwall launches bus fares revolution

Pioneering trial backed by £23.5m from the UK Government will see bus fares slashed for an initial four-year period across Cornwall’s bus network BUS FARES

Cornwall Council is promising a revolution in its bus services after the launch on April 10 of the long-awaited bus fares pilot that will dramatically cut fares on all bus services in Cornwall. It follows the launch of the ‘Any Ticket, Any Bus’ multi-operator ticketing scheme in January.

Commercial fare-paying bus passengers will see their fares cut by, on average, one third for adults as part of the ‘Make Big Savings

By Bus’ scheme. A county-wide adult day ticket valid on all buses in Cornwall will cost just £5 with weekly tickets priced at £20 and monthly tickets at £80. Young people under 19 also benefit from the scheme with similar fare deals that include unlimited travel weekly tickets priced at £13.50.

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The scheme will run for at least the next four years and is being funded by a £23.5m subsidy from the UK Government. While details about the reimbursement arrangements with individual operators have not been disclosed, it is understood a reimbursement mechanism has been devised in partnership with local operators.

The scheme follows hard work in recent years to improve bus services in the county following the 2016 devolution deal agreed with the government.

There has been significant investment in the bus fleet by

“Cornwall can lead the way for the rest of the UK”

major operators Go Cornwall Bus and First South West and the council claims the county now has the youngest supported network fleet. Bus stops and other associated infrastructure have also been upgraded and many now feature real time information.

“Cornwall is serious about the provision of good public transport,” said council leader Linda Taylor at a special stakeholder launch event on April 11. She said the council has supported investment of £15m to improve bus services in recent years and introduced the Transport for Cornwall brand.

This was backed by a £35m investment in new buses by the two major operators and rail improvements along the spine of the county that were “a vital step”

in creating an integrated public transport network.

“Pre-pandemic we saw a 2% year-on-year increase in patronage as bus usage in the rest of the country was in decline,” Taylor claimed. She also highlighted passenger satisfaction scores of 93% in 2019. “With the relaxation of Covid restrictions we are seeing a stronger return to bus travel than the average patronage across the rest of the country.”

Go Cornwall Bus, which is part of Go-Ahead subsidiary Go South West, is the county’s dominant operator and the lead contractor for Cornwall’s eight-year supported bus contract. Managing director Richard Stevens said that with the launch of the fares pilot: “Cornwall can lead the way for the rest of the UK.” He revealed that between January and March 30,000 multi-operator trips had been made since the launch of the ‘Any Ticket, Any Bus’ scheme in the new year. “This is a true opportunity to change the way people perceive public transport and the way that they use public transport,” he added.

Simon Goff, managing director of First South West said the council deserved praise for its vision for buses. “We’ve made it easier to travel,” he said. “We’ve knocked that one out of the way and made it far easier to navigate the bus network.”

However, despite the good news surrounding the fares pilot launch, the introduction of the summer timetable on April 10 did see some cuts made to the supported network. The council claims total mileage will reduce by less than 1% overall and the changes have been made in response to demand.

“Our aim is to make the network more resilient and financially sustainable,” added a spokesperson for Cornwall Council. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Carla Stockton-Jones and her vision for Stagecoach Page 18

Telecoms boss named as FirstGroup CEO Graham Sutherland will join Aberdeenbased group on May 16 APPOINTMENTS

FirstGroup has announced the appointment of Graham Sutherland as chief executive. The Aberdeen-based group says the move follows a comprehensive search process and Sutherland will take on the role from May 16.

He succeeds Matthew Gregory, who stepped down in September after three years leading FirstGroup. Although he denied his resignation was driven by it, hedge fund Coast Capital had called for Gregory to leave the business over the sale of the group’s North American interests.

Since Gregory’s departure, David Martin, the former Arriva chief executive and FirstGroup’s chairman has acted as executive chairman on an interim basis. He will resume his non-executive role from July 1.

BROWN JOINS EPM GROUP

Former Go-Ahead CEO joins technology firm APPOINTMENTS

Former Go-Ahead Group chief executive David Brown has joined the board of technology firm EPM Transport Solutions as a nonexecutive director.

Brown retired from the Londonbased transport group in the autumn of 2021 after 10 years as CEO. With over 40 years of his career spent working in the passenger transport sector, EPM said Brown brings “a vast amount of knowledge and www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Commenting on the appointment, Martin said Sutherland joined the business at “an exciting and important time for FirstGroup which is now a focused and resilient business with a strong platform from which to develop”.

FirstGroup says Sutherland has “an established record in strategic development, as well as in delivering enhanced financial

and operational performance and engaging a diverse range of stakeholders”.

He has held a number of senior leadership positions in organisations that provide critical services to consumer, business and public sector customers across the UK. He was chief executive of telecoms business KCOM Group from 2018 until its sale to a Macquarie-managed

Sutherland: ‘FirstGroup has many opportunities ahead’

experience” to the business.

In his new role Brown will support the strategic development of EPM. He will be working with the executive team to identify opportunities across the sector.

“I am excited that David has agreed to join the team,” said EPM chief executive Ian Churchill. “With his wealth of experience of the passenger transport sector, he will be invaluable in developing our portfolio of businesses to achieve our growth plans. His passion for innovation and transport is a natural fit with our organisation and I look forward to working together.”

Brown said he was delighted to

join the board of the company. He continued: “I am looking forward to working with Ian and the team in the development of solutions to further assist the industry in the delivery of high quality services.”

Brown gains non-exec role

infrastructure fund. Prior to this, Sutherland held a number of senior executive roles within BT Group over 12 years. These included chief executive of the BT business and public sector division, where he was responsible for profitable growth and led the integration of EE’s business unit.

He was also chief executive of BT Ireland where he was responsible for all consumer, business and network activities. Prior to that he was chief executive of NTL Ireland and has also held senior financial roles including at Bombardier. He is a nonexecutive director of Savvi, one of Ireland’s largest credit unions.

“It’s a privilege to have the opportunity to lead FirstGroup,” said Sutherland. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues to drive the group forward and deliver the vital services that are key to achieving society’s sustainability and economic goals. With its prime positions in bus and rail, strong balance sheet and clear purpose, FirstGroup has many opportunities ahead and I look forward to helping shape its exciting future.”

STAGECOACH’S OFFER UPDATE

DWS moves ahead with bid for Perth-based group ACQUISITIONS

Stagecoach this week revealed that DWS Infrastructure’s proposed purchase of the Perth-based group has now won the backing of 10.54% of the group’s shareholders. This includes an irrevocable undertaking to accept DWS’s offer from Stagecoach co-founder Dame Ann Gloag in respect of her 10.46% shareholding. DWS bidding vehicle PEIF III Bidco now also holds a 16.99% stake in the business.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Haines reveals size of GBR transition team Network Rail boss reveals 180 are working on move to GBR RAIL REFORM

Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines has revealed that around 180 people are now working on the transition to Great British Railways (GBR).

At a hearing of the transport select committee in late March, West Dorset MP and former South Western Railway manager Chris Loder asked Haines how many people - engaged consultants, full-time employees or secondments - are currently working on the GBR transition.

“Within Network Rail, which is where the transition team is currently hosted, it is about 180,” responded Haines, who also leads the GBR transition team. “That is 100 secondees and about 80 consultants. Our aim by the end of the next year is to have about 300, but only 20 of them will

be consultants. At the moment, we are quite consultant heavy because, of course, we have not had long-term budgets or the legislation. Those are the sorts of numbers we are talking about.”

He clarified that of the secondees, more than 50 are from Network Rail. He is also keen to have as much input from nonNetwork Rail staff as possible.

“For example, we have a revenue recovery team which is exclusively made up of either train operators or indeed people from other retail

Haines: ‘GBR will be heavily devolved’

Haines: GBR will not repeat SRA mistakes Strengths in two areas aim to avoid SRA’s pitfalls Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines told transport select committee members that Great British Railways (GBR) will not repeat the mistakes of the former Strategic Rail Authority (SRA).

He said there were two fundamental ways in which GBR will differ from the SRA and that the lack of SRA control in

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those areas had prevented it from fulfilling its real potential.

Haines continued: “The first is that the SRA had no levers over the infrastructure. That was the fundamental mistake, I believe, for the SRA. It was through no fault of its own. It was set up to be entirely discrete from, initially, Railtrack and then Network Rail. It perpetuated the solid wall

sectors,” he added.

Haines said the fundamental principle of GBR was that it would be heavily devolved, initially based on the Network Rail regions and Scotland. He said this would “give us some infrastructure and allows us to move at pace”.

He revealed GBR would have a relatively modest headquarters for the organisation so that there is as much empowerment into those regions as possible.

“The region will both maintain, operate and renew the infrastructure, and let the contracts with the private sector for train operations,” he said. “It would also look at how you get private sector involvement in things like station development, station operation and other activities. It is very heavy at the regional level.”

However, Haines said the thinking was for an overarching national role that would look at

between track and train.

“The second thing is that it was presiding over franchises where, because of the revenue risk, we saw inflexibility. I think the SRA did lots of excellent work. It had a slightly more hands-off view of managing some of the contracts, which I think meant it got some better consumer outputs. It made a start on creating a long-term plan. It had a better plan on freight than we have probably had since... There is a lot of learning there.”

network optimisation. He said that with big projects like the Transpennine upgrade “you need the network to work together”.

He continued: “One of the learning lessons has been that, if you do things in geographical silos, then it will be as bad as the track/train silo that we have historically had. We need a strong network capability that really pulls that together.”

Loder quizzed Haines on performance regimes, alleging that some train operators had lengthened journey times during emergency timetables arising from the Covid-19 period as a means to “insulate themselves from performance regimes”.

Haines said he was keen to reform performance monitoring.

“I am very outspoken on the fact that one of the indictments of the current set-up is the fact that performance regimes have not fundamentally changed for 28 years,” he said. “We have not used technology to drive delay understanding. Some essential contractual parameters were set up in 1993 by people like me, with no knowledge of how the system would work.”

He said the move to national rail concessions would “allow for very different incentives to try to remove some of the perverse incentives that currently exist”.

GBR LEGISLATION IN 2024?

Transport minister Wendy Morton revealed the government is planning to have Great British Railways set up in early 2024.

“To get GBR fully set up, we need a piece of legislation,” she told transport select committee members. “Our plan is that it will be early 2024 but, obviously, you are all well aware that, to get legislation in place, we have to have that legislation slot.”

www.passengertransport.co.uk

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What’s the future for ticket offices? Page 14

ORR warns timetables reached ‘crucial’ points Regulator says bid decisions needed to deliver improvements TIMETABLING

New timetables for the East Coast and West Coast Main Lines have reached “crucial decisionmaking points” where major decisions must be made, the Office of Rail and Road has said.

The new timetables aim to lead to a more efficient use of capacity and better resilience to disruption in a move intended to benefit both passengers and train operators.

The rail regulator has written to Network Rail and the Department for Transport to set out its understanding of the necessary decisions and issues needing resolution.

In the case of the WCML it

warns there are now less than 40 weeks left before the new timetable is introduced and that further progress is needed to support the planned delivery.

The ORR says it has identified gaps in the way in which Network Rail intends to communicate its plan, and improvements there will allow operators and their funders to take appropriate action.

Passenger and freight operators should have submitted their proposed timetables, and Network Rail and DfT need to ensure that infrastructure projects are carried out as planned. In producing the timetable, Network Rail also needs to provide its conclusions on capacity and performance for existing access applications.

Only then can the ORR settle any disputes that arise.

On the ECML the proposed timetable from May 2023 has not yet been confirmed. “Given the complexity of the options being considered and issues to resolve here, key decisions need to be made by Network Rail and DfT soon,” added the ORR. They include a decision on the extra platform capacity at Newcastle, a plan to resolve any clashes in timetable and access applications, and for Network Rail to take the needs of freight operators into account.

“The ECML has faced access rights and timetabling issues for several years,” added the ORR. “Delaying decisions beyond April 2022 risks the same late decision on go/no-go as we saw in 2021. This resulted in uncertainty for train and freight operators requesting access to the network.”

SALT LED TO CLASS 800 WITHDRAWAL De-icing activities caused corrosion of lifting plates SAFETY

The Office of Rail and Road has revealed the cracks in the bodyshells which led to the sudden withdrawal of Class 800 series trains used by several operators in May last year was partly caused by salt from deicing activities in moist air.

Cracks in the lifting plates were a result of the characteristics of the aluminium alloy in combination with stresses from being welded to the body and exposure to air containing salt. Fatigue cracking was also caused by the trains experiencing greater loads from movement than allowed for in the original design. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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MAY JOINS STAKEHOLDER BOARD Former prime minister Theresa May has joined train operator GWR’s 12-strong independent stakeholder advisory board after an invite from chair Lord Faulkner (pictured left). “I know how important reliable rail services are for my Maidenhead constituents,” said May. “I welcome this opportunity which will enable me to help deliver for our area.”

RIA CALLS FOR GOVERNMENT TO REVISE RNEP 900 days passes since rail project list last updated PROJECTS

The Railway Industry Association has highlighted that April 8 marked 900 days since the government last published its plan of projects to improve the UK’s railways, leaving the industry in the dark about upcoming rail upgrades.

The organisation, which represents over 300 rail businesses around the UK, has repeatedly called for the Department for Transport to publish the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP), which has not been updated since October 21, 2019.

The RNEP is a list of planned upgrades to the railway network set to take place in the five years between 2019 and 2024. This list has not been updated and published since 2019, despite the government committing to updating it annually.

The last update included schemes such as increasing freight capacity in Cumbria and the Heathrow Western Rail Link. The status of many of these projects is now uncertain.

Answering a parliamentary question in February this year, transport minister Wendy Morton said the government is committed to publishing an update to the RNEP and this would happen “shortly”.

The pipeline will also likely determine when projects set out in the Integrated Rail Plan will be delivered, including electrification of the Midland Mainline, the Transpennine Route Upgrade and East Coast signalling upgrades. RIA says these projects have major benefits for passengers. “With only around 100 days until parliamentary recess, we urge the government to publish this list before we reach 1,000 days without an RNEP update,” said Darren Caplan, RIA chief executive.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

‘Franchising will help small operators grow’ Lee Waters says Welsh Government aims to retain the expertise of smaller bus companies as part of its franchising plans. Rhodri Clark reports REGULATION

The Welsh Government’s plans for franchising in all areas of Wales will help small bus companies to grow rather than see them forced out of the market by large groups, deputy climate change minister Lee Waters has pledged.

Welsh buses are operated by more than 80 companies. Of the large groups, only Stagecoach, First, Arriva and ComfortDelGro have subsidiaries in Wales, but franchising is likely to attract others. Christian Schreyer, chief executive of Go-Ahead, recently identified Wales as “a clear opportunity” (PT262).

However, the government aims to retain the expertise of family-owned operators, many of which have been serving their communities for decades. “Small operators are very much in my mind,” Waters told Passenger Transport.

He said the new policy would aim to keep industry revenue in Wales rather than going overseas or to offshore tax havens. Firms which were “grounded in their communities” would be able to compete for franchises. “We want small firms to grow into mediumsized ones.”

He stressed that the proposed legislation for franchising would take an “enabling view”, for local authorities to choose the best models for their areas. They will have powers to create new municipal bus companies, for example. “Franchising can be 08 | 22 April 2022 PT263p08-09.indd 8

Harris Coaches is one of many independent bus operators in Wales

done in different packages. That’s something local authorities will have control over.” Small franchises would be an option.

Could independents club together to bid jointly for larger franchises? “Sure,” said Waters.

“That’s true of the municipals as well.”

The government is also considering purchasing new electric buses which franchise winners would lease. Waters said this would end the situation where large companies could afford to invest in new vehicles but small ones could not.

Over the last 20 years, the government has purchased buses for TrawsCymru services. New electric vehicles are entering service on two new TrawsCymru routes in Gwynedd and Conwy, operated by Llew Jones of Llanrwst.

Bev Fowles, vice chair of the Coach and Bus Association Cymru, predicted that large

groups would win most of the first franchises by bidding with low prices to secure territory. He said independents in urban areas would disappear by the second franchise round, which would be a contest between large groups with similar structures and overheads.

In the 1990s, he was involved in London franchise tenders, where bidding for a 20-vehicle operation would cost his employer about £100,000. Fowles, who now runs Swansea-based South Wales Transport, said: “If a [franchise] tender document was going to cost us £40,000 to put together, I would say: ‘Let’s just sell the buses now.’ It would be beyond us. We wouldn’t be able to take on consultants or employ people or use our own staff to answer the questions that will be asked in the tender process.”

He acknowledged it would be possible for franchising to be structured to include opportunities for smaller

operators but said the added complexity would make tendering more expensive for operators and authorities.

Fowles said independents won some of the early London franchises - but in the longer term were unable to compete against large groups.

The government’s white paper says the franchising plans aim to provide high quality services and to grow and sustain a healthy market to deliver the services.

The contracting approach would ensure there are “attractive opportunities for all types of operators to compete for”.

“We are proposing that when exercising franchising powers, all feasible steps should be taken to seek to ensure that franchising plans and forms of contracts used to operationalise them will give small and medium sized [SME] bus operators an equal chance to compete with corporate players and will support a healthy SME sector. We are proposing that this includes a specific legislative duty to consider the impacts on SMEs when franchising,” says the white paper.

“We are working with Transport for Wales and operators to consider how to ensure zero emission buses and appropriate depot facilities could be available to smaller operators, to reduce the barrier to market entry and capital risk of bidding for contracts.”

Some rural independents may be relaxed about the changes franchising will bring, since so many services are already tendered in their territories and large groups - particularly Arriva have mostly retreated from rural areas rather than increasing their presence. However, when Powys Council tendered many rural services at the same time in 2007, the biggest winner was the French group Veolia. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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“Too many have been languishing in ‘transport deserts”Crispin Truman, CPRE

Calls for Swiss-style rural bus revolution CPRE calls for road budget to be switched to rural bus services RURAL TRANSPORT

A new report produced by the Campaign to Protect Rural England has called for the government to make a continuous year-on-year investment in rural bus services in order to create a Swiss-style transport revolution.

In Switzerland, every village of two to three hundred people is guaranteed at least an hourly bus service from 6am to midnight, seven days a week.

Research conducted by CPRE and consultancy Transport for Quality of Life for the report, Every Village, Every Hour, claims that the government could deliver services to the Swiss standard for an annual budget of £2.7bn.

“There is a range of options the government could use to make a comprehensive bus network revenue neutral,” claimed CPRE.

“By redirecting funding currently earmarked for environmentally damaging and unnecessary road building, the government could release enough money to invest in a bus service for every village, every hour.”

Crispin Truman, CPRE chief executive, added: “Too many have been languishing in ‘transport deserts’, where those who do not have access to a car are left high

and dry with no practical way to get to work, school or healthcare.

Public transport for rural communities has been wholly inadequate for long enough.”

The report makes seven key recommendations: Continue emergency funding for bus operations, ensuring that the contractual terms are a fit basis for a transformed and fully regulated rural bus system;

Swiss-style service for England?

DATE SET FOR FRANCHISING

Burnham confirms plans for Wigan and Bolton buses FRANCHISING

FUEL ECONOMY FIRST Delaine Buses of Bourne, Lincolnshire has taken delivery of its fourth Alexander Dennis Enviro300 single decker in just 18 months. After many years of purchasing heavyweight single deckers, the operator has reported the Enviro300 is achieving significant fuel savings. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has confirmed the first phase of franchised bus operations in the region will launch in Wigan and Bolton on September 17, 2023.

However, he has also warned that services could get worse before they get better as a result of uncertainty surrounding future bus funding.

Burnham said: “If the funding’s not there to help the bus system recover from the pandemic, we could see loss

Recognise a universal basic right to public transport and back it with statutory duties for local transport authorities to provide Swiss-style legal minimum service frequency standards; Legislate to establish bus regulation under the ‘guiding mind’ of local or regional transport authorities; Establish revenue funding at national level in the order of £2.7bn per year to enable an ‘every village, every hour’ bus network; Redirect funding from current road-building schemes to fund the ‘every village, every hour’ network. Review the range of fundraising powers deployed by local transport authorities in other countries; Ensure that the transformed rural public transport network is affordable or free, to put an end to rural transport poverty and to provide an alternative to car use sufficiently attractive to address the climate emergency; and Investigate how England could move to a Swiss-style single national public transport timetable, aligning all trains and buses with repeated hourly connecting services.

of services or loss of frequency and that will mean that the foundations upon which the improved services are being built are going to get shakier and not the solid foundation that we would want.”

The uncertainty surrounding government funding means that while Burnham has committed to capping bus fares for single journeys at £2 for adults and £1 for children, he cannot yet guarantee the planned £1.50 London-style Hopper fare.

“We are going to have to make some choices,” he added. “We won’t be able to do everything... we’re not going to be in a position to do everything that we wanted to do.”

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“Travelling by bus, when we can, is one of the easiest ways to address climate change”

ENVIRONMENT

Stagecoach Bluebird unveils electric deckers Fleet of 22 Enviro400EV buses will enter service on two routes serving Aberdeen this month, with boss making plea for better road infrastructure ELECTRIC BUSES

Bus operator Stagecoach Bluebird has unveiled the electric double decker buses soon to be on the streets of Aberdeen. The company has invested £11.2m in 22 electric buses for Aberdeen with £4m support from the Scottish Government Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme.

The fleet of 22 BYD ADL Enviro400EV buses will be based at the Tullos depot and will be used on high frequency routes in Aberdeen. Not only will the fleet reduce CO2 levels in the city but they are fitted with eleather seats - a material made entirely from recycled leather.

The new buses are also fitted with on-board stop announcements which will be useful for visitors to the city landing at Aberdeen Airport as well as anyone with

NR SUPPLIERS’ CARBON PLEDGE

Two-thirds have signed up to Science Based Targets DECARBONISATION

Rapid progress is being made by Network Rail and its supply chain on making green commitments, with 67% of suppliers now signed up to the Science Based Targets initiative to reduce their carbon footprint.

Science Based Targets form a key part of Network Rail’s comprehensive Environmental Sustainability Strategy, which sets out a clear pathway to a better, greener railway for Britain. These are independently www.passengertransport.co.uk

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visual a impairment.

The electric fleet will be used on Route 727 connecting the city centre to P&J Live and Aberdeen Airport. The route operates up to every 15 minutes Monday to Friday and up to every 20 minutes at the

weekends. The service was also crowned the ‘Best Bus Service in Scotland’ in 2017. Route 59, which connects Balnagask with the city centre, ARI and Northfield, will also welcome the brand new fleet to the route. It was

Stagecoach Bluebird managing director Peter Knight and Bus Users Scotland director Greig Mackay

verified plans to reduce carbon emissions to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and mitigate the worst effects of climate change.

Network Rail is the first railway infrastructure body in the world to adopt Science Based Targets to this ambitious level.

Around 97% of Network Rail’s emissions are within ‘scope three’, meaning emissions largely come from third parties, including suppliers. To address this, Network Rail’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy includes a target for 75% of suppliers to have their own sciencebased targets by 2025; a target which Network Rail’s Commercial

& Procurement (C&P) team have announced is already in sight. The C&P supplier management team has worked alongside transport industry partners to deliver workshops demonstrating the benefits of committing to these targets and sharing industry best practice and ideas for cutting carbon emissions.

Four workshops have been delivered so far, with each one attended by more than 350 people from the transport sector and supply chain. Further events are being planned for the future.

For Rupa Bhatt, strategic supplier manager for Network Rail, the workshops have been positive in

one of the first routes in Scotland to be operated using electrichybrid buses. The hybrid fleet originally launched in 2012 will soon be replaced by the new zero emissions buses.

Stagecoach Bluebird managing director Peter Knight said: “We are all really excited to welcome the electric buses to our Aberdeen fleet. Training for our team of drivers and engineers is well underway and we are planning for the new buses to be out in service for our customers later this month.

“Sustainable transport is critical to the future of our planet: decarbonising local journeys, reducing road congestion, improving air quality and tackling climate change. Travelling by bus, when we can, is one of the easiest ways to address climate change through carbon reduction of our own journeys.

Knight added: “Major investment in new zero emission buses also needs to be matched by better road infrastructure and more bus priority measures to help encourage people to make the switch from car to sustainable public transport.”

bringing transport partners together to tackle climate change.

“It’s been great to see our suppliers showing such positive support for this initiative,” she said. “Achieving the commitment of more than 60% of our suppliers to adopting Science Based Targets is a really important milestone for us to reach. The success of the Science Based Targets workshops is reflected in the growing number of suppliers committing to reducing carbon emissions. We have more to do to achieve our goal but we’re making excellent progress with 67% of suppliers now committed to Science Based Targets by carbon emissions.”

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20/04/2022 16:05

“We enable local people to have more mobility with less traffic”Toralf Müller, VHH

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

ioki Hamburg DRT wins mobility award System provides ‘first and last mile’ link for public transport DRT

On-demand service ‘ioki Hamburg’ received the German Mobility Transition Award from transport association Allianz pro Schiene (Pro Rail Alliance) earlier this month. The judges praised the project’s vision of modern, sustainable mobility and a solution for “the last mile”. ioki Hamburg is a joint project

by Verkehrsbetriebe HamburgHolstein (VHH) and ioki Gmbh, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn.

The service is an integral part of the Hamburg public transport system. VHH and ioki have been providing this demand responsive transport service since 2018.

Eye-catching “London cabs” with the ioki Hamburg logo can now be seen in seven areas on the outskirts of Hamburg and in neighbouring districts.

NOTTINGHAM CONTACTLESS

Seamless travel across different operations TICKETING

Nottingham is now home to the first “Oyster-style” contactless ticketing system in the country outside of London.

The new Nottingham Contactless multi-operator Tap & Go option available across Nottingham City Transport buses, NET trams and Linkbuses operated by CT4N - allows people to tap on with contactless bank cards or phones throughout the day and pay one daily charge capped www.passengertransport.co.uk

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“We are delighted about this award, because it shows us once again that we have taken the right path with ioki Hamburg - and that it is worthwhile to continue on this path courageously, with a lot of commitment and passion,” said Toralf Müller, managing director of VHH. “We enable local people to have more mobility with less traffic and thus have a real opportunity to change mobility

habits in the future.” ioki Hamburg has now carried around 600,000 passengers.

Around 88% of its users have public transport season ticket.

72% of journeys are used for the “first and last” mile to the front door and as a feeder to public transport. Meanwhile, one third of its passengers choose the on-demand service instead of using their own car.

Eye-catching “London cabs” with the ioki Hamburg logo can now be seen in seven areas on the outskirts of Hamburg

at the best fare for their travel, regardless of which of the three operators they use or however many journeys they make on the day.

The city council successfully bid for £2.7m from the Department for Transport’s National Productivity Fund and Transforming Cities Programme to develop the technology.

Passengers can still pay contactlessly for single fares or if they make multiple journeys across NCT, NET and Linkbuses, they will be charged a £5.60 capped fare for the day. Since Nottingham Contactless launched for journeys on individual operators, there have been three

million taps and this new additional multi-operator capping is designed to encourage people to travel more easily and flexibly without worrying how much they will be charged or deciding what ticket they need in advance.

The system has been developed by German public transport technology specialists INIT, which has its UK head office in Nottingham. This stage of the new system’s development lays the foundation for future rollout across the wider city region and to more operators. The city council is working with the Department for Transport and regional partners including Transport for the West Midlands and

21ST CENTURY BECOMES JOURNEO ‘Next step in providing a truly integrated services’ INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS

21st Century Fleet Systems and 21st Century Passenger Systems, both subsidiaries of Journeo plc, have moved to a single business brand Journeo. Journeo is the established technology at the heart of the company’s integrated solutions for transport operators and local authority customers, connecting vehicles and infrastructure to a scalable, secure cloud platform.

Russ Singleton, CEO of Journeo plc, explained: “Since the launch of the Journeo Portal, and renaming of our parent company 2019, it has become the preferred option to manage a growing range of systems in buses, coaches and trains, and across large networks of passenger information display systems in towns and cities.

“Adopting this brand across all our group functions is the next step in providing a truly integrated range of Journeo services to the transport industry.”

Midlands Connect to integrate all operators including trentbarton and train operating companies.

Jens Mullak, managing director of INIT, said: “We are thrilled to deliver this exciting ticketing solution, which makes public transport more attractive - particularly important as our sector tries to attract people back to our trams and buses. From our dedicated Nottingham office in the Lace Market, INIT continues to deliver modern, simple fare solutions that Nottingham’s passengers expect and deserve, and which has been propelled, in part, by their wish to pay using contactless during the pandemic.”

22 April 2022 | 13

20/04/2022 16:05

COMMENT

ALEX WARNER

What’s the future for ticket offices?

My former boss, ‘Sir’ Michael Holden, recently caused a stir by suggesting they could be closed. A rethink is certainly required That Workplace Reform discussion, which I wrote in the last issue won’t go away. My first-rate, former gaffer, Michael Holden - ‘Sir Michael’ to you and I - caused a stir with an article he wrote in RAIL magazine a fortnight ago in which he suggested closing ticket offices, providing that Great British Railways delivered the long promised fares simplification.

I wasn’t surprised by Holden’s comments - he was my boss back in the glory days at South Eastern Trains, and on the front foot to deliver change in the way in which ticket offices operated. While others might have been ‘on the beach’ in the final weeks of the franchise before we handed it back to the private sector, he had the bit between his teeth trying to change Schedule 17 (the committed ticket office opening times), irking London Travelwatch and Transport Focus and getting me to work out how much we could save through roster changes and more effective deployment of staff.

Sir Michael was unafraid to potentially sour an otherwise unsullied hero status with the trade unions who saw him as the saviour of this beleaguered franchise during his three years at the helm. You had to admire his determination.

In principle, Holden’s right in suggesting ticket offices might not be needed if fares can be simplified. However, what genuinely constitutes “fares simplification”? Smart ticketing is the supposedly panacea to all the ills of the ticketing system. Geo-fencing technology will enable our movements to be tracked by our phones and the cheapest fare 14 | 22 April 2022 PT263p14-15.indd 14

deducted from our bank. Easy peasy, you’d think, but it’s not foolproof. And what of the technologically disenfranchised, the not insignificant minority who choose not to have or cannot afford a mobile phone?

If smart ticketing isn’t the answer for everyone, then what alternatively constitutes ‘fares simplification’? Surely the ultimate set-up is one that merely offers a ‘single’ or ‘return’ ticket? In this scenario we just accept that peak and off-peak or any other time band no longer exists. With commuting continuing in freefall, it’s increasingly difficult to differentiate between flows in terms of segments and demands or to justify a premium Ticket offices aren’t always as bright and appealing as this one

during traditional peak hours. But to create this simplicity, it would mean obliterating the dynamic pricing that has taken the industry two decades to iteratively build through complex yield management systems.

Back to ticket offices, they haven’t really done themselves any favours over the years. Ticket office employees bear some responsibility. On the various mystery shopping programmes I have overseen, the product knowledge is pretty abysmal. Try and ask about Railcard products and you’ll just be handed a leaflet and told to read it yourself.

The information provided over the counter will be minimal - “it’s all available online, mate”.

Employees will seldom provide details around time or travel restrictions and are unlikely to regale you with the benefits and how much you’ll save, let alone the great availability or the large geographical area they can be used on.

Engineering works is another knowledge gap most of the time they will just point you to the out of date, scruffy poster in the ticket hall or give you the most basic ‘information’ possible, or, more often than not, they’ll claim they are clueless. The standing joke where I live is that you only go to the ticket office at my local station as a last resort because most of the time the information provided is inaccurate and you end up advising the ticket seller which ticket is the best, rather than them advise you.

The design of ticket offices is archaic and doesn’t lend itself to creating a sense that these are indispensable hubs of information full of energy and a proactive desire to meet the needs of customers. Many of them look like Fort Knox and are also fringed by unappealing signage or their windows are covered in poorly displayed notices - all different shapes, sizes, fonts and brands positioned at disjointed angles and places, as well as a variety of ‘clear off’ type messages to customers.

Then when you glance through the window, invariably the ticket seller won’t be there, and you’ll have to shout or cough loudly to get their attention. They will then appear half-asleep or looking at you with ingratitude for getting in the way of their break or conversation with a colleague. Or, if they are at the window, they’ll be engrossed with their smartphones. The backdrop to their window will enhance this soporific feel - old fashioned furniture and décor that looks like the room where your grandad used to go to listen to his wireless. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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“I’d prefer a situation where dosh was invested to make ticket offices look more appealing” There may be a litter tray on the floor for the resident cat, or a grubby fridge and a selection of mags and books, none of which suggests a vibrant, customer-centric workplace.

Holden talks about London Underground’s removal of ticket offices, citing it as a positive.

In many cases, it hasn’t led to the end of the world, though I cite my experiences mystery shopping at South Ruislip station. Two members of staff regularly sit in what used to be the ticket office but is now an information office. Try knocking on the window to get their attention in an emergency let alone information about Chiltern. Cough, shout, scream, they’ll still have their backs to you.

Good luck!

A few years ago, not long before Holden led us on his journey of exploration to revolutionise ticket offices, many train companies referred to stations as ‘profit centres’. Some companies loved to create profit and loss accounts for stations. At South Central Trains, under Go-Ahead, I was called ‘retail manager’, then ‘retail director’ at South Eastern Trains. I had it drummed into me that if one of my station (or ‘retail’ managers) didn’t know the turnover of their station, then they were for the high jump! Connex, who loved this profit centre philosophy, were more innovative than most, they opened and ran nurseries at Brighton and Victoria, to make it easier for parents to drop their kids off on their daily commute - they also turned a few ticket offices into mini supermarkets. The problem was that these initiatives were non-core, out of traditional railway skillset, and in the case of supermarkets they didn’t really sell anything that you couldn’t or wouldn’t get yards away in the street outside.

Around this post privatisation period when the railway deluded itself that the station was as much a retail outlet as your High Street store, they became obsessed with attracting shop managers from the big flagship retailers.

The difficulty was that the train company recruiters became entranced by the name of the brand that candidates came from as opposed to their capability or level of seniority.

So, with a few exceptions, they attracted low-skilled folk. They thought that they could smoothly migrate into station management and inspire old school, set in their ways railway staff to imbue a profit hungry retailer’s philosophy and transform their tatty, under-invested www.passengertransport.co.uk

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station, with its problems of folk climbing over gates to bunk their fare and hoodlums taking heroin in the platform toilets or dissing the staff, into family-friendly, pristine shops with all their pizzazz. It was never going to happen and these folk either floundered or got so disillusioned with what they found that they scarpered.

The train operators haven’t helped their case. By not even prioritising a penny for decent poster frames or a coat of paint in the company’s branded colours or by deciding to get shot of in-house local maintenance teams in favour of some online, outsourced facilities management function that’s far removed from the station staff and their needs, they’ve created environments that are the opposite of that you would find at your local retail park or High Street. They’ve also moved away from trying to turn stations into community hubs.

Most station managers these days don’t see that creatively looking at ways to work with local stakeholders to make their station more at the heart of the localities they serve, is part of their job. That’s the role of the HQ-based regional stakeholder managers, except no one actually told the station managers that these posts have long been written out of the organisation structure and there’s now a vacuum.

It would, of course, be remiss not to mention the folly of plans to emancipate ticket office staff into being out and about on the station, visibly anticipating customer needs. Human nature is such that faced with an eight-hour shift, even you and I will just retreat to the luxury of the warm ticket office, with a mug of tea, the radio playing in the background and a nice chair to sit on, rather than going outside and vigorously approaching customers.

Managers won’t be around to work out whether we’re acting like mobile customer service staff. They’ll be in the comfort of their own offices or at home on Teams calls, assuming they’re not cut to the bone with one person overseeing 40 stations, nine-to-five, Monday to Friday only, of course.

All is not lost though, and there is a future for ticket offices. In the overall scheme of workplace reform and the context of the real material costs for train companies being in track access and rolling stock leasing, eradicating ticket office staff is still only marginal savings. I’d prefer a situation where dosh was invested to make ticket offices

look more appealing and more like conduits of information, modernity and pro-activity; surroundings that sub-consciously force staff to up their game. And, if we are to extend their services, Connex-style, then I’d like them to do something that is indispensable. Think of Post Offices and the role they play at the heart of the communities. Okay, so they suffer the same blights in terms of aesthetics and variable standards as many railway stations, but they provide similar services. Could they double up with ticket offices in our stations?

Furthermore, ticket office staff could be more proactive and focused not just on being product and sales ambassadors (I know, I know, we’ve been trying that for years), but also on multi-modal integration. They could take responsibility for the bus stops and surrounding areas and for co-ordinating activity and information provision that creates a more seamless end-to-end experience? It’s about getting people to make a journey now, and all modes need to come together to achieve this.

Finally, revenue protection. We’ve become so intent on reducing ticket office and station staffing and focusing on ticketing technology, that we’ve forgotten that somehow, we do need to police all this. If we de-staff stations wholesale, who is going to create the right presence to remind customers that they do actually have to buy a valid ticket to travel and there will be some kind of enforcement?

Similarly, without staff who is going to explain to new generations how they indeed travel? The Rail Ombudsman recently launched ‘The Young Person’s Train Guide’, a campaign that includes a resource pack explaining aspects such as penalty ticketing and including worksheets for pupils. This is what it’s come to, even if it’s a good initiative.

Sir Michael isn’t wrong, but the future of ticket offices isn’t binary - to eradicate or keep - a lot needs to happen before we go down that road just yet. That the solution seems no further progressed since he was last my esteemed gaffer, 16 years ago, proves how complicated it is.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR George Alex Warner Muirhas wasover director 28 years’ general experience of the in Association the transportofsector, Train Operating having held Companies senior roles on afrom multi-modal 1999 to 2008 basis across the sector

22 April 2022 | 15

20/04/2022 16:37

COMMENT

NICK RICHARDSON

We need to talk about road pricing

Road user charging has been debated for years and continues to polarise opinion, but where might it be appropriate to introduce it?

The potential for road pricing isn’t a topic that is going away. A recent webinar organised

by PTRC dealt with the subject with a range of contributors setting out the options from their own perspective. For some, road user charging is inevitable but for others it is heresy. We need to consider what the options might be and the context in which charging in some form would be appropriate.

Policy deficit The first difficulty is that the government continues to favour car use. Despite lots of policies that suggest otherwise, fiscal measures for motorists are something they seem reluctant to progress. In doing so, they attempt to appease car users at every turn. There is an expanding budget deficit of the government’s own making from not charging Vehicle Excise Duty for electric vehicles while supporting an increase in their numbers. Worse than this, there is even a subsidy towards the purchase costs of electric cars that benefits the better off who can afford one in the first place.

Such is the blind alley that is whipping up ‘solutions’ but is in fact generating problems.

A consequence is that a reasonable form of taxation, paying to use vehicles on public roads that need maintenance, is being snuffed out year on year. On top of this, fuel duty has been the subject of much debate. Electric vehicles don’t pay it at all although fuel is consumed at the point of electricity generation, and as road fleets are electrified, so the tax obtained 16 | 22 April 2022 PT263p16-17.indd 16

declines. Suspending the fuel duty tax escalator for years is simply a banner under which government hopes to help the rising cost of living. Sadly, it won’t make much difference to people who are habitual car users and a 5p per litre tax reduction will soon be overtaken by price rises for fuel.

Disturbingly, all this is going on with no help whatsoever for the passenger transport sector. Instead of knocking a nominal amount off the cost of fuel, where is the worthwhile discount that should be given to train, coach and bus operators? If we want people to use passenger transport then it should not be allowed to spiral to become a high price commodity. Any notion of affordability or social equity is fast heading out of the window. Bus fares have risen faster than any measure of inflation for years and many train fares are prohibitive.

The reason why transport providers should be helped is simple - that is what policies are supposed to be achieving. As is so often the case in transport, the finger of blame points towards excessive car use, a situation that no bluster can cover up. The dreaded circle of rising costs, rising fares and fewer users is inevitable unless fiscal measures intervene.

“The Covid-19 lockdowns marked out essential journeys from all the rest”

Simple approaches The webinar raised some good points about the need for simplicity in the charging debate.

Any form of taxation needs to be understood if it is to be acceptable to the electorate and fair for society. Replacing the lost revenue from car users needs to be addressed. Everyone understands the need to pay to use the road network and a distance-based charged is transparent. This then raises the perceived penalty for people living in rural areas who have longer journeys for basic activities.

However, they already pay more than many urban dwellers because they use more fuel.

This differential is a function of distance and the type of activities needed so nothing needs to be changed. Instead of writing off a substantial revenue stream, government needs to think about how an alternative would work.

It also needs to be remembered that some journeys are more essential than others. The Covid-19 lockdowns marked out essential journeys from all the rest from which we can conclude that many journeys could be made less frequently or differently. Many journeys are not essential but any notion of demand management i.e. using resources more equitably and sensibly is notable by its absence. There is a strong parallel with the current energy crisis in which we are seeking alternative energy sources but paying little attention to the gluttonous consumption that we have come to expect as standard. If we had to prioritise who gets energy, we might suggest hospitals and schools but for transport, it all seems to be about appeasing car users instead of prioritising passenger transport. Fuel doesn’t need to be rationed, just thought about differently. Costs are rising fast and many are dependent on their cars which are becoming unaffordable for some, so what options do they have? Getting the bus is one provided that there is still a decent service and fares haven’t hit stratospheric levels.

Interestingly, there is another means of road pricing through what is in effect a back door - low emission zones (LEZs).

These are appearing in many places because local authorities are tasked with improving air quality and introducing measures that actually make a difference. Again there is patchy application and many LEZs allow cars immunity but penalise all those vehicles that deliver the goods and provide public transport. www.passengertransport.co.uk

20/04/2022 16:18

IN ASSOCIATION WITH: www.ciltuk.org.uk Tel: 01536 740100 @ciltuk

There is another means of road pricing through what is in effect a back door low emission zones

LEZs don’t necessarily disbar certain vehicles and instead make them pay for access to a particular area, based on the expected emissions. It doesn’t stop anyone going where they want but it may cost them more to do so.

No politician is going to object to measures that improve air quality provided that they are implemented coherently. Hence no politician should object to the worst polluters contributing to measures that alleviate the problem. LEZs are essentially a means of road user charging and their spread may well reach further than the selected urban areas to date. Again, as with fuel duty and Vehicle Excise Duty, LEZs provide an opportunity to progress charging in a simple way because the taxation arrangements are already in place.

Selling the idea For the masses, any notion of paying more for anything is bound to raise objections on a grand scale. It depends on how the argument www.passengertransport.co.uk

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is put; a proposal to impose charges on road users in Manchester and Edinburgh was inevitably rejected; however, the question was wrong. If people were asked if they wanted cleaner air and traffic reduction with a revenue stream that improved buses and trams then they would think about it differently. If the connections between taxation and benefits are clear, then the problem of acceptance is diluted. With any replacement tax arrangement, its introduction should not cost anyone more than it does currently but could be increased incrementally.

Another thought is what happens when the goal of reduced traffic and more passenger transport is achieved? We know from past experience that easier traffic conditions entice back those who have transferred to passenger transport and that this regular cycle occurs every few years. Hence a shift to passenger transport needs to be maintained with new initiatives including reallocation of road space

in favour of buses and trams otherwise the longer term prognosis is bleak. Nowhere is there a rule that says that if you have a car, you must use it for everything, nor is there anything to suggest that all passenger transport users should not have cars. It is all about using resources more wisely and equitably and road user charging has a strong role to play. Re-badging it as fuel tax or zonal charging will make the transition easier but the problems to be addressed are not going to go away on their own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nick Richardson is Technical Principal at transport consultancy Mott MacDonald, chair of CILT’s Bus and Coach Policy Group and a former chair of the Transport Planning Society. In addition, he has held a PCV licence for over 30 years.

22 April 2022 | 17

20/04/2022 16:18

SPECIAL REPORT STAGECOACH

Carla Stockton-Jones believes public transport can lead the way towards net zero

Stagecoach boss planning revolution

Stagecoach UK managing director Carla Stockton-Jones told the Young Bus Managers Network about her strategy for the future It has been something of a baptism of fire for Carla Stockton-Jones since her appointment as Stagecoach’s UK Andrew Garnett managing director in Deputy Editor October 2020. The 18 months intervening have been some of the most traumatic the sector has ever experienced as it navigated the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, speaking to the Young Bus Managers Network at its recent event in Cardiff, Stockton-Jones said she remains optimistic about the future for the sector.

She began her keynote speech by going back to the past. She confessed that while she may be a newcomer to the industry, her father had been a bus driver with Aldershot & District Traction. While training as a nurse, her mother worked part-time in the cafe at the bus station.

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“It’s in my blood,” Stockton-Jones added.

She revealed a lot of discussions with her father revolved around the use of technology, or “trendy technology” as she said he called it. While he much preferred the old ways of working, Stockton-Jones said she was convinced by the benefits of moving rapidly to adopt new tech. She pointed to the banking sector and how in 2005 27% of the population banked online. Today it’s around 80%. “That’s a perfect example to me of how technology makes our lives easier,” she said. “Whilst technology is a big change for this industry, what we know is that it adds value. It makes

“I’ve had many people tell me I shouldn’t be in this industry ”

things simple; it makes things simpler for our people.”

“Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a role for banking in branch or banking on the telephone - there is a role for that. But what technology does is that it allows us to serve all of our customers.”

As a result of that thinking, Stagecoach is pushing ahead with the introduction of new technology platforms that will enhance collaboration between teams and help keep track of other aspects of the business - like assets. “Technology can make life easier,” Stockton-Jones added. “You have to do the right due diligence on those products and you have to understand what you’re going into, but technology is really important for this industry.

Before taking on her present role, StocktonJones had spent six months as regional director of Stagecoach’s bus operations in the south of England. She has sales and service experience across a range of sectors, including fast-moving consumer goods, media and technology. Her most recent role was with Sky where she had been director of home service since 2012.

She believes her varied CV gives her distinct advantage over public transport lifers.

“I think, personally, working across multiple sectors has given me breadth,” she said. “It’s helped me understand consumers and how consumers tick; it’s helped me work out what turns consumers on, it’s helped me understand how to sell to people. It’s also helped me to understand how to look after people - I’ve never had a role where I haven’t had to look after hundreds or thousands of people.”

Stockton-Jones said this brought home to her the responsibility inherent in those positions and this made her passionate about supporting and making life better for the people who work for Stagecoach. “In turn, I believe that when I make life better for our people at Stagecoach, they make life better for our customers… the customer is at the heart of everything we do.”

Despite her obvious passion, Stockton-Jones hinted there had been discussion in some quarters about her suitability for her current position. “I’ll be really honest, it hasn’t been easy,” she confessed. “I’ve had many people tell me I shouldn’t be in this industry as I’m not from this industry, or that I don’t know enough about this industry, but I’ll tell you what I do know - I do know what makes people tick and www.passengertransport.co.uk

20/04/2022 16:13

“I’m absolutely gobsmacked about the amount of paper we use to run our businesses” I do know how to serve customers really well.”

She also claimed that, in her view, her gender had also played a part in some of that commentary. “The fact that I’m the first woman to run a [multi-modal] public transport business in the UK - I don’t see that as anything special for me,” Stockton-Jones added. “I think it’s a bonus. The industry benefits from having more women, helping to bring more diverse thinking into how we run our organisations and bringing more diverse thinking so we can serve our customers better.”

Much has been made about the green credentials of the bus and Stockton-Jones says she is keen to build on that. “The huge attraction for me to join the business was the huge sustainability agenda,” she said. “I believe public transport can get there before anybody else. If we really put our minds to it, we can get there before any of these big fleets which are out there on our roads chugging out nasty fumes into our air.”

Historically the sector’s main market had been people for whom the bus was their only option. She said this needed to change and the sector needed to attract people who had never considered using the bus before.

“My vision is for a better experience,” she said. “Let’s not be complacent and think they have to use the bus and so the service is what the service is. That’s not right. We have to make the service the very best it can. But how do we attract new people? This for me is back to technology, because technology, change and modernisation are all keys to unlocking new customers to use the bus as a sustainable alternative to their cars. The more we can do to drive people out of cars the better.”

Stagecoach celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2020 and Stockton-Jones acknowledged the group had been extremely successful, but she said it was time for a different strategy as people and travel patterns are changing rapidly. “I don’t know about you, but I’m looking at our ticket types and thinking we’ve got to really radically overhaul them if we are to continue to stay current for our customers,” she added. “The pandemic has uprooted everything for us… people are doing things differently; they are living their lives differently.”

Again she emphasised the part technology is playing in this revolution and it was one that was particularly affecting older people, with many turning to internet shopping for www.passengertransport.co.uk

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their day-to-day needs. She said transport wasn’t immune from this and pointed to new developments like Stagecoach’s busy bus app.

“It didn’t take long to develop, did it?” she added. “We only needed a pandemic to make it happen. Let’s hope we keep that urgent momentum going and we continue to develop new products and services. Let’s not kid ourselves, we’ve got a fantastic opportunity to come out of this in a really good place.”

Stagecoach’s strategy was to move towards digitising as many processes as possible, whether that was engineering, timetables or the way customers are served. This programme has seen the group invest £40m in the introduction of new technological processes over the last couple of years, a move that aims to drive widespread and rapid change.

Stockton-Jones highlighted how the group had recently introduced the Workday HR platform in order to move many paper-based systems to electronic format, and this evolution would continue. The introduction of an asset management system in depots would also help to slash the complexity and amount of paper used in maintenance processes, she said.

“In my first week a piece of paper landed on my desk,” she revealed. “I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but I saw everyone getting the same piece of paper... I realised they were our payslips! Thankfully we don’t do that anymore. If I’m very honest, that was my very first culture shock when I came into the

Carla Stockton-Jones joined Stagecoach from Sky in 2020

business. My second culture shock was when I went out to one of our operating companies, a very good operating company, and they were still using graph paper and pencils to plan their schedules. The amount of labour going into route planning and scheduling for that particular operator blew my mind.”

Stockton-Jones said the decision had been taken to introduce the Optibus scheduling solution across the group in order to give scheduling teams the space to think about the bigger picture. That decision would evolve with additional tools rolled out in the future to aid decision making and ensure passengers are kept up to date.

“That’s really important for me,” she added.

“I’m absolutely gobsmacked about the amount of paper we use to run our businesses. We can do it better. It doesn’t need lots of investment, it just needs diverse thinking. It just needs us to be more innovative in the way in which we’re running our depots. What got us here won’t get us there. That would be the biggest mistake we could make, believing what got us here will get us there. It won’t.”

Stockton-Jones is also passionate about making Stagecoach an inclusive organisation that better reflects the communities it serves.

“That’s not just because I’m a woman coming into this industry,” she said. “It’s not that.

I believe we are responsible for delivering to a customer base that looks like us and it doesn’t at the minute. The diversity of our customer base is not reflected in our operating companies and that’s not okay, because if you don’t know the people that are travelling and you are not like the people who are travelling, then it’s very difficult to serve the people who are travelling. You have to work really hard to try and understand them. It’s not about women, it’s not about people of colour, it’s just about representing real people who travel on our buses and we need to go the extra mile.”

Stagecoach is making good progress towards making 40% of its leaders female and 25% of its workforce identifying as coming from an ethnic minority by 2026. “We’re going to hit those targets, so we’re going to restate those numbers,” Stockton-Jones revealed. “I want to get really ambitious about that... [To work here] all you need is a passion to do the job. In public transport your gender, your race, your orientation aren’t prerequisites for any role.

That’s where I want us to be.”

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20/04/2022 17:24

“These objectives are oft-repeated every time we have a rail review!”

COMMENT

GREAT MINSTER GRUMBLES

Going full circle on the merry-go-round

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

In my last column I commented on the number of officials that were man-marking the West Coast Main Line franchise. The number - 29 - seemed incredibly high. So I wasn’t that surprised when I read in a parliamentary answer from the minister of state, Andrew Stephenson, to a question from Louise Hague, Labour’s transport spokesperson, that 1,005 officials work in the railways directorate. 1,005!

You really have to ask yourself what on earth a workforce of this size can possibly be doing all day! I have to assume this includes officials working on HS2, given that the parliamentary answer was from the HS2 minister, but even then I’m struggling to get my head around the numbers involved.

And in evidence to the Transport Select Committee on March 30 when it held a one-off session on Great British Railways, Andrew Haines, Network Rail’s chief executive, happily told us 180 people are currently working in the GBR transition team, with this number rising to 300 next year. These are large numbers. I have no doubt that much of this work is complex, but I’m really struggling to understand why so many people seem to be needed. It feels like the railway has become one massive job creation scheme!

One other thing that struck me about this committee session - when the minister of state, Wendy Morton, and Conrad Bailey, our director of rail services and strategy, also gave evidence - was the emphasis placed on “putting customers first”, that the reforms www.passengertransport.co.uk

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were all about “simplification”, about “creating a guiding mind” and “driving efficiency and cost savings”. All good stuff and sentiments and objectives that nobody can possibly disagree with. But these objectives are oftrepeated every time we have a rail review!

They are nothing new but are spoken of as if they are. And surely putting the interests of customers first has always been at the heart of the railways, hasn’t it?

Mind you, it’s often said that too many people have gone into the industry because they liked playing with trains, and that railway engineers were more interested in designing and building railways, with the customer interest coming a poor second. And I can still recall the first chief executive of Railtrack,

Gerald Corbett, telling the Transport Select Committee, when it was chaired by the late (and much missed) Gwyneth Dunwoody, that his primary duty was to his shareholders not the travelling public - an astonishing remark from a political perspective even if, from a fiduciary duty perspective, he had a point.

It’s entirely understandable why ministers today will want to push the mantra about putting customer interests at the heart of any rail reform. But it still grates when it’s said as if this was some startling new policy objective.

And when it comes to driving efficiency into the railways, let’s remember that this was a core objective emerging from the McNulty Review back in 2010/11 - and I don’t think many people would say that the McNulty reforms were ever really driven through with any conviction or obvious success.

So for all of the apparent excitement about the Williams-Shapps reforms, all I would say is we have been here before. Don’t get me wrong.

I’m not saying the reforms aren’t a good thing, and of course the franchise reforms which are at the heart of Williams-Shapps are a major change compared to past franchise regimes.

Perhaps I’m just too cynical. But in 10 years’ time, when whoever is secretary of state for transport announces another rail review, what’s the betting that we will be told that putting the interests of the customer first will be at its heart, that driving efficiency in the industry is critical, and so on. And so the industry merrygo-round will go full circle.

Meanwhile, we are all watching with bated breath whether the prime minister is going to survive ‘Partygate’ now that he’s been issued with a fine, with reports of more to follow.

At the moment there doesn’t seem to be any appetite in the Conservative parliamentary party to force a vote of no confidence, given the horrific events in Ukraine, and that the prime minister is very much to the fore in leading the West’s response to the war. But when the Conservatives get mauled in the local elections on May 5, I wonder if the parliamentary party may have second thoughts. And with the chancellor’s standing in near freefall following the spring statement, his wife’s ‘non-dom’ status, and holding a US Green Card, we have a government whose two most senior figures are daily having their integrity questioned. It would be a brave person who was willing to put money on them still being in post come the autumn.

22 April 2022 | 21

20/04/2022 17:24

CAREERS

CALL NOW TO ADVERTISE 020 3950 8000 or email sales@passengertransport.co.uk

Appointment kicks off mass transit plans West Yorkshire’s plans for a mass transit system takes a step forward as Kevin Murray is appointed as interim director of the embryonic project The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) has announced the appointment of Kevin Murray as interim director of mass transit on a temporary basis whilst it looks to recruit to the permanent position.

Tracy Brabin, mayor of West Yorkshire, said the appointment would help deliver a mass transit system that would benefit many generations to come.

Murray joined the combined authority on April 11 on secondment from Leeds based infrastructure experts Turner &

Townsend. He has significant experience in the construction industry, working on major projects such as the Edinburgh Tram project, the Edinburgh Airport rail project and on rail projects such as the Jubilee Line extension and Thameslink programme.

The WYCA in collaboration with partner councils published the West Yorkshire mass transit vision in January 2021, which outlines a new bold and ambitious public transport option for the region. Those

plans received a boost earlier this month when the government confirmed the region’s £830m City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement (PT242).

The allocation included over £100m for developing the mass transit programme.

Over the coming months, Murray will lead the initial stages of the programme, including the mobilisation of the team needed to create the project, and the next phase of the business case work required by the government.

The combined authority says

FIRST PLANS DIVERSITY PUSH

Appointment part of ambitious new plans DIVERSITY

ON-TRACK TO RETIREMENT Transport for Wales has bid farewell to Kevin Hooper after an incredible 42-year career in the rail industry. Hooper started his career as a freight guard in 1980, but has spent the last 12 years as a Valleys controller based at the Wales Rail Operating Centre. Hooper is pictured with his family and TfW’s head of current operations Elliot Swallow (right).

22 | 22 April 2022 PT263p22-23.indd 22

FirstGroup has announced the appointment of Gareth Hind as head of equality, diversity and inclusion at the group’s bus operations. He joins the business following a 20-year career in the retail sector.

Hind moves over to the bus operator from supermarket chain Asda where he has, over the last five years, led a number of the people agendas including learning and development and leadership capability, and more recently equality, diversity and inclusion engagement and digital communications.

First says he brings a wealth of experience to the newly created role, having worked across major supermarket brands. It adds the

the appointment of Murray marks another positive step forward for the mass transit programme, which is part of the WYCA’s ambition to overhaul the transport network in the region. Alongside cycling, walking, bus and rail, mass transit will be “essential to bring people and places closer together” it adds.

“This is a significant step towards the combined authority’s ambitions to bring a mass transit system to West Yorkshire, and I am delighted that Kevin will be joining us at this important time,” said Ben Still, the combined authority’s managing director.

“Kevin brings a wealth of experience, including working on mass transit in Scotland and I am sure he will provide hugely valuable leadership during this period to get the project going now that it has the financial backing from the government.”

new appointment comes at a crucial time for the transport sector, as both employees and customers begin to vote with their feet around organisations’ environmental, social and governance credentials.

First adds it is planning to execute an ambitious new plan to improve sustainability and its impact on the climate crisis, while having their people at the heart of that journey and this new hire is the latest step of that process.

Gareth Hind

www.passengertransport.co.uk

20/04/2022 17:32

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20/04/2022 17:32

DIVERSIONS

Bus boss’s Easter egg-stravaganza!

chocolate, set out on a whirlwind tour of the local bus network.

They visited a number of locations including Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Eastbourne, Folkestone, Hastings and Thanet.

The team spent the day talking with locals who were out enjoying the sunshine before hopping on to buses to greet bus drivers and customers with Easter treats.

But the venture also involved Stagecoach South East boss Joel Mitchell dressing up as the Easter Bunny, donning a blue waistcoat and bunny basket to greet families with chocolate eggs.

“We’re excited to be getting back out there,” he said. “Speaking with our customers whilst spreading some Easter cheer. It’s really important to the entire team at Stagecoach to have that positivity in our local communities especially after the past two years.”

branch of Flissy’s Coffee Shop at the Merseyrail station means that local dog walkers and rail passengers alike can ‘paws’ for a quick cuppa and a tasty pastry or breakfast roll before catching their train.

“I love the fact that we have teamed up with Merseyrail to open our second venture - it is an established brand and I feel extremely proud to have the opportunity to be a part of it,” said co-owner Felicity Dean.

“I have driven past Hoylake station for years and always

said I would love to have that opportunity, so we are very excited to see what we can bring to Merseyrail and its customers.”

Jane English, Merseyrail deputy managing director, added: “Flissy’s will assist us in providing the best possible customer experience with some delicious snacks and beverages for our Hoylake commuters and we can’t wait to hear what our passengers think.”

And with such a prominent spot on the station forecourt area, you don’t have to be Sherlock Bones to find it!

Joel Mitchell dons bunny ears to hand out treats Easter marked the first public holiday for two years where, in England at least, there were no restrictions in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Stagecoach South East got into the swing of things with staff from the Canterbury-based bus operator travelling across Kent and East Sussex, handing out Easter eggs.

The Stagecoach South East team, equipped with colourful bunny ears and wicker baskets filled with

Pup-arazzi shot?

MUTTS ABOUT THE COFFEE SHOP

Dog lovers on the Wirral are yapping in excitement at the opening of a new cafe at Hoylake station that welcomes four-legged friends. The opening of a second

Joel was a ‘hoppy’ bunny this

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EXPIRY DATE

This is not going to end well...

ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD Stagecoach recently published a new report that aims to set out a pathway to attracting over one million new passengers to the UK’s bus networks through the switch to zero emission buses (PT262).

The report makes interesting reading, highlighting some of the operational and commercial challenges, balanced with the potential to create that new generation of bus users.

But as one reader pointed out to us, the image above which appears in the report suggests that things may be getting a little lax when it comes to bus stop boarding risk assessments!

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20/04/2022 17:33