Nexus MD Cathy Massarella struck a pragmatic tone at recent Young Bus Professionals meeting

 
Cathy Massarella was appointed Nexus managing director in early 2024

 
By Andrew Garnett

It’s a measure of how much the industry has changed. Back in June 2008, at the inaugural meeting of the Young Bus Managers Network in Birmingham, Sir Brian Souter took a combative stance on the bus industry’s relationship with the public sector. Addressing delegates, some of whom have since risen to senior roles, the then Stagecoach chief executive threatened to “take the old Megabuses out of a field” and deploy them on stripped-down networks in areas where he felt his company wasn’t being properly reimbursed for concessionary fares.

Fast forward to 2025, and the landscape could not be more different. The Covid pandemic has reshaped the industry’s economics, deregulation has ended in Greater Manchester (with other regions following), and Souter has retired. Stagecoach, under new leadership and ownership, has embraced a far more cooperative approach to public-sector partnerships. The network, now called Young Bus Professionals, has also evolved. Gender is more balanced than it was 17 years ago, though there is still perhaps progress to be made in addressing other underrepresented groups.

That evolution was evident at last week’s YBP meeting in Newcastle, where Cathy Massarella, now a year into her tenure as managing director of Nexus, the North East Combined Authority’s (NECA) transport delivery arm and operator of the Tyne and Wear Metro, took to the stage. With a background in planning and delivering major projects, she led the region’s unsuccessful attempt to franchise its bus network a decade ago. Yet in 2025 she struck a pragmatic tone, acknowledging the industry’s serious challenges.

“The message I have today is that we are all transport professionals,” she told attendees. “It doesn’t matter how we do it; the bottom line is that we serve the customer well. If we do that, we can all be successful.”

Massarella described Nexus as a “strange beast” with a myriad of functions and responsibilities. “We wear many hats,” she explained. “As the managing director, that is a blessing and a curse in equal measure.”

That broad and complex role means it has a variety of responsibilities. As the PTE for the Tyne and Wear area, Nexus is responsible for securing around 20% of the area’s bus network with 181 separate contracts for subsidised services and school buses. The figure is the highest proportion it has ever managed.

It also operates the Tyne and Wear Metro, acting as both a train operating company and an infrastructure provider, alongside running the Shields Ferry. Since last May, Nexus has also taken on the transport delivery functions of NECA.

We need to have a long-term strategy. Otherwise we have sticking plasters and not solutions, and they are, ultimately, very expensive sticking plasters

“It’s a complex environment,” Massarella acknowledged. “We struggle a lot in this because of the short-term nature of funding commitments. Our contracts [with bus operators] are quite short-term, and that is something, like all transport infrastructure, I have a real issue with.”

She said she had recently spoken during a debate as part of the Labour Party’s Scottish conference and also at a roundtable as part of the Department for Transport’s integrated transport strategy. At both, she said that the biggest thing that needed to change was getting away from short-termism. “We need to have a long-term strategy,” added Massarella. “Otherwise, we’ve got sticking plasters and not solutions, and they are, ultimately, very expensive sticking plasters.”

She said Nexus had been successful in attracting capital funding for the Metro as it can “play the safety card”. Massarella acknowledged bus infrastructure, however, has suffered from a lack of investment. “I hope that will significantly change,” she added. “With City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements and Single Settlement, it is definitely possible.”

In March 2024, the government announced a deeper devolution deal for the North East, granting NECA increased powers over transport, housing, and economic development. As part of the deal, the region also gained an elected mayor, with Kim McGuinness winning the inaugural election last May. This shift has given NECA and ultimately Nexus greater control over local transport policy, paving the way for more integrated decision-making across bus, rail, and other transport services.

Massarella acknowledged that Nexus’s expanded remit within NECA “takes a bit to get your head around” but welcomed the arrival of a directly elected mayor for the region. She continued: “The beauty of politicians is the simplicity of message and the simplicity of ambition. That’s really important, having a figurehead who knows what’s important. They can see what the customer wants and what their constituents want and is prepared to stand up and fight for it. That is invaluable.”

However, as the “delivery engine” for the mayor, Massarella admitted she sometimes found herself wondering how certain policies could be achieved. “We have to work with Kim to find our way through this because I never want her to lose the passion or the drive, but equally, there’s a few realities of what we know,” she explained. “We have to work together… but if we can do it, this area, possibly more than any other, has huge amounts of potential if we get this right.”

She highlighted the new fleet of Metro trains now entering service and the recent reopening of the Northumberland Line. Despite these achievements, challenges remain. “We are still building back after the struggle of Covid,” she admitted. “We are building back into a changing market. You can see it across many modes. We are seeing a lot more fragility… it’s a lot more of an inconsistent market.”

The beauty of politicians is the simplicity of message and the simplicity of ambition

Nexus has emerged from the pandemic with a structural deficit, prompting a shift toward a more commercial approach to balance its books. “Nexus’s traditional approach to financial challenges was to cut costs,” Massarella said. “There is not a lot more costs to cut without there being a material impact on the customer. I want to put rocket fuel into growth.

“The biggest thing for all of us is growing out of this. I might not be able to get rid of my whole structural deficit, and in some ways, I don’t expect to, but I expect to make it a hell of a lot less… A lot of it is understanding the choices you make and making then better. Then you can play that back into the political space where the funding levers sit. It’s a real challenge, and we won’t be alone in that. Everyone in the public sector side will be experiencing that to some degree.”

While leisure travel continues to shape demand, Nexus and the wider North East are starting to see commuters returning to public transport. A number of major employers are now requiring staff to return to the office, but Massarella is cautious about making long-term decisions based on this trend. “I still think the market is going to evolve again,” she added.

She also welcomed additional government funding for local bus services, which has enabled a more comprehensive enhanced partnership. However, she acknowledged that McGuinness was elected on a platform of bus reform. “I am going to soften the message as to how we get there,” she explained. “I think there are still options, but it has to be better. Last year we kicked off the bus reform project, but I must stress that at this minute in time, from my perspective, it’s all about which option gives us the best outcome.”

Nexus is currently doing “the grunt work” of evaluating bus reform proposals, though Massarella stressed that it’s a five-year programme to determine “where bus sits best in the North East.” She continued: “Personally, I’m not wedded to an outcome; I just want an outcome that improves the offer for the customer.”

 
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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