Passenger Transport: June 17, 2022

FO EV RT ER NI Y GH T

ISSUE 267 17 JUNE 2022

NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS FOR A SECTOR ON THE MOVE

‘It’s time to get behind us’ Our ‘State of UK Public Transport’ survey reveals: Passenger numbers failing to return is the number one concern of public transport professionals for the year ahead 90% of our survey respondents identified increased car use as a negative legacy of the Covid experience of the past two years Increased perception of public transport as unsafe was cited as a negative Covid legacy by 78% of respondents A vigorous campaign to encourage people back onto public transport is the ‘most important thing government could do’ But 49% still expect public transport patronage to grow beyond pre-pandemic levels by 2030. Only 22% say it will decline

The public transport sector faces significant challenges as it emerges from the Covid crisis, with absent passengers, funding and traffic congestion identified as the main concerns for the year ahead. These are among the findings of our 2022 The State of UK Public Transport survey, conducted in conjuction with data specialists CitySwift.

We first carried out this survey last year (PT236) and the results revealed optimism among professionals despite the huge challenge of rebuilding passenger numbers. However, this year’s results reveal concerns that the pandemic has resulted in increased car use and a stubborn perception that public transport is unsafe.

The most important thing that governments can do to help is launch a vigorous campaign to encourage people back onto public transport, said 42.9% of respondents - this would redress the strong ‘avoid public transport’ messaging during the pandemic.

Commenting on the findings of the survey, Ralph Roberts, president of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, said: “There needs to be more involvement from governments at all levels if we are to avoid lasting damage to our public transport networks”.

FULL STORY: PAGES 04-06

NEWS

BRTuk

COMMENT

SPECIAL REPORT

Go-Ahead is latest to fall in bidding frenzy

‘Digital bus ‘Rail strikes are Stockholm’s priority’ speeds an opportunity formula for up journeys for coaches’ Covid recovery

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Group accepts £650m takeover bid

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A cheaper and easier way to get benefits?

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Alex Warner sees a chance to win friends

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Swedish capital invests in the future

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CONTENTS

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

It’s time to get behind public transport For the second year we have teamed up with data specialists CitySwift to canvass the opinions of public transport professionals. It’s an opportunity to assess the mood of the sector. Last year’s results showed remarkable optimism after a year which Robert Jack had seen patronage decimated by lockdown Managing Editor restrictions and powerful ‘avoid public transport’ messaging. Perhaps the respondents were just happy that the worst was behind them and they could start rebuilding their passenger base. A year on, however, some results (pages 4-6) hint at frustration.

I suspect that much of this relates to buses. The sector faces a big shock when the latest ‘final’ tranche of funding runs out in October.

The aspirations of the National Bus Strategy for England will be sunk if networks are scaled back dramatically across the country.

Where is the campaign to encourage people back onto public transport as that date approaches? Where is the prime-time promotion of public transport to counter-balance an officially-led stigmatisation that has brought increased car use? Our survey identified this as the most important thing governments can do.

Worryingly, the survey also revealed that less than half (46.9%) now think it’s ‘likely’ that policies that constrain car use and promote public transport will be employed to help get to net zero. But how else are we going to get there? Electric cars can’t do it.

It’s time to get behind public transport.

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 OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS Passenger Transport Publishing Ltd PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX, UNITED KINGDOM Telephone (all enquiries): 020 3950 8000

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part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the publisher’s written permission.

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IN THIS ISSUE 20

A WELCOME RETURN TO PARIS

After an online-only edition in 2020, the European Mobility Expo returned to an in-person format at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris last week. There was much to see, but it was clear that zero emission buses are here to stay.

ORGANISATION

PAGE

Alexander Dennis 9 Arriva 9 Atkins 12 Best Impressions 10 Cardiff University 12 CitySwift 4 CPT Cymru 10 CPT (UK) 1, 6 Devon County Council 9 FirstGroup 8, 11 Globalvia Inversiones 8 Govia Thameslink Railway 11 Go-Ahead Group 8, 9 Great Western Railway 11 Greener Transport Solutions 12 I Squared Capital 8 Island Line 11 Kelsian Group 8 Kinetix 8 Liverpool City Region 9 Local Government Association 10 London Underground 11 McGill’s 6 Metrolink 11 National Transport Authority 9 Network Rail 11 OPTrust 8 Oxford Tube 9 Passenger 13 Rail Delivery Group 11 RMT 11 Snowdonia National Park Authority 10 Stagecoach New Zealand 8 Stagecoach West 9 Transdev Blazefield 9 Transport Focus 10 Transport for Wales 10 Wrightbus 9

12

IS A ‘UNIVERSAL CARBON ALLOWANCE’ THE ANSWER?

18

HOW DO WE ADDRESS THE AIR QUALITY ISSUE?

25

AFTER THE REVIEW, THE CONSULTATION

The chancellor has been urged by Greener Transport Solutions to keep fuel and energy costs high but introduce a “universal carbon allowance” to help households cope with the cost-of-living crisis and accelerate the transition to net zero.

Recent initiatives suggest that more needs to be done to improve air quality in our towns and cities - how do we achieve that? Nick Richardson. believes it will necessitate a shift towards mass transit and not just replacing cars with different cars.

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. A consultation into the Plan for Rail has been launched - what is the point of dragging the process out?

REGULARS NEWS ENVIRONMENT INNOVATION & TECH COMMENT GRUMBLES CAREERS DIVERSIONS

04 12 13 16 25 26 28

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NEWS THE STATE OF UK PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Sector seeks support to win back passengers Our latest poll of passenger transport professionals serves as a large focus group, gauging the mood within the sector. Do you share their concerns?

Much has changed over the past year. It’s now possible, for Robert Jack example, Managing Editor to travel on UK public transport without any restrictions, and passenger numbers have been moving upwards, but they remain well short of pre-Covid levels.

A year ago our 2021 The State of UK Public Transport survey revealed remarkable optimism among public transport professionals about the future of their sector, despite the obvious and immediate challenges. But, a year and a bit later, our 2022 survey suggests that there has been some dampening of that optimism over the past year.

We teamed up with data specialists CitySwift again to survey 49 key passenger transport professionals, including many well known names in the sector.

While the sample size requires caution with year-on-year comparisons, it is possible to observe some trends.

In the short term, patronage continues to be the big issue.

44.9% cited passenger numbers failing to return to pre-Covid levels as their main concern for the year ahead. Failure to achieve these levels of patronage will leave operators short of revenue at a time when their costs are spiralling - making service cuts inevitable unless the governments step in with more emergency 04 | 17 June 2022 PT267p04-07 4

The ‘avoid public transport’ message from government was strong

“Our survey respondents want a vigorous campaign to encourage people back into public transport” support.

Funding also remains a worry (cited as the main concern by 30.6% of respondents), followed by traffic congestion (12.2%).

What’s the most important thing governments can do to help?

Our survey respondents want a vigorous campaign to encourage people back onto public transport. In other words, help reverse the damage done by the ‘avoid public transport’ message during the pandemic.

Other helpful actions included providing greater certainty about future financial support (26.5%) and providing more financial support (12.2%).

There is scepticism about whether this help will come, however. Asked to rate how supportive they expect the government to be towards the

public transport sector over the next 12 months on a 1-5 scale, the average answer was just 2.6.

The pandemic has left negative legacies that will be very difficult to break down. The main one is an increase in car use, identified by 89.8% of respondents.

This has in part been caused by increased perception of public transport as unsafe, which was the next most commonly cited negative legacy of Covid (77.6%).

The third most negative legecy (73.5%) is the erosion of key markets (eg. commuters).

Meanwhile, over half (53.1%) of respondents now say that increased difficulties in recruiting and retaining front-line staff are a negative legacy of Covid, up from 10.3% a year ago.

The main positive legacies have been enhanced cleaning regimes

(cited by 56.3% of respondents) and accelerared use of data and technology (54.2%).

Looking towards the medium term, there is continued optimism about the prospects for public transport. Despite the challenges, almost half (49.0%) believe that public transport use will be ‘higher’ in 2030 than it was before the pandemic, with 28.6% believing it will be about the same. Less than a quarter (22.4%) believe it will be lower.

Part of the reason for this optimism must be efforts to achieve net zero at both national level and within individual cities.

However, despite the UK hosting the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow last autumn, there appears to be less faith that efforts to achieve net zero will lead to policies that constrain car use and promote public transport. Our 2021 survey found that almost two-thirds (66.2%) expected this to happen, but this year less than half (46.9%) agreed.

More than a third (36.7%) now think that it’s ‘unlikely’ that net zero policies will boost public transport.

Bus priority measures are the green transport policy that our survey respondents believe we are most likely to see over the coming years. Meanwhile, a clear majority (58.3%) now expect to see road user charging.

MORE ON PAGES 05-06 NEXT TIME: Data and technology Conducted in association with data specialists CitySwift, our survey - The State of UK Public Transport - also featured eight questions on the subject of data and technology. The findings from this section of the survey will be published in the next edition of Passenger Transport.

www.passengertransport.co.uk

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SHORT TERM

COVID LEGACIES

What’s your main concern for the public transport sector in the year ahead? (Select one)

What positive legacies do you think the Covid experience will leave public transport? (Select all that apply) Enhanced cleaning regimes 56.3%

Passenger numbers failing to return to pre-Covid levels (44.9%) Funding (30.6%) Traffic congestion (12.2%) Other (12.3%)

Accelerated use of data and technology 54.2% Agility demonstrated (eg. rapid implementation of new timetables) 50.0% Flattening of the traditional peaks 34.5%

With bus and rail patronage still lagging some way behind pre-Covid levels, it’s not surprising that the most commonly cited concern for the year ahead was passenger numbers failing to recover. Other key concerns are funding and traffic congestion, which are both outside of the sector’s control.

What’s the most important thing your government could do to help your business/organisation? (Select one) A vigorous campaign to encourage people back onto public transport (42.9%) Provide more certainty about future financial support (26.5%) Provide more financial support (12.2%) Visa relaxations to help ease labour shortages (6.1%) Other (12.3%) After the strong ‘avoid public transport’ message, many public transport professionals want a powerful campaign to encourage people to come back.

This is seen as even more important than providing further financial support.

Improved relations with local authority partners and other stakeholders 34.5% Goodwill and recognition from customers and communities 25.0% Greater recognition of the importance of public transport 22.9%

What negative legacies do you think the Covid experience will leave public transport? (Select all that apply) Increase in the use of private transport or vehicles 89.8% Increased perception of public transport as unsafe 77.6% Erosion of key markets (eg. commuters, high street shoppers) 73.5% Increased difficulties in recruiting new or retaining existing front-line staff 53.1% The main negative legacy of the Covid experience is considered to be the increased use of cars. Nine out of ten survey respondents agreed with this.

Increased perception of public transport as hazardous was runner-up.

The main positive legacy remains cleaner buses and trains for passengers, followed by the accelerated use of data and technology.

How supportive do you think the government will be towards the sector over the next 12 months?

Average = 2.6

42.9% 36.7%

As we emerge from Covid, do you expect to see a greater role for central and/or local government in specifying and paying for public transport? (Select one) 43.8%

33.3%

8.3% 8.3%

12.2%

8.2%

0% 1

2

3

4

5

On a scale of 1-5, our survey respondents believe that government support of the UK public transport sector over the next year will be 2.6 (on average).

This is a clear indication that many believe that much more could be done. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Very likely

Likely

About the same

Unlikely

Very unlikely

Over three-quarters (77%) of those who responded to our survey think it’s ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ that central and/or local government will play a greater role in specifying and paying for public transport. Only 15% think it’s unlikely.

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NEWS THE STATE OF UK PUBLIC TRANSPORT

MEDIUM TERM

COMMENT

In 2030, how will public transport patronage compare to pre-pandemic levels? (Select one) 42.9%

28.6%

Higher

Significantly higher

About the same

Lower

22.4%

Significantly lower

With bus and rail patronage still languishing behind pre-Covid levels, it’s interesting to see that 49.0% of our passenger transport professionals believe that patronage will get there - and beyond - by the end of the decade.

Do you expect that efforts to achieve net zero will lead to policies that constrain car use and promote public transport? (Select one) 12.2%

Very likely

34.7%

Likely

12.2%

About the same

36.7%

Unlikely

Very unlikely

With transport being the UK’s biggest carbon-emitting sector, and the one that has made the least progress with reductions, it’s logical to think that to achieve net zero will lead to policies that constrain car use and promote public transport. However, less than half (46.9%) think it this is ‘likely’.

What policies do you expect to see that would aid this transition? (Select all that apply) Bus priority measures 81.3% Road user charging 58.3% Low emission zones 52.1% Local congestion charging schemes

What goes up must come down ..but can we really ensure that the reverse happens?

I am confident that Isaac Newton didn’t have public transport in mind Ralph Roberts when he declared McGill’s that what goes up must come down, and it would seem that the optimists amongst us also believe that what has gone down must also come back up - I refer to ridership. I agree, but how to achieve it will be the art. What is clear is that there needs to be more involvement from governments at all levels if we are to avoid lasting damage to our public transport networks.

Bus and rail in the UK are at something of a turning point and whilst on the surface the problems appear similar, the challenges and likely solutions are very different.

There can be no more hiding behind franchisees on rail or ignoring the damage to bus networks from car-based policies. The rail reforms should take care of the former, but I worry about bus networks.

Decades of indifference to the needs of the bus user has resulted in one of the most inequitable divisions of public space in the developed world. As that eroded the foundations of what was once an impressive public transport network, a new breed of politician has emerged to gaslight the industry and tell us that ownership is the real

50.0% Greater support for active travel 47.9% Enhanced integration (eg.transport hubs) 47.9% Bus priority measures are the green transport policy that our respondents consider most likely, but a majority (58.3%) expect to see road user charging.

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“Transitional funding is essential ... The alternative is pretty stark”

issue. Meanwhile, they studiously fail to take ownership of the mess that they have created and rely on the fact that the problem is so entrenched that no one will listen long enough to hear why. The public just want it fixed and who can blame them.

Then along came the Covid pandemic. The funding cliff-edge that bus networks in Scotland and England are facing won’t allow bus operators the time to find the elegant solutions required to adapt to changing market conditions, so I fear that we will be blamed yet again.

Indeed, it has started already.

As many respondents to this survey have outlined, a requirement for transitional funding is essential, or public transport networks will face major change. The alternative is pretty stark. In Scotland, a fifth of all mileage could be removed from the bus network by the end of this year.

In England, the first round of Bus Service Improvement Plan awards and some fares initiatives will soften that decline, but areas left out will fast approach the same cliff-edge as Scotland. In Wales, we wait and see.

The most popular form of public transport in these nations is facing an unprecedented crisis. Given the optimism displayed in this survey, I am glad that the bulk of the network is in private hands. Solutions will be found, and changes will be made, at a pace that public bodies couldn’t achieve. We have the skills, we certainly have the incentive so we are about to see some great things happening.

Ralph Roberts is CEO, McGill’s Bus Group and president of the Confederation of Passenger Transport www.passengertransport.co.uk

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Go-Ahead is latest to fall in bidding frenzy A consortium that includes the parent company of Stagecoach’s former bus operations in New Zealand has announced a £650m takeover of Go-Ahead ACQUISITIONS

Go-Ahead Group this week accepted a £650m takeover bid from a consortium made up of an Australian and New Zealand bus operator and a Spanish transport infrastructure investor, both of which are backed by OPTrust, a Canadian pension fund.

The bid has been made by Kinetic and Globalvia Inversiones and comes despite rival takeover talks with another Australian transport operator - Kelsian Group, the parent company of London and Singapore bus operator Tower Transit.

Go-Ahead revealed Kinetic and Globalvia Inversiones made their first approach to acquire the group in January at a level the group directors felt did not reflect an appropriate value for

The new order: a Kinetic bus in Melbourne

Go-Ahead and its future prospects. Four further bids were subsequently forthcoming with the fifth being successful.

The bid partners intend for Go-Ahead to continue to operate as a standalone business under

...as FirstGroup rejects £1.23bn bid Group says bid ‘significantly undervalues’ business FirstGroup has unanimously rejected a £1.23bn bid from a private equity player, saying the proposed deal significantly undervalues the group.

The offer from US-based private equity group I Squared Capital was revealed last month when First said it had received “a series of unsolicited, conditional proposals from I Squared

08 | 17 June 2022 PT267p08-09 8

Capital” (PT266).

However, last week FirstGroup said its board had carefully evaluated the proposal together with its advisers and concluded that the cash component of the bid “significantly undervalues FirstGroup’s continuing operations and its future prospects”. It added that the contingent right component “does

the Go-Ahead brand, led by the existing management team with its headquarters remaining in Newcastle and its head office and certain head office functions continuing to be based in London.

“This is a compelling offer,”

not provide shareholders with sufficient certainty”.

The news came as the group announced a rise in profits amid cost reductions and a recovery in passenger numbers. Its adjusted operating profits rose to £226.8m for the year to 26 March, compared with £220.2m a year earlier.

Executive chairman David Martin, the former chief executive of Arriva, said FirstGroup was now a “cash generative business with a strong balance sheet”.

said Christian Schreyer, GoAhead’s chief executive. “We have confidence in Go-Ahead’s future as an independent business, but see that being part of a truly global mass transit platform will yield exciting opportunities.

“As a standalone business within a global platform, we will be better placed than ever to connect communities and to fulfil our purpose of moving our customers towards a smarter and healthier planet.”

Go-Ahead’s acceptance of the bid was welcomed by Michael Sewards, co-chief executive of Kinetic, which acquired the former Stagecoach New Zealand business from private equity firm Next Capital in March 2022.

“As Australia and New Zealand’s largest and fastest growing bus operator, with the majority of our revenue aligned to longterm government contracts, we will bring proven experience to accelerate the delivery of Go-Ahead’s Next Billion Journeys growth strategy,” he said. “We are one of world’s largest operators of electric buses and we will not only provide the necessary long term capital but the expertise to facilitate the rapid transition of Go-Ahead’s bus fleet from diesel to zero emission technology.”

However, Kelsian, which recently announced the sale of its standalone Tower Transit bus operations in east London to Stagecoach (PT266), has urged Go-Ahead shareholders to reject the bid, despite not announcing any firm intention of making a rival offer for the group.

“Kelsian believes that the potential combination with Go-Ahead would create an international leader in multimodal, mass transit, supporting a sustainability agenda for its passengers and governments, with strong growth prospects,” it said. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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How do we address the air quality issue? Page 18

Shire towns lead the way on bus recovery Concessionary travel, park and ride and city bus demand suppressed PATRONAGE

MPs on the parliamentary Transport Select Committee heard last week that bus demand from concessionary passholders continues to be in the doldrums.

Martin Dean, Go-Ahead’s managing director, UK regional bus, revealed that the group’s park and ride services were also struggling to recover from the impact of Covid-19.

“Park and ride has not revived in the way that farepayers have,” he said, adding that depressed patronage in this area, plus the difficulties in restoring concessionary travel were “dragging down the overall result”.

“If you look at farepayers, the level of recovery there is pretty high, but those other two groups, for example, are lower,” Dean said.

Alistair Hands, Arriva’s UK

bus commercial and marketing director concurred with Dean’s assessment of bus demand.

“We are seeing probably in the mid-80s for commercial patronage, brought down by concessionary recovery in the mid-60s, bringing us to the low80s overall,” he revealed. “We anticipate seeing that increase over the period of the year but would not anticipate it getting to pre-pandemic levels [by the end of the year].”

Hands added that a “reshaping” of bus networks against that reduced demand was inevitable.

“Some of that has already happened,” he said.

Paul Turner, Transdev Blazefield’s commercial director, said he had witnessed some diverse areas of recovery across the north of England.

“East Lancashire’s farepaying customers in the last couple of weeks were 1% up on the same weeks in 2019. It is the first time

we have done that,” he said.

“Concessionary customers were about 70%. Interestingly, about 95% of the passes were the same, so 95% of people were only making 70% of trips.”

He said this suggested that some concessionary passholders are travelling once a week rather than twice a week. This is perhaps because they were avoiding discretionary travel for socialising activities. This would also have an impact on town centre footfall.

“Generally speaking, the shire towns, as we call them, tend to be recovering better, which reflects a lot of education travel,” he added.

“Post-16s are doing really well in terms of recovery. Industry is not a work-from-home sector, nor are factories, healthcare and retail.

“The cities, where there are probably more roles you can do from home, are recovering more slowly. They are recovering at a slower rate than the likes of Blackburn, Burnley and Keighley.

IN BRIEF DEVON TO PROBE BUSES Devon County Council says the future management of bus services in the county will be considered at a meeting next month. It follows calls from some district councils for a Cornwall-style Transport for Devon organisation to be created following a growing number of service cuts as a result of staff shortages and funding woes.

The council’s cabinet will also consider the £14m funding allocation from the government’s National Bus Strategy.

OXFORD TUBE EXPANSION Stagecoach has announced a number of improvements to its Oxford Tube express coach service. The changes are designed to support passenger growth as the company prepares for its first normal summer following the pandemic. The changes will see improved frequencies on weekday evenings, Friday afternoons and an extended Saturday service.

Four extra coaches will also be introduced on the service.

£2 BUS TICKET CAP FOR LIVERPOOL

WRIGHTBUS LANDS IRISH EV ORDER

TICKETING

MANUFACTURERS

The Liverpool City Region has confirmed bus passengers will be able to travel for no more than £2 under plans that have been ratified by the combined authority. The introduction of the cap will be subject to bus operator agreement and run for an initial three-year period. The region’s £12m BSIP allocation will support the move. The MyTicket youth day ticket will also be capped at £2.20 until 2025 as part of the plans.

Ireland’s National Transport Authority has announced an order for 120 Streetdeck Electroliner electric double deck buses from Wrightbus.

They are part of a framework agreement which provides for the procurement of up to 800 electric buses over a period of five years. The initial order is worth €80.4m and 100 of the buses will enter service with Dublin Bus. The remainder will go to Bus Éireann for use in Limerick.

BSIP funding will support maximum bus fare proposal

www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Framework could see the supply of up to 800 buses

NEW LOOK FOR ALEXANDER DENNIS Bus builder Alexander Dennis has launched a new brand identity that emphasises the company’s agility and innovation. New logos reinvigorate the manufacturer’s Alexander Dennis and Plaxton brands, supported by “a cohesive and crisp visual identity”.

17 June 2022 | 09

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NEWS ROUND-UP

Welsh minister praises bus operator attitude Waters is encouraged by positive response to plans for reform REGULATION

Welsh deputy climate change minister Lee Waters has acknowledged bus operators’ positive engagement in the proposals to introduce franchising in all areas of Wales.

Speaking at a Transport Focus stakeholder event last week, he said he did not criticise operators for the bus network’s inadequacies.

“They’re commercial operators.

They’re working within the system as it was designed. My point is, it was designed really badly,” he said.

“We need to redesign it to allow a seamless end-to-end journey which puts the convenience of the passenger ahead of the profit of the operator. We need to make sure this is roadworthy and, to extend the metaphor, we want you to kick the tyres and we want the operators to kick the tyres.

“We’ve had a couple of very good conversations with operators

SHERPA NETWORK PATRONAGE UP Move follows post-Covid Snowdonia relaunch PATRONAGE

The Sherpa bus network in northern Snowdonia has seen double-digit increases in passengers compared with pre-Covid-19, Transport for Wales has revealed.

The network was relaunched on April 9 with two additional vehicles.

Core routes operate at hourly frequencies and run direct to the national park from more places 10 | 17 June 2022 PT267p10-11 10

already and I’ve got to say, I’ve been really encouraged by the positive attitude that they’re taking to engaging with us to try and make this work.”

He said one of the things the government had done well so far was to put co-production sincerely at the heart of the proposals. “So we’ve been working hand-in-glove with the local authorities and Transport for Wales to design a system that, practically, is going to work on the ground.” He did not say whether operators had been involved.

The government’s White Paper says that minimum contractual standards could apply to staff pay and conditions, ensuring that competition for services would not undermine the profession.

Waters was asked last week about driver shortages. He said the picture was complex, and bus wages had been suppressed below the norm of other industries since the 1980s. He claimed Arriva in Rhyl had no problems in recruitment as “they pay really

well”. “Some operators don’t pay really well,” he added.

While CPT Cymru has yet to formulate its response to the consultation, its director, Josh Miles, told a Senedd committee that the White Paper omitted any timeline for implementation.

“This is a critical issue because operators typically need to make investment decisions over a long time horizon,” he said. “Welsh Government should publish a clear timeline, with measures to help maintain investment in the intervening period.”

He said the White Paper was silent on the costs of the proposed franchising model. “Our own research suggests a franchise regime will cost £61m per year more and that doesn’t factor in Welsh Government’s ambitions for a zero-emission fleet by 2035.

Without certainty on annual or multi-annual funding settlements and clarity on how they will be funded, the franchising regime may have to cut services or raise fares to cover its costs.”

than previously. There are more connectional opportunities too.

The enhancement was possible because the Welsh Government supplemented the local authorities’ funding for this year. The government’s contribution included a new brand - Sherpa’r Wyddfa created by Best Impressions which has been applied to vehicles, bus stop infrastructure and publicity.

The enhanced network was designed by TfW in conjunction with Gwynedd and Conwy councils and Snowdonia National Park Authority.

It incorporates some services

which were previously not part of the Sherpa network. TfW has been working with local authorities in North Wales for the past two years

New branding by Best Impressions

He also claimed “too many tiers of government” could complicate the proposed system. “If it is ultimately Welsh ministers that are to set networks, the White Paper should be clear that this is a centralisation of policy responsibility around bus services.”

Tim Peppin, of the Welsh Local Government Association, told the committee: “There are concerns over the proposal for centralised control of the letting and managing of bus contracts.

Over time, Transport for Wales may be in a position to assist with many aspects relating to contracts, but current knowledge sits within local authorities.”

Peppin also commented: “Moving to complete, all-Wales franchising comes with risks and having ‘other tools in the box’ would be beneficial, e.g. the ability to agree partnerships with operators outside of franchise arrangements.”

Since April 2021, the Welsh Government has supported the bus industry through the Bus Emergency Scheme 2, which ends next month. First minister Mark Drakeford told the Senedd last week that a further £43m would be provided to sustain bus services for the rest of this calendar year.

on ways to reshape bus networks and Sherpa is the first such network to emerge from the process.

Andrew Sherrington, TfW’s head of bus networks and service development, told a Transport Focus stakeholder event that TfW had forecast the cost of the two additional vehicles could be “parked off within two years” (through increased revenue). He continued: “We are well on track with that. We’re on double-digit growth on this - and it’s only two months in - on pre-Covid numbers. The feedback that we’ve had has been unbelievable.” www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Rail industry braced for nationwide strike Industry calls for further talks after the RMT union pushes ahead with plans for three days of industrial action that could cripple the network INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

The rail industry is braced for the biggest industrial action on the railways since 1989, with the RMT union pledging to “shut down” the rail network on June 21, 23 and 25. More than 400,000 Network Rail staff and workers at 13 train operators in England are due to stage strike action in a dispute over pay and job security.

There will also be further travel disruption on June 21 when London Underground staff are due to walk out in a separate dispute over pay, conditions and pension arrangements.

Staff at Island Line and Govia Thameslink Railway will not take part in the action and have voted against a strike.

The disputes have led transport secretary Grant Shapps to float the idea that strike laws could be changed in the future to allow agency workers to break strikes. “I can’t over-stress our determination to get the right outcome for the travelling public in the end on this,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.

Responding to the comment, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said Shapps needed to “stop smearing the RMT and unshackle the rail operating companies so they can come to a negotiated settlement”.

If the planned action proceeds it could cripple the rail network with major disruption to those planning to attend events like the Glastonbury Festival.

“Passengers will be disappointed www.passengertransport.co.uk

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IN BRIEF GBR CONSULTATION The government has launched a consultation on rail reform plans.

The consultation is focused across three key areas. They are: the establishment of the new Great British Railways organisation; how to ensure clear accountability; and reform of wider industry structures and processes. £95M FOR TEMPLE QUARTER Levelling up minister Neil O’Brien has announced £95m in government funding to regenerate Bristol’s Temple Quarter. It will also support upgrades to Bristol Temple Meads station with new entrances and the creation of an adjacent transport hub.

The RMT has pledged to ‘shut down’ the rail network

that the rail industry and the RMT have not been able to reach an agreement and strikes have been announced,” said Anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog Transport Focus.

“This means uncertainty for passengers, so it is crucial that all parties get back around the table and resolve this matter without bringing the railway to a standstill.

It is passengers who suffer most in the event of strikes.”

Rail industry leaders have called on the unions to accept that travel habits have changed in the wake of Covid-19 and that the sector must not take more than its “fair share of public funds”.

“It is not sustainable to expect increased levels of funding” Steve Montgomery

The Rail Delivery Group said reform was necessary to secure a long-term future for the railway.

“With passenger numbers only at around 75% of pre-pandemic levels, it is not sustainable to expect increased levels of funding indefinitely,” it said.

“We urge the RMT’s leadership to call off needless and damaging strikes and continue to work with us,” added RDG chair Steve Montgomery.

Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines took a similar line. He said it was essential the RMT realised the infrastructure controller is a public body and any pay increase has to be affordable for taxpayers and passengers.

According to the Department for Transport, the average rail worker salary is £44,000, which is more than the median pay of other public sector workers, such as nurses (£31,000), teachers (£37,000), and care workers (£17,000).

METROLINK MILESTONE Last weekend was a recordbreaking day for Manchester’s Metrolink system. A total of 211,900 journeys were made with around 82,000 of them made using contactless payment. More than 10 million contactless trips have been made on Metrolink since the July 2019 contactless launch.

FIRST SECURES GWR CONTRACT

New rail deal will run until at least June 2025 CONTRACTS

The Department for Transport has awarded a National Rail Contract to FirstGroup to continue operating the Great Western network. The new contract will run until at least June 2025, with the potential for a further three years at the secretary of state’s discretion. Operator GWR has committed to deliver improvements in customer experience, while providing better value for money for customers and taxpayers.

17 June 2022 | 11

15/06/2022 17:22

ENVIRONMENT

Is a ‘universal carbon allowance’ the answer?

Greener Transport Solutions urges the chancellor to keep fuel and energy prices high but introduce new, fairer, greener policy to help with living costs POLICY

The chancellor has been urged to keep fuel and energy costs high but introduce a “universal carbon allowance” to help households cope with the cost-of-living crisis and accelerate the transition to net zero.

The war in Ukraine means that oil and gas prices have risen sharply, whilst food prices have hit record highs. Last week the cost of filling up an average family car with petrol hit £100 for the first time, and 40% of households will be at risk of fuel poverty when the energy price cap increases to £2,800 in October. Inflation is expected to reach 10% later this year, and for poorer households, inflation will rise to 14%.

On May 26, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a £21bn package to help households with their energy bills. However, further measures are likely to be needed by the autumn and Greener Transport Solutions, a not-for-

‘DIGITAL TWIN’ TO CUT CARBON Project aims to cut energy use at Reading station STATIONS

An innovative project to improve carbon emissions and energy performance at Reading station is underway which has the potential to cut the station’s energy consumption by around 20%.

Sensors are set to be installed across the station to capture live, 12 | 17 June 2022 PT267p12-13 12

Claire Haigh

in carbon tax through all the goods and services they buy, whilst receiving the same fixed allowance as those on lower incomes”.

According to the Treasury’s Net Zero Review, higher income households consume three times more carbon than lower income households.

To remind us of the scale of the challenge, Greener Transport Solutions points out that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned “now or never” if the world is to avoid climate disaster. To avoid overshooting 1.5C, global emissions must peak before 2025 and fall by 43% by 2030. Such rapid emissions reduction is possible but only if every sector of the economy is targeted.

This week Greener Transport Solutions published a report on its Pathways to Net Zero roundtable discussion series, which investigated how to decarbonise transport.The key conclusion is

real-time data on the station’s energy usage to pinpoint opportunities to cut the station’s carbon emissions and improve its energy performance.

This approach to understanding where savings can be made has been enabled by computer modelling that has developed a ‘digital twin’ of the station including a simulation of its current energy usage. Using existing, historical data and modelling, a number of opportunities have been identified that are predicted could

result in around a 20% improvement on the station’s carbon emissions and energy performance.

Network Rail teamed up with Atkins and Cardiff University to develop this ‘digital twin’ of Reading station, utilising Cardiff University’s Computational Urban Sustainability Platform (CUSP). Using this data and computer modelling to create baselines for the station’s energy consumption and carbon emissions, CUSP has been used to map out ways of improving the station’s

profit organisation dedicated to the decarbonisation of transport, has proposed a solution.

After consulting widely with a range of transport experts, Greener Transport Solutions is urging the chancellor to develop a strategy to tackle the cost-ofliving crisis that also accelerates the transition to net zero and protects our energy security.

This strategy includes a universal carbon allowance for every individual in the UK funded by putting a carbon price on everything we consume.

This would be a very progressive measure “because individuals on higher incomes would pay more

“If we are to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, we must price properly for carbon”

that we are not seeing anywhere near the scale of change needed to achieve our net zero targets for transport. Lack of leadership and lack of joined-up thinking undermines net zero ambitions.

Spending is skewed towards road building and unsustainable transport policies, and we are still building car dependent housing developments. Urgent focus is needed on traffic reduction.

Claire Haigh, founder and CEO of Greener Transport Solutions commented: “The transport sector on its own cannot achieve net zero. It’s clear that we urgently need a new approach. We need a solution for the whole economy.

“The current crises we face all demonstrate that we must break our dependency on fossil fuels. If we are to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, we must price properly for carbon. This will generate the revenue needed to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. Record high fuel and energy prices are a gamechanger. We urge the chancellor to seize the opportunity to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, shore up our energy security and accelerate the transition to net zero at the same time.”

To download the Pathways to Net Zero report visit greenertransportsolutions.com

performance via energy efficiency measures. A number of ways to reduce energy expenditure and carbon emissions with minimal costs have been identified. They include improved lighting controls, such as dimming when an area of the station is not in use, and turning off machinery such as escalators overnight or when not in use.

It is hoped that this technology can be utilised across the rail network to support Network Rail’s efforts to reducing its carbon footprint. www.passengertransport.co.uk

15/06/2022 16:59

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

New subscription app capability launched Passenger offers facility to help with hybrid working TICKETING

UK public transport app and website provider Passenger has unveiled a new flexible recurring ticket payment app capability for bus operators, local government bodies and local authorities to accommodate the growing number of Brits adopting a hybrid working lifestyle.

Passenger’s new app subscriptions feature allows bus users to automatically purchase tickets on a recurring basis, either for themselves or as a gift for others. Operators can also create bespoke ticket packages to suit the needs of their customers - for example, by providing carnet

MINISTER BACKS TRANSPORT TICKETING GLOBAL Global event takes place in London later this month TICKETING

Transport minister Wendy Morton will present the keynote opening address live at Transport Ticketing Global in London later this month.

This address follows last year’s release of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, detailing the UK government’s plans to reform the UK rail industry including an overhaul of ticketing and fare setting. It has been billed as the catalyst for the biggest shake-up of the industry in decades.

Transport Ticketing Global 2022, the world’s largest public transport forum event for smart ticketing and www.passengertransport.co.uk

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packages of 10-day passes a month.

The new feature marks the latest addition to Passenger’s portfolio of tools designed to support bus operators, local government bodies and local authorities in addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by the National Bus Strategy for England.

Greg Hepworth, head of product at Passenger, commented: “We are continually developing our technology to support changing passenger needs

and bring people ‘back to bus’. We want to inspire a mindset change, showing people that public transport is a convenient, cost-efficient mode of travel.

“Our new subscription capability combines flexibility with convenience. Bus users don’t need to spend time mulling over when to purchase their next ticket and the specific timeframe in which they need to travel.

Instead, they have a quick, easy-to-use solution at their fingertips which takes all the stress out of planning - and it can

“We want to inspire a mindset change, showing people that public transport is a convenient, cost-efficient mode of travel” Greg Hepworth, Passenger

mobility professionals, will bring together delegates from around the world at Olympia, London, on June 2829 to explore the latest developments in this rapidly evolving industry.

Over 100 industry leading speakers will deliver engaging sessions in the two-day conference on topics including the deployment of Account-Based Ticketing (ABT) & contactless; mobile-based and biometric ticketing; the use of central bank digital currency on public transport; transport data analysis; enabling MaaS; fare modelling and policies; revenue collection procurement and postCOVID UX, new customer behaviour and customer Information.

The conference will also feature an in-depth panel discussion to explore the challenges and opportunities presented by the reforms outlined

in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, featuring insights from experts across the UK rail and ticketing sectors including senior representatives from FirstGroup, Great British Railways Transition Team, Rail Delivery Group and more.

A series of case studies will explore new international developments and deployments. They include insights into the Nordic MaaS project, NOMAD; frameworks of tariff model development for ABT at HSL Helsinki; the lessons learned

by SL in Stockholm while building their in-house ticketing system; the implementation of mobile ticketing across 15 transit agencies across multiple counties in the USA and the evolution of digital ticketing by ATAC SpA in Rome.

Among the expert speakers set to share their insights over the

easily be chopped and changed to suit their individual needs.

We’re pleased to continue supporting bus operators with a variety of digital ticketing solutions which prioritise a seamless customer experience.”

Passenger’s new subscriptions capability is now available as part of its Premium package for UK bus operators. The feature comes following the recent launch of Passenger’s contactless journeys portal, which allows bus users a real-time overview of journeys made using contactless payments method.

Passenger also offers Premium customers an extensive range of support tools including a contactless journeys overview, discount codes capability, and the Travel Portal, allowing them to easily sell and distribute tickets to businesses, organisations, schools, and beyond.

To find out more, visit passenger.tech

two-day conference programme are Danielle Agius, head of digital experience strategy, LNER, and Andrew Anderson, head of customer payments, Transport for London.

An extensive exhibition, running alongside the conference, will offer the opportunity to interact with the latest technologies first-hand and meet with a complete range of solution providers under one roof.

In the evening on June 28, the 10th annual Transport Ticketing Awards, the most prestigious recognition event in the sector, will celebrate the smart ticketing and mobility industry’s greatest achievements.

Complimentary passes are available for transport operators and government authorities.

To find out more, visit transport-ticketing.com 17 June 2022 | 13

15/06/2022 16:59

BRTuk

you’ve also got the public - I wouldn’t say backlash - but you’ve got public criticism.”

Alchera Technologies has used pinch point analysis technology to build a business case for bus priority improvements in Lancashire.

Is there another way?

How do you solve a problem like priority?

Lancashire County Council has adopted digital bus priority as a means of improving journey times without the need for expensive infrastructure Could there be an easier, cheaper and more effective Andrew Garnett way of Deputy Editor creating new bus priority measures without resorting to expensive infrastructure interventions?

Consultancy Atkins thinks so and those tuning in to BRTuk’s third Lunchtime Masterclass last week discovered how intelligent bus priority could open the door to widespread bus journey time improvements.

But what is it? Tony Brown of Atkins said it’s primarily the use of traffic control systems and signals to enable bus priority rather than the use of more conventional “concrete and tarmac” to improve bus services. “Bus priority has 14 | 17 June 2022

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been an issue for as long as I’ve worked in the sector,” he said.

“It’s worth pointing out that intelligent bus priority is more about improving and smoothing journey times.”

He pointed to research by Transport Focus whichregularly finds passengers are seeking more consistent journey times and buses arriving at stops on time.

“If they get that they’re quite happy to travel,” Brown added.

He also said it was important to acknowledge that digital priority interventions would support that goal - it wasn’t a case of shaving several minutes from journey times; it’s about creating consistency.

“When I first started the focus was all about expanding capacity by building infrastructure,” he said. “That is important and to

both passengers and car drivers it’s visible and it clearly reduces bus journey times if you’re segregating the bus from the rest of the traffic. It’s sending out all the right sounds and doing all the right things.”

However, Brown said these sorts of interventions were expensive, very difficult and timeconsuming. That makes many physical schemes very difficult and there is always political and other user opposition to the reallocation of road space. There are also problems stemming from the construction phases of such schemes where there can be significant disruption. “When they are in, for it to be efficient, you need enforcement,” he added.

“So you’re adding an additional layer of cost and complexity.

When something is enforced

Brown said many local authorities began to move to new-generation digital control of traffic lights in the 1990s and this technology offered an opportunity by having the capability to allow buses priority at traffic lights.

He described the benefits these schemes offered as being “more in the background” as they were less contentious than introducing bus lanes or other physical, and not to mention highly visible, bus priority interventions.

But there were problems with these early systems as they could be expensive when they reached any sort of scale and, as they required tags to be installed on buses to trigger sensors attached to the traffic lights. They also required the right buses to be used on the right route, which reduced flexibility for operators.

Luckily technology has advanced and today the problematic sensors and tags of early schemes have been replaced by digital messaging technology.

It means on-bus real-time information systems and the latest GPS-enabled electronic ticket machines can “talk” with the digital Urban Traffic Control (UTC) system of any given local authority. To throw in some more jargon, this process uses the open standards of Urban Traffic Management Control (UTMC) that allow different applications used within modern traffic management systems to communicate and share information with each other.

Brown says the move to UTMC means there are opportunities to introduce strategy-based interventions as well as ongoing evaluation of how they are www.passengertransport.co.uk

15/06/2022 16:59

SUPPORTED BY: www.atkinsglobal.com @atkinsglobal

working out on the ground. “You can check how your system is performing,” he added. “You can get down into the detail, look at the journey times and understand why the delays are happening.”

Lancashire goes digital These rapid developments in the sphere of digital bus priority have been adopted by Lancashire County Council where it is an emerging policy driver to improve bus journey times and reliability across the county.

“They are putting a lot of emphasis on bus priority,” explained Brown. “They found, partly when putting together their BSIP, that bus lanes are often costprohibitive. They wanted a more cost-effective solution.”

Meanwhile, Lancashire’s decision to adopt UTMC was also a catalyst to press ahead with the project. “What was key for Lancashire was they wanted a data-driven, evidence-based assessment to support these proposals,” Brown added. “That’s where we brought in Alchera to help us with that.”

Getting the data right Aaron Croucher from Alchera Technologies explained how Atkins had brought in his company to find the road junctions in Lancashire where the greatest improvements would be made. He said this approach aimed to create small improvements in the passage of buses through traffic lights that would add up to be improvements overall.

Alchera used its data expertise to scrutinise road junctions across East Lancashire. Croucher explained that around the town of Nelson there are 60 junctions. But which would be the best to target?

UTMC data allowed Alchera’s pinch point analysis software to determine some junctions were www.passengertransport.co.uk

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already working effectively but others needed improvements as buses were frequently delayed.

“We use the analytics to create pinch point results to answer three questions: firstly, how many buses are affected by each junction; secondly, how much variability does each junction cause for those buses; and thirdly how much are those buses slowed down as they pass through that junction?”

Lancashire’s need for an evidence-based approach saw Alchera use its analysis to produce results that would determine qualitative benefits. Rather than relying on on-street observations, the pinch point analysis software crunched the numbers quickly, producing a downloadable spreadsheet with a complete set of results for each junction. It even ranked the junctions, highlighting which would offer the greatest financial return on investment per year if improved.

“Lancashire is now using this to justify putting traffic light priority in at junctions,” added Croucher.

“Importantly our product is staying behind to monitor these interventions and monitor these junctions.”

That process aims to constantly scrutinise the junctions in an effort to determine what if anything has

made the junction become a pinch point again. “Maybe something has changed in the local area,” he added. “It alerts the teams and consultants to go and check that and to fix it. Maybe a tweak to the traffic light priority settings, so that it can be fixed and returned to a nicely flowing junction with consistent bus times.”

The benefits of digital But how do the bus’s digital systems interact with the traffic lights? Robert Mansell of Atkins aimed to give viewers more on that. “There are three things we need to look at - detecting the buses, communicating with the traffic control system and actually controlling the traffic signals,” he explained.

While traditional systems used loops buried in the ground at junctions and traffic lights, modern systems rely on a ‘virtual’ loops that use GPS data from on-bus systems.

Mansell outlined there are some significant benefits in that the overwhelming majority of buses in the UK are now fitted with RTPI systems that pass data about the bus’s location to the RTPI server every 30 seconds.

This data is then handed on to the UTC server of the local authority which determines the

actions that should be taken in order to smooth the passage of each bus through junctions. This may see the green phase extended (called ‘extension’ in the trade) or red phases in other directions shortened in order to cycle swiftly through to a green phase (called ‘recall’). Mansell explained that while ‘extension’ was the ideal, ‘recall’ aimed to get the buses moving as soon as possible.

It’s clear the technology shows promise as a means of beating congestion cost-effectively. Brown said digital bus priority has moved from “a whizzy, techy approach that was all a bit dark arts” to now focussing on technology that does have a genuine business case. “We are getting to the point where we can build quite a compelling business case,” he added.

ABOUT BRTuk BRTuk has members from across the industry, including operators, promoters, manufacturers and consultants. It serves as an information hub and engages with all levels of government.

Visit: www.brtuk.com

Examples of how digital control can be used to favour buses: traffic light phases can either be extended or other phases shortened to allow swift passage through the junction

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15/06/2022 16:59

COMMENT

ALEX WARNER

Coaches must grasp opportunity to shine I have always believed that coaches are a hugely under-rated part of the transport mix. Could a wave of rail strikes change that?

Back in 2009, I dreamt up and launched Greyhound UK with a vision of creating a nationwide, high quality, customer-centric, point-to-point express coach proposition.

I genuinely believed the time had come for coach travel to be viewed as mainstream - not just a viable alternative to rail but one capable of claiming supremacy.

I often tell you about the sheer indifference that my three tin lids (ages 20, 17 and 15) have towards bus travel - this being all the more shocking given that their father’s livelihood has, to a large extent, been provided by the sector. Ask them about coaches and they will be even more apathetic. Their only awareness or experience of travelling by coach will be very occasionally as part of a transfer from a foreign airport to a resort we might have booked for a holiday or school trip. I told them last week that there is a national coach network that offers an alternative to rail travel to a multitude of destinations and they looked completely bemused and uninterested.

With the imminent and likely to be prolonged rail strike, could this finally be the chance for bus and coaches to shine and fill a gap so well that their legacy is to genuinely be viewed with parity in terms of rail on many journeys where they are currently considered to be second string? Can the coach sector, in particular, make a breakthrough in public consciousness and challenge the idea that it is the poor relation of long distance travel?

National Express indicated last week that 16 | 17 June 2022 PT267p16-17 16

demand for coach travel was returning towards pre-pandemic levels but its strategy of low fares to increase volume during the cost of living crisis would depress margin recovery.

This targeted approach of stimulating the market again, as rail has done with the recent ‘Great British Rail Sale’, seems prudent. With high levels of inflation, the opportunity for coach is great. Its hugely attractive prices, particularly the many dynamic fares and a cost and network model that is less burdensome and more flexible than rail, gives it a strong advantage. So too, the flexibility it has in pricing and timetabling.

I’ve been celebrating coaches since I launched Greyhound UK in 2009

To an extent, though, sometimes I worry that National Express - as it was when we launched Greyhound UK - is so concerned about losing its market leading position that perhaps it will be reluctant to collaborate with other coach operators to provide a compelling proposition for the sector as a whole. There will also be a reluctance to do so due to a fear that the competition authorities will suggest collusion.

During any rail strike, the coach and bus sector needs to embark on a concerted marketing campaign to raise awareness of the presence and availability as an alternative to keep the country running and also to highlight that their proposition is very much on a par, if not better, than rail. Indeed, a ‘coach or bus is for life not just for Christmas/rail strikes’ should be very much the mantra of any messaging.

I don’t feel I’m being disloyal to rail here, nor am I suggesting cannibalisation of its existing market. My number one love is the railway, followed by Crystal Palace FC, so there’s no breaking rank here. I just think that the sector and indeed its militant employees, need a bit of a wake up call to realise that it doesn’t have a stranglehold on travel. It cannot and should not set exorbitant fares that the market cannot bear, nor high wages and unbridled job security or complacent customer service. My aspiration is for the coach and bus sector to up its game and be within the consciousness of the populace such that we’re growing the overall market for public transport, rather than creating mass migration between modes.

National Express, the predominant operator, has a track record of slick, well-run marketing.

However, it would be interesting to see the results of a campaign that might more explicitly seek to dispel preconceived ideas of coach travel, as slow, untrendy and antiquated, of people feeling sick on-board and of noisy and smelly customers and grumpy drivers. It’s also always surprised me that it hasn’t been on the front foot more in extolling the benefits of coach versus rail. Whenever I’ve persuaded customers to try out a coach instead of a train, they’ve always been pleasantly surprised.

Maybe they are just being polite because they never then convert to coach. This is where digital marketing needs to be more powerful, so it’s not just me that’s encouraging them to try the coach again. The message should also focus as much on the overall customer experience benefits, as it does on the pricing www.passengertransport.co.uk

15/06/2022 17:00

“The on-board journey can be quieter, more secure, less stressful and more comfortable” differentiators. Coach marketing tends to mostly concentrate on its primary competitive edge, which is fares. Whilst this is important, particularly during the ‘cost of living crisis’, the on-board journey can be quieter, more secure, less stressful and more comfortable, and on some flows, more convenient than rail.

Campaigns should also focus on the widest possible market, not merely price sensitive students, but all demographics - and not forget that even those folk with a high discretionary spend still like a bargain!

In addition to a high profile and thoughtprovoking marketing campaign, the coach and bus sector should reconsider, temporarily during the strike, at least, its network proposition. There will be plenty of routes that do not offer an attractive alternative to rail because they’ve never been set up to do so and instead target other markets - connecting with rail stations but making prolonged deviations en route to pick up customers that have no intention of travelling between the two. I’m not suggesting scrapping these routes, more seeing whether they can be alternated with point-to-point services where extra vehicles and drivers can be drawn upon (easier said than done, I know!), to enable both products to be provided during the cessation of rail services.

For coaches to genuinely prosper as an alternative, a radical re-think needs to be given to the whole network and service profile.

There are very few point-to-point, non-stop coach services, or those that call only at key locations. As we all know, the more the stops, the longer the journey time becomes by comparison to rail, because dropping into a town or city on a coach tends to mean a lengthy detour off the nearest motorway, much to the chagrin of customers. For coaches to make the breakthrough, they need to sacrifice some of these longer, all consuming trips which try and cram in as many locations as possible on a typical trip between London and an end destination. We also need to find a genuine, attractive hub location on the outskirts of the capital to avoid the rabbit warren journey by coach to and from Victoria.

For those who want to go into the heart of Zone 1, there should be an all-inclusive Tube or bus ticket or even an Uber option.

Some kind of compliant but more customer focused operational solution to ensure that the safety legislation that understandably www.passengertransport.co.uk

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constrains the hours at which a driver is working, may be needed. Currently, the rules are somewhat the nemesis of coach travel from a product perspective, rendering it attractive only to the price sensitive and those with lots of time on their hands.

Additionally, when coaches do have to make a stop, better advance communication should be made so that customers understand what’s happening and why. It never ceases to amaze me how coach drivers and their employers seem to assume that customers are aware why they’ve just got to stop the coach for 45 minutes and they have to boot them off the vehicle. Indeed, when disruption has occurred to coach services, there’s nothing more infuriating than when the delay is further prolonged and the driver unsympathetically just tells customers ‘I’m out of hours’ as if they understand what he or she is saying.

There also needs to be investment in coach stations. National Express have worked wonders with redevelopment of several key locations, though many of the smaller stations that it serves - stops and waiting areas shared with other operators or run by local authorities - are still ‘municipal’ in appearance and information provision and customer service is variable. Over the years, there has been investment in the experience at railway stations. That hasn’t been mirrored at coach stations and a gap has emerged.

Coach drivers are an interesting bunch too, oft-described as a species of their own.

At worst they are seen, like long distance lorry drivers, as introverted, enjoying lengthy forays in solitude on non-descript motorways staring ahead and not having to stop much to interact with customers. At best, though - and when you get to know them - they have, more patience and customer-centricity than their equivalents on a bus. Like an airline pilot, they tend to have a sense of accountability for all customers on-board, and this extends beyond safety stewardship into pastoral and customer care. It’s also their vehicle and they have a sense of pride and fastidiousness towards the way it is presented and cared for - a bit like a steam train driver, back in the day.

I have also found them particularly receptive to new ideas. They aren’t often engaged with by managers or those accountable for shaping the brand and developing revenue, partly because much of the time they are just working

as outsourced contractors. When coach drivers are asked for their thoughts and encouraged to try a new, maybe more time-consuming approach to improving customer service, they tend to rise to the challenge. In some respects, they feel under-appreciated and the novelty value of being placed at the centre of decisionmaking provides variety to the repetitive rigours of the ‘day job’. There’s also less customer service training provided for coach drivers. Again, they are seen as the forgotten part of the branded customer proposition.

I vaguely remember the prolonged national rail strikes of 1982 and 1994 and recall commuter coach services being run to substitute for rail.

Back then, the motorway network was more constrained and still developing whilst coaches themselves were very basic. The ability to buy tickets in advance was almost unheard of and we didn’t have the internet to tell us what services were running and when. The dependency on the daily commute to keep lives and economies running was far greater - none of the working from home of today and the impact of a strike will have felt more debilitating. There wasn’t any real interest in the environmental merits of travelling by coach as opposed to in individual cars. Coach travel had a lot less going for it then than it does now and the opportunity to leave a lasting legacy once the rail strikes were over, was much harder.

There’s a lot of activity going on in the background in terms of the bus and coach consolidators to prepare substitute services in the event of strike action, frenetically pulling as many vehicles and drivers together as is possible - the latter being a particular challenge in view of the well documented driver shortage. In terms of scheduled coach services, this really is a once in a generation opportunity to demonstrate that there is a modal choice.

In improving the customer proposition, making it more compelling and marketing it more intensively, I’m confident that growth can be achieved that benefits all. The first planned strike day is just round the corner, though and there’s much to be done.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alex Warner has over 29 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector

17 June 2022 | 17

15/06/2022 17:00

COMMENT

NICK RICHARDSON

How do we address the air quality issue?

Recent initiatives suggest that more needs to be done to improve air quality in our towns and cities - how do we achieve that?

For many years we have recognised that poor air quality is bad for everyone. A major contributor is road traffic, and recent initiatives have attempted to clean up urban areas. However, the approach is not universal and schemes have been introduced but designed to let the worst polluters off the hook. Considering the air quality problem more seriously suggests that we are way off target for doing anything meaningful just yet.

Moving on Anyone who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s will recall that filth was an everyday hazard.

Burning coal was still large scale in houses, workplaces and power stations. Digging out fossil fuels to burn was the standard approach that had been adopted since the Industrial Revolution and the consequences were dreadful public health and visible blackness on buildings. Living in grime was to be endured, but it was only later that there was the realisation that it didn’t have to continue, not least because the supply of coal would run out. This was somewhat accelerated when the mining industry was closed down in the Thatcher years with scant regard as to what should follow. Even now, despite a climate crisis and a better understanding of sustainability, investment in clean fuels is far less than it should be. More recently, it has been evident that living near sources of pollution is deleterious to health, illustrated by the death of a child who suffered living close to 18 | 17 June 2022 PT267p18-19 18

London’s South Circular Road. An interesting observation is that some children view steam engines as being large consumers of fossil fuel that create excessive inappropriate emissions rather than an acceptable representation of history.

Restraining vehicles On the one hand, we enjoy the freedoms of mass car-dependency but on the other hand, it is difficult to make the links between causes and effects. Traffic pollutes and supporting growth in traffic levels - a direct consequence of road building - is not a coherent policy now that there are severe challenges to energy supplies. A response to road traffic pollution has been the introduction of Low

Emission Zones (LEZs). These have emerged in different forms depending on where they are, but the advice from central government to implement them has been lacking. Instead of a consistent set of restrictions, we have a patchwork of LEZs and even some Ultra Low Emission Zones (ULEZs). Most have chosen the safest route that resonates with voters hence nasty big vehicles such as buses, coaches and the trucks that we rely on for supplies are all penalised while cars, a major contributor, carry on regardless. This is nonsense and hardly reflects policies to support bus and coach use because they get fined just for being where they need to be.

The sad reality is that we have failed to reduce car emissions because newer cars tend to be bigger and do nothing to cut emissions or fuel consumption. This is an own goal that was avoidable but such is the might of the motorist that it can be swept under the carpet for a bit longer. Add to this the Volkswagon scandal where the car builder fiddled the emissions data to make their products look better than they were. VW may not be the only culprit and despite compensation for those who were misinformed about what they were buying, the damage is done. This leaves us in a scenario in which car use is sacred, so everything else has to suffer. Populism suggests that trucks shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near people although they deliver virtually all the goods that are consumed; those same consumers would be upset if they had to pay more for transhipment at the edge of urban areas or for deliveries at antisocial hours. The same sentiments are expressed about buses, Everyone benefits from cleaner air

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

primarily by people who don’t use them.

Inevitably, initiatives to address air quality, a legal requirement in many places, fail to have any major impact.

LEZs are, in effect, a means of road user charging

Beyond road traffic There are other big contributors to emissions that we conveniently overlook notably maritime and aviation, ostensibly due to international agreements. Big ships create big emissions from massive diesel engines and it will be a long time before a feasible alternative is adopted. The cruise ships that were idle during the pandemic carried on polluting as they needed to keep running despite being parked up at sea. The aviation sector is getting excited about electric planes and similar but nothing is on the horizon to substitute for vast quantities of fuel on huge jets. I will scream if anyone else tells me about ‘sustainable airports’. Ironically, the mayor of Bristol recently flew to a climate change conference in Canada, so clearly the penny hasn’t dropped for some.

Any rational approach would target the types of vehicles that are the main cause of the problem i.e. cars because they are the most numerous and represent the consequence of failing to address the problem sooner; but not many LEZs actually adopt this approach for fear of upsetting anyone. The result is that some urban areas are exclusion zones (or subject to penalty payments) but others are not. Arguments about where the boundaries should lie suggest that over time, they will amalgamate to a point where some motorists will be more restricted than others.

An example of the muddled thinking is the soft approach to electric vehicles for which their owners are exempted from tax, parking charges and any other costs that they would normally incur. LEZs could be a worthwhile revenue source based on the principle of ‘polluter pays’ which is reasonable in the circumstances of a climate crisis.

Paying for access Let’s consider what would be a rational approach if air quality is to be improved.

Interestingly, in the face of rising energy costs, no-one says much about reducing consumption. Those who can’t afford to pay will go without while everyone else carries on wasting large amounts of energy on a daily www.passengertransport.co.uk

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“If air quality is to be improved, much more is needed” basis. Air quality is one of those things that has global implications and it is clear that those who do the polluting are not those that face its immediate consequences. Everyone benefits from cleaner air and it would be hard to find a politician that thinks otherwise, but we perpetuate the problem rather than face up to it. LEZs are, in effect, a means of road user charging. Currently, the balance is wrong but if vehicles are required to pay to enter a specified area, then they are being charged for access to that area. With the decline of vehicle excise duty and fossil fuel revenues, an alternative could be expected. The fairest method is road user charging, probably disguised as LEZs. It could be very effective in managing demand i.e. lower emissions and providing revenue for mass transit, something that is desperately needed and needed now. On the face of it, it is fair to charge motorists by the distance they

travel and by the type of vehicle they adopt.

Rural communities would face higher costs than shorter urban motorists but they do currently, simply because longer journeys tend to consume more fuel and emit more.

If air quality is to be improved, much more is needed. This necessitates a shift away from car use towards mass transit, not replacing cars with different cars or providing other means of personal travel. It need not be limited to bulk corridors of high demand and should be expanded to enable many more journeys to be made by passenger transport of all shapes and sizes. Measures promoting better air quality are likely to be part of a much wider agenda.

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.

17 June 2022 | 19

15/06/2022 17:06

SPECIAL REPORT EUROPEAN MOBILITY EXPO

A welcome return to Paris The biennial Transports Publics show was always something of an eye opener to UK eyes and a great place to see the latest European Andrew Garnett developments with a Deputy Editor distinctly French flavour.

The successor to that show, the European Mobility Expo, was sadly forced to go online in 2020 as a result of Covid-19, but with the pandemic hopefully on the wain, the second edition saw over 11,000 visitors flocking to Hall 4 of the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris last week.

While very much an exhibition dedicated to all things European, there’s still a Gallic air to proceedings - after all the organisers of the show are GIE Objectifs Transports, an organisation that brings together the French Transportation Authorities Association (GART) and the Public and Rail Transport Union (UTP). At the heart of the exhibition were the four very large stands of the French ‘Big Four’ - transport groups Keolis, RATP Dev and Transdev as well as French state rail operator SNCF. It’s clear they were the big draw for many visitors and while the canapé-friendly Sancerre flowed as these groups reconnected with stakeholders after so long, there were talks, workshops and opportunities to network. Oh and gimmicks too - witness RATP Dev’s tram simulator and Keolis’s e-scooter simulator where intrepid delegates could wobble around a virtual streetscape (tremendous fun!).

Across Hall 4 it was clear there has been a revolution. While it was surprising there appeared to be only one autonomous vehicle on display (on the ZF stand), zero-emission buses dominated. Aside from a charming display of old Parisian buses by the Musée des Transports Urbains, Volvo’s 7900 hybrid was the only dieselpowered bus on display, although the Swedish manufacturer claimed it was powered by ‘biofuel’.

Closer to home Switch Mobility, formerly known as Optare, showed off its new European-flavoured E1 electric single decker which will be built at its new Spanish factory. Meanwhile, the winners of the European Talent in Mobility Awards were announced on the final day, Nottingham Express Transit’s Laura Bartam, flew the flag for Team GB and was named ‘Best Young Talent’.

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Flying the flag for the UK was Switch Mobility. It displayed its new E1 electric single decker for the continental European bus market

After going online-only in 2020 as a result of Covid-19, Over 11,000 visitors attended the European Mobility Expo at Paris’s Porte de Versailles

Looking rather chic was this Irizar ie trambus that will enter service in the French city of Orléans

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Laura Bartam, asset manager at Nottingham Express Transit was named best young talent at the European Talent in Mobility Awards

The Musée des Transports Urbains had a small display of historic Parisian buses

RATP Dev offered visitors a chance to test their tram driving skills with this simulator

Surprisingly, the only autonomous vehicle on display was this pod from German conglomerate ZF

A popular gimmick on the Keolis stand was this e-scooter simulator

In wacky territory is the modular Cristal concept from Lohr which allows multiple vehicles to be coupled together

A clever innovation for the post-Covid era was this bell push from Conduent. The touchless Holostop uses a hologram image rather than a conventional button.

The casing was designed by French sculptor and visual artist Richard Orlinski

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This Mercedes Benz Citaro for Rennes had an interior dripping with colourful French flair

There were numerous stands from cycle and scooter sharing companies

Bye bye diesel? The only diesel hybrid at the show, albeit ‘biofuel’-powered was this Volvo 7900

17 June 2022 | 21

15/06/2022 17:00

FRANKIE FOUGANTHIN

SPECIAL REPORT STOCKHOLM

SL chairman Kristoffer Tamsons, pictured in 2018

‘You have to keep the backbone intact’ Kristoffer Tamsons, chairman of Stockholm’s SL, believes its important for public transport to take a bold view of the future Travelling to last week’s European Mobility Expo in Paris offered a reminder that many of the challenges faced

by UK public transport Robert Jack professionals are shared by Managing Editor their counterparts in Europe and beyond - although the remedies can differ.

Delegates were given insights into the experience of Stockholm by Kristoffer Tamsons, regional minister for transport of the Stockholm region and chairman of SL, the region’s public transport provider.

And Tamsons, who used to write speeches for Sweden’s former prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, urged his global public transport colleagues to be bold.

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use was still decimated by regulations and restrictions. People were asked to stay away from public transport, and they did.

Before Covid, more than 780,000 people travelled by public transport in the Stockholm region each day - almost half of all journeys.

The stay away message saw patronage drop to just 35-40% of pre-Covid levels. And, just like everywhere else, this left the region with an enormous financial hole to plug.

However, Tamsons and his colleagues were determined that public transport should not retreat in response to this crisis. “I would say

“This cost us a lot of money but I think this is an investment in the future” Kristoffer Tamsons

that we have built our recovery story upon a very important principle, and that was something we learnt during the Covid crisis,” he said. “That was not to bend down, not to lower our ambitions when it comes to the operations, but keep operations running with full force and even more during the Covid crisis as a symbol of a society that would not step down.

“And also, I would say, because we knew that this crisis would blow over in the future and we knew we must have something for people to come back to when it comes to sustainable mobility and sustainable travel within our society. So we kept our operations running, we kept them intact as a backbone in society, and that has been what we have built our recovery upon - the idea to create endurance and stamina in our operations so that people could rely upon public transport.”

As other cities have found, maintaining services without the normal passenger revenues is extremely challenging. Commenting on this conundrum, Tamsons said: “Of course this cost us a lot of money but I think this is an investment in the future, because ... supply will create demand. Supply will create demand is a very important principle to carry with us because that is what history tells us and that is also something that I think will give us a faster recovery than we otherwise would have.”

The recovery appears to be progressing well.

Public transport use has risen to around 85% of pre-Covid levels and ticket revenues are now more than 95% of what they were.

“We are getting back at a faster speed than anyone could predict,” said Tamsons, “and I would say that this idea - keep the operations running, keep the backbone when it comes to mobility and society intact, keep it possible for people to rely on public transport - has been one important step in order to achieve that.”

Another key aspect of the Stockholm region’s strategy is that public transport should not stand still, it should “get back to the future”. The product of public transport must therefore keep evolving to meet the ever changing needs of its users, and it’s important that people see that.

The private sector contractors that operate the region’s public transport services have played an important role in keeping up this momentum. The region began contracting out operations back in the 1980s and 1990s in order to achieve cost efficiencies and www.passengertransport.co.uk

15/06/2022 17:01

encourage innovation, and Tamsons claimed that the system has delivered for citizens.

“Today 100% of our operations are carried out by contracted operators and this is something that we are benefiting from a lot,” he said. “It has both enabled us to get more value for money but also to get innovation when it comes to both management, technology and other sectors into the service.”

For example, a new and more innovative ticketing system has been rolled out.

Contactless payment was introduced during the pandemic in response to feedback from customers and new, flexible tickets have been introduced. The traditional monthly pass is less attractive to those who no longer work full-time in the office, so a new ‘10/30’ ticket enables them to instead buy 10 discounted daily tickets that must be used in 30 days.

Young people are meanwhile being persuaded onto public transport with a special offer this summer, which Tamsons describes as “the biggest try-out campaign in Swedish public transport history”. Stockholm public transport provider SL has mailed out a free travel pass for June, July and August to 160,000 young people aged 12-18.

“This is because we want to set good patterns among young people at a young age to make them customers that rely upon public transport and return to public transport,” he explained. “And we also know that young people have been more affected by the messages of not using public transport during the Covid crisis.

“So we think that targeting the special group with the special summer ticket, with this try-out campaign, is something that we will benefit from a lot in the long run.”

Digitalisation is another area where SL has been innovating. A new ticketing agent has been created that allows innovators and entrepreneurs to sell SL tickets alongside their own services. One company is now using this facility to sell public transport tickets alongside electric scooters, taxi services and rental bikes.

Tamsons said: “That is also a way for us to develop public transport, not into something different, but keep the backbone [while] at the same time allow the innovators to connect to us and to drive ridership to public transport from different kinds of mobility solutions.”

Sustainability is high on the agenda in the www.passengertransport.co.uk

PT267p22-23 23

home of climate activist Greta Thunberg, and SL has been responding to that agenda. Buses and trains in Stockholm have been using 100% renewable energy since 2017, and the region is now working towards the electrification of its entire bus fleet. It has also introduced ecolabelling of all public transport. “We think that is the symbol for how green and how futureorientated public transport is,” said Tamsons.

Security has also been a key consideration.

“Especially elderly people and women are telling us that day choose public transport if they can feel safe and secure,” said Tamsons.

“But they will choose other kinds of transport if they don’t feel safe and secure.”

The number of surveillance cameras and security guards has increased, and a zero tolerance policy is employed against crime, violence, graffiti and littering.

“We have had some problems, I think, throughout the world, when it comes to gangs and littering and graffiti during Covid,” said Tamsons. “Because when the ordinary people went away, other people, people with different kinds of ideas of how to behave and what to do, showed up in their [place]. And that is something that we have to deal with.”

Concluding his remarks, Tamsons said: “We

are putting a lot of effort to keep the system intact as a backbone of mobility in our region.

But we are also opening up, we are turning our public transport system into something more modern in different ways.

Tamsons believes that there is no viable alternative to backing public transport.

“We know that there will be no other way for sustainable development in metropolitan areas than public transport,” he explained.

“And if we want to have sustainable growth we must let public transport grow.”

The network itself is growing, despite the lower levels of usage. The largest expansion in the metro and tram networks in 40 years is currently in progress at a cost of SEK30bn (£2.45bn). A total of 46 new stations and 60km of rail infrastructure is under construction.

Tamsons reiterated: “The most important lesson, I would say, is to keep the backbone intact, to understand that it will take a few years before we are fully back on trackBut can we create endurance and stamina? Can we create reliability when it comes to public transport? Then people will not only come back to us, they will show up in greater numbers than they did before the pandemic.”

“We know that there will be no other way for sustainable development in metropolitan areas than public transport” Stockholm’s public transport is operated by private sector companies, like Keolis

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15/06/2022 17:31

“This whole review process is being painfully dragged out for no obvious benefit”

COMMENT

GREAT MINSTER GRUMBLES

After the review, the consultation

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

Now that the prime minister has survived that confidence vote, perhaps we can all settle down and get back to some kind of normality and sound policy development and implementation. Some hope! In fact, it seems to me that with so many Conservative MPs voting against the prime minister, and with his position now being so vulnerable - for all his claims that the vote was “decisive” - backbench MPs are now in a stronger position than they have ever been to demand shifts in policy, or even new policy agendas. Who knows, perhaps we will even see selected rebel MPs get new monies for pet projects in their constituencies to try and keep them on side.

Actually, the prime minister was probably right when he said that the vote was “decisive”, but not in the way he meant. To my mind it “decisively” showed that Boris Johnson’s position is extremely precarious. The percentage share of the vote supporting the prime minister was less than for Theresa May, John Major and Margaret Thatcher when they all faced no confidence votes, as has been commented on at length in the media - and none of them survived for very long after the votes. Margaret Thatcher lasted just a few days! Now, we all know that this prime minister will have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of No 10, and it’s actually quite hard to see how Conservative MPs will be able to remove him until he actually loses a general election - which, right now, seems a distinct possibility unless there is an extraordinary www.passengertransport.co.uk

PT267p24-25 25

change in the prime minister’s fortunes.

Of course, we’ve all been wondering when the prime minister is going to conduct a Cabinet reshuffle. There have been rumours swirling around for some time that one was imminent, but the fact that nothing has happened is surely a sign of the prime minister’s weakness. And now that every Cabinet minister has supported him in the confidence vote - or, put another way, since they claim they have supported him (it’s a secret ballot so nobody knows this for sure), I don’t see how there can be a reshuffle at Cabinet level as that would inevitably result in some being moved to the backbenches,

and that would be a mighty strange way of rewarding loyalty. Perhaps we might see some reshuffling of the junior ministers before the summer recess to allow promotions from the 2019 intake of MPs, but other than that I can’t see much happening.

If we are going to see any shifts in policy to try and shore up the prime minister’s position I can’t see this having any impact for us here in Great Minster House. Any changes will be on the big-ticket items such as tax, the cost of living and all that stuff. Transport policy will grind on remorselessly. In fact, we’ve now issued a consultation on the proposed rail reforms. It’s far from clear to me why we need another consultation at this stage.

We had a lengthy rail review which involved considerable consultation with a wide range of stakeholders leading to a government white paper, so why on earth do we need yet another consultation? It’s consultation overdrive and I’m at a loss to understand what new things we will learn from this consultation that we did not learn through the Williams rail review.

All we are doing is giving every stakeholder group yet another opportunity to peddle their particular vested interests - don’t get me wrong, these may be entirely legitimate but my point is that I have absolutely no idea what we are going to be told in this consultation that we don’t already know and what these vested interests haven’t already told us.

I always thought a government white paper, which is what the Williams Shapps Plan for Rail is, is a statement of policy and/or legislative intent, that it was the end of a consultation process, not simply a stage in a process allowing for yet further consultation. I just can’t see any merit in dragging this out. I’ve said before that I was at a loss to understand why we had not used the period between completion of the Williams rail review and the publication of the Plan for Rail (about a year thanks to the pandemic) to actually prepare the necessary legislation and then simply get on with it. This whole review process is being painfully dragged out for no obvious benefit. Why there is such little political will to get things done is beyond me. It smacks of a secretary of state who is obsessed about presentation, with little interest in actually delivering. If the rail reforms are so important and necessary we should be driving the legislation through parliament urgently, not wasting time with a pointless consultation.

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15/06/2022 17:31

CAREERS

Gilbert’s departure sees Go-Ahead reshuffle Nigel Featham adds to his brief with Go North East role following Martijn Gilbert’s decision to leave for a new rail role with FirstGroup Go-Ahead Group has announced further changes to its management structure. It follows the news that Martijn Gilbert is to leave his role as managing director of Gateshead-based bus operator Go North East to join FirstGroup as managing director of Hull Trains and Lumo, its two open access rail operations.

Gilbert leaves Go North East after fours years where he has led a transformation of the business. He will join First Rail on September 12. David Gibson, managing director of Hull Trains will leave the business in September when he will move to a senior leadership role outside of the rail industry.

Phil Cameron will continue in his interim position as Lumo managing director, through a handover period with Gilbert before returning to his role as commercial projects director with First Rail.

“I am very excited to be joining the Lumo and Hull Trains team,” said Gilbert. “It’s an honour and a privilege to be asked to lead both the established and well respected Hull Trains and the innovative new Lumo operation. I am confident that, working closely with our partners, we can realise the ambitious plans for the future and deliver great service for our customers.”

Gilbert’s departure will see Go North West managing director Nigel Featham expand his present remit to take on oversight of Go North East 26 | 17 June 2022 PT267p26-27 26

Gilbert will join First Rail in September

too. He will take on this role from August, prior to Gilbert’s departure.

Go-Ahead says Featham has many years’ experience in the industry across the north of England. Between 2011 and 2019, he was Arriva’s regional managing director for Yorkshire and the north-east. As part of a restructuring, Go-Ahead is to recruit an area director for the north east bus operation who will report to Featham.

Meanwhile, Hull-based East Yorkshire Buses, which presently reports into Go North East, will become accountable directly to

“I am very excited to be joining the Lumo and Hull Trains team” Martijn Gilbert

Go-Ahead Group with its present area director, Ben Gilligan, promoted to the new position of managing director.

In a further move, and unrelated to these changes resulting from Gilbert’s departure from the group, Go-Ahead has announced that Gavin Smith has been appointed as managing director of Go East Anglia. He replaces Jeremy Cooper who retired from operational management last month to take on a strategic role within the group.

Currently a project director in Go-Ahead’s business development team, Smith was operations director of Go-Ahead’s Singapore bus business between 2017 and 2021. Prior to that, he held a series of roles at Go-Ahead London including overseeing the opening of the new River Road depot in Barking. He worked for Tower Transit and FirstGroup before joining Go-Ahead in 2014.

WRIGHTBUS BOSS SET TO RETIRE

Buta Atwal to hand over to CEO of taxi manufacturer Buta Atwal, chief executive of Ballymena-based bus manufacturer Wrightbus, has announced plans to retire at the end of the year.

Atwal, who joined the bus builder in 2019 following the successful acquisition of the company by Jo Bamford, will leave the company in December 2022. He said after “a great deal of consideration” he had taken the decision to pursue his own personal interests.

He will be succeeded in the post

by Joerg Hofmann, who has served as chief executive at electric taxi manufacturer London Electric Vehicle Company since 2019. He will join Wrightbus in September 2022 and will work alongside Atwal to ensure a smooth transition.

“It is with some considerable satisfaction that I will be leaving at the end of a year which has seen us hit some incredible highs, with our hydrogen buses having clocked up more than one million miles and our StreetDeck Electroliner officially named the most efficient double deck battery-electric bus in the world,” said Atwal. “I strongly believe that this is just the start for what Wrightbus can achieve.”

Bamford praised Atwal’s contribution and said he had “left no stone unturned in driving this business forward”.

Buta Atwal

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15/06/2022 17:34

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DIVERSIONS

GNE asks: Have you got the ‘Bus Factor’?

Designed as a fun activity to engage with the North East’s drivers, contestants will be supervised by experienced bus instructors in specially adapted training buses to navigate the driving skills test. Each

drive will last around 15 minutes.

While a bit of fun, it’s the latest wheeze to encourage more people to consider a career as a bus driver.

“As fun as we are sure it will be, there’s a serious message here about promoting road safety and raising awareness of the important role of bus drivers and how large vehicles manoeuvre on our roads,” explained Go North East managing director Martijn Gilbert.

“We’re sure there will be a few people who, after the no obligation experience, might be tempted to consider taking their skills a step further by joining us as a trainee bus driver.”

Last week the subject was intelligent bus priority systems and viewers learnt how smart traffic light technology can help keep buses on the move and boost reliability without the need for physical priority (see pages 14-15).

It was also illuminating to learn how new technologies are playing a part in that process.

Of course the technology has come on a long was since its infancy in the 1990s. Atkins consultant Tony Brown told the story of how then transport secretary Sir George Young came

to see one early intelligent bus priority system in Southampton.

“The buses that used the junction had been fitted with tags, but the operator on the day had decided they had some newer, shinier buses that weren’t fitted with tags and they were deployed for the purpose of showing Sir George Young the system,” Brown chortled.

“All I remember was some chap hiding in the bushes with a laptop plugged into the signals turning them green [when he saw a bus approaching].”

‘Top Gear’-style event aims to seek out talent Bus operator Go North East is asking car drivers if they’ve got the “Bus Factor” by driving a bus around an obstacle course at a series of special events.

Anyone who has held a valid car driving licence for at least a year can come along and compete at the events which will be held in Gateshead, Durham and Sunderland. There will be a ‘Top Gear’-style leader board and prizes for the best placed drivers.

‘Quick!

A bus is approaching!’

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EXPIRY DATE

Cor blimey!

A RIGHT OLD KNEES UP, GUV Train operator Greater Anglia is promising a right old knees up when entertainer Tom Carradine (who has Essex’s most extravagant moustache) jumps aboard a special train on June 15 with his Ol’ Joanna for a cockney sing-a-long.

The pianist, entertainer and Music Hall afficionado, launched his show in 2014 to capture the flavour and atmosphere of a good old knees up in the grand Cockney tradition and recreate it for audiences young and old. Now he’s taking the show on the rails.

“I can’t wait to lead the carriage in rousing choruses of the songs which Cockney day-trippers would’ve sung,” he said.

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15/06/2022 17:30