Former Brighton & Hove boss urges bus industry to pay more attention to the details Roger French retired from his role as managing director of bus company Brighton & Hove earlier this year. During his 18 years in charge of that company, he earned wide respect for his focus on customer service. His passion for...
Alex Warner reflects on Michael O’Leary’s long overdue embrace of the value of customer service For over 20 years, I’ve whored myself around the passenger transport industry, magnetised by job adverts looking for customer service transformational change-experts – no challenge is too big or too small and if you toss me a bob or two,...
Two of the 14 new graduates who started FirstGroup’s UK-based graduate management scheme last month will spend six months in North America 14 graduates began life in the transport industry last month when they started out on FirstGroup’s UK-based graduate management scheme. The graduates, recruited from all over the UK, undertake a comprehensive workplace training...
Stagecoach Manchester was crowned ‘UK Bus Operator of the Year’ today at the 2013 UK Bus Awards, which were presented at a ceremony at London’s Hilton Park Lane hotel. It’s the first time that a Stagecoach subsidiary has won the coveted title since the back-to-back victories of Stagecoach West Scotland in 2005 and 2006. Stagecoach...
Prospectus for the next East Coast franchise highlights new emphasis on prioritising rail’s long term economic value over short term financial gain The winner of the new East Coast franchise will need to offer higher levels of investment than in the past, step up competition with other TOCs, provide services to new destinations and deliver...
Stagecoach chairman says ‘hard’ line needed to counter QC plans Sir Brian Souter has repeated his threat to close Stagecoach’s bus business in Tyne & Wear if Nexus introduces a Quality Contract in the region – claiming that it is essential that the group takes a “robust” line on the issue. Responding to a question...
Abellio imports Dutch methodology in bid to improve station access Dutch group Abellio has highlighted the issue of walking routes to railway stations, and has this week launched a report on how they can be benchmarked and improved. The report, Fixing the Link, has been produced in partnership with sustainable transport lobby group Campaign for...
Planned 72 hour strike could severely wound council firm’s finances Council-owned bus operator Network Warrington has warned that a further round of industrial action by staff will be “catastrophic” to the business and “will have maximum impact on the company’s future”. It follows a difficult few months at the operator which has seen the departure...
The Department for Transport has told train operators that forthcoming franchise bids should include proposals to introduce new ticket retailing technology as a precursor to cutting ticket office opening hours. In particular, the DfT has highlighted developments in video-linked ticket vending machine technology as a potential means to improve service quality and reduce costs. Initially,...
Nexus’ own consultation document on Quality Contracts exposes the deep flaws in the proposal, writes Nigel Featham of Arriva North East It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that the proposal to place bus services in Tyne & Wear into the hands of the local transport authority has generated considerable debate, much of it of an...
Everyone is talking about Smarter Transport. We ask Chris Cooper of IBM what it all means Throughout his transport career Chris Cooper has been exposed to all the major modes of transport. And now, as smarter cities architect at IBM UK, he is in the fortunate position to see where technology is heading. So we took...
Bus people across Britain are celebrating today after it was announced that they had been shortlisted for the prestigious UK Bus Awards. The list contains more than 100 people, projects and organisations from around the country, selected by the judges from over 250 nominations to go forward to the final stages, including mystery traveller checks....
The holes in Nexus’ argument