If you believe in buses don’t just talk the talk, walk the walk by taking yourself and others on one of many hidden gems out there
East Yorkshire’s excellent Beachcomer
‘Use it or lose it’ is a famous but wise old cliché often used among folk to cajole them into supporting businesses they’d lament the loss of before it’s too late – and it’s a phrase that could apply to bus services. It’s with this in mind that I’ve nervous excitement as the Easter weekend arrives and in my view the ‘Great Scenic Journeys’ season starts. For those that don’t know, and I won’t chide you for this, Great Scenic Journeys is the small venture that I started a couple of years ago, working with bus companies and other organisations to help promote transport leisure routes and also the customer experience on them. We cover all modes but, for the purposes of this fun-packed article, we’ll focus on bus.
I’m expecting readers of this wonderful mag to be converts to bus or at least have a soft spot for it, and with this in mind I would firstly implore you all to be role models and make a pact over the Great Scenic Journeys season: lead by example and not only get on board bus services for leisure purposes but cajole your family, mates and work colleagues to do so too. And for those of you working in the bus sector, do your bit to help enhance the proposition, however great or small your contribution. After all, if we can’t do this, then there’s little hope.
As we look ahead to the campaign, it’s worth reflecting on the way in which bus services across the UK really do traverse the heart of the most stunning scenery contained within our shores. Through Snowdonia, alongside lochs, beside Ben Nevis and as far afield as the Isles of Skye and Orkney, are jaw-dropping adventures. So too, caressing the cliffs in Land’s End and Exmoor and circling Lake Windermere, or perching over the top of Beachy Head, or gazing up at the Giant Causeway in Northern Ireland – buses really do get to the best places across the UK!
I would implore you to look beyond the showpiece, flagship scenic services and make an expedition on the many underrated gem journeys that are present in every single county, the length and breadth of the nation
However, I would implore you to look beyond the showpiece, flagship scenic services and make an expedition on the many underrated gem journeys that are present in every single county, the length and breadth of the nation. There are some delightful services that capture the essence and fabric of the counties that they traverse, the landscape, history and communities. One of the highlights of my 2024, was a two-day sojourn I enjoyed travelling on Nottingham City Transport and Stagecoach East Midlands services, letting the bus take the strain as I explored the Lace City alongside Loughborough, then through the heart of Sherwood Forest and stopping off at charming Southwold on an itinerary that included lovely Lincoln, gutsy Gainsborough and Grantham, with Newark Castle and a fabulous model railway shop thrown in for good measure. Who needs an expensive holiday in Dubai, Florida or the Maldives when you can enjoy a staycation on a bus in East Midlands?
Indeed, there’s unsung hero routes everywhere. Another favourite holiday destination for me is Warrington. Well may you mock but the municipal bus company, Warrington’s Own Buses, led by the talented Ben Wakerley, is right up there when it comes to great customer service and a day out on the Cat 9 across Cheshire’s undulating pastures, through quaint and fascinating villages, with perfectly manicured gardens, stately homes to enthralling Northwich was another highlight of last summer for me. So too, a trip on the McGill’s-operated Clyde Flyer, which in under two hours takes customers from the cultural melting pot of Glasgow to the coastal beauty of lovely Largs, with magnificent views over to the island of Great Cumbrae, and the invigorating towns of Greenock and Gourock en route, where there are many gems to be explored.
There’s 270 routes on our website (www.greatscenicjourneys.co.uk) and every single one of them is a treat, but the real pleasure for me, is when we add new ones and I’m working on a huge list of new entries due to join us imminently, many in the north of England. The most excited I’ve been in the first three months of 2025 was when we enlisted routes from Go-Ahead subsidiaries in East Anglia (Konect Bus and Hedingham & Chambers), a business in the throes of a customer service revolution led by the class act that is Rupert Cox. Dereham’s a delight and a trip to Wroxham and the sumptuous Norfolk Broads is something else. Clacton and my first ever trip across to serene West Mersea was hugely atmospheric, capped by a bottle of coke and pack of Scampi Fries in the Community Hall whilst waiting for my bus back to Colchester. Simple pleasures.
There are also some great treats in terms of the dedicated sightseeing bus tours around big cities. Last week, I had a blissful day on City Sightseeing York, which is operated by Transdev Blazefield. Hopping on and off at stops to pop in and enjoy the many tourist attractions, from the York Dungeon to The Puzzling World of Professor Kettlestring and a cheeky visit to the National Rail Museum, I haven’t enjoyed myself so much in years. There was a live guide upstairs on our bus, regaling us of all manner of unknown facts and tales about this marvellous city and the drivers were joining in the fun too, creating a real sense of occasion.
Leisure bus routes across the UK are a joy to behold, but bus companies could exploit them more
Leisure bus routes across the UK are a joy to behold, but bus companies could exploit them more. Many of these services still feel a bit municipal and ‘going through the motions’. Tatty poster frames, unbranded interiors and filthy windows don’t really generate the kind of feel-good factor that scenic thrill-seekers are looking for. So too the fact that many bus journeys start and finish at moribund bus stations, where groups of hoodlums might gather for anti-social behaviour and bus shelters are caked in pigeon droppings.
Many routes lack governance of the customer experience. No customer service standards for drivers, no one putting their arm around the proposition or even keeping a note of whether the right vehicle is allocated for the route or taking even the slightest interest in customer sentiment. I’ve known some of the most scenic services in the UK being remotely managed by teams based several hundred miles away. When I meet up with them and tell them about my experiences on their flagship services – the bus stop flags without route numbers, drivers complaining about unrealistic running times or customers rightly moaning about closed vehicles on an open top route – they gawp at me with incredulity.
The problem in many respects is that these remotely run organisations, far away from the markets that they serve, are the last to involve those closest to customers to help shape and develop the proposition – the drivers and their supervisors. There are thankfully exceptions and another highlight of last summer for me was the ‘Delight the Customer’ training course I facilitated for drivers on Go Ahead’s East Yorkshire Buses’s open top ‘Beachcomber’ service in Scarborough. The marketing team also joined the course, and with the room literally bouncing with ideas to uplift customer service and get bums on seats, I binned my training content at half-time and commandeered a driver and Beachcomber bus. We got on-board and drove the route round the town that the drivers reckoned would be most successful, stopping off at key attractions, handing out leaflets and developing third-party partnerships with the owners. We had such fun and the ideas from the drivers and marketers are now in this year’s programme!
Each leisure route does though need a nuanced approach to its development. As mentioned previously, they need to be, as a basic priority, managed locally. Indeed, every route should have a ‘product manager’, accountable for developing and ensuring the brand integrity and marketing promise is preserved on each route. This person should be the bane of the depot manager and managing director’s life – identifying and nagging when the proposition has weaknesses and the customer experience has been diluted. If a bus company can’t afford a product manager, then this could be an additional responsibility added to an enthusiastic, role model driver or someone back at the depot, perhaps as a CV-building developmental opportunity. Don’t use cost constraints as an excuse not to make this happen!
For dedicated sightseeing routes, there’s a requirement that drivers and hosts (street-based ticket selling staff) have a shared purpose. Tying in with other tourism providers, as many do, is also key. So too ensuring that as many attractions as possible retail their tickets. Social media, not just for sightseeing services, but all leisure routes, should also relentlessly show compelling content of ‘everyday life’ in the places they serve and of fabulous scenery. Showing footage of buses should be banned – it’s about compelling customers to travel and giving them reasons to do so, not drawing attention to a vehicle. It’s generally only us bus spotters that get off on this kind of thing.
Could you imagine summer just creeping up on Butlins or Center Parcs?
An overriding factor is that many businesses leave it too late to plan for the popular summer season. It does surprise me when as late as March, many companies say “we must sit down and work out our plan for the summer”. Initiatives, such as hurriedly adding new routes or designing and printing timetable leaflets or vinyls for bus stops, are left very late in the day, or even the most basic reviewing of how last year went in terms of customer insight, patronage and revenue. Could you imagine summer just creeping up on Butlins or Center Parcs? The reason for this is that bus companies still don’t take a market-led and product-based approach to designing and delivering their proposition. I shake my head in despair when I see commercial and marketing bigwigs recruited to the bus sector from leisure and tourism sectors. They come in with bold ideas, use flashy jargon and sneer at crappy old buses, scruffy drivers and dilapidated bus stops, and us idiots who have presided over this for generations, and then do precisely nothing to change the situation. They prefer instead to work from home and dream up a national marketing campaign that is lost on the distinctly different communities within which it is supposed to land.
It’s difficult to predict how the next few months will pan out for leisure services. As always, a big key factor will be the weather. If the sun is shining, folk will come out both on the stunning scenic routes but also those underrated ones, even if it’s for a trip to the park or other countryside attraction or maybe just a hop on the bus to the pub for a pint in the beer garden. My fear, as it always is each year, is that the proposition on many services is good, but it could be more polished and in keeping with a typical leisure attraction. We can’t get away from the fact we are providing a bus service, but at times, there’s too many of the ‘old school bus’ traits that mean the experience can be underwhelming. Forward planning, a product management approach and good weather are the ingredients to success. We’ll let the gods worry about the weather but planning ahead and providing a more stylish and consistent product is very much within our gift. So too, leading by example and getting on-board a bus for leisure purposes and maybe bringing a mate or two, is also something we’ve no excuse not to do this summer. Use it or lose it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of transport technology business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
Make a great scenic bus journey soon!
by Passenger Transport on Apr 17, 2025 • 6:41 pm No CommentsIf you believe in buses don’t just talk the talk, walk the walk by taking yourself and others on one of many hidden gems out there
‘Use it or lose it’ is a famous but wise old cliché often used among folk to cajole them into supporting businesses they’d lament the loss of before it’s too late – and it’s a phrase that could apply to bus services. It’s with this in mind that I’ve nervous excitement as the Easter weekend arrives and in my view the ‘Great Scenic Journeys’ season starts. For those that don’t know, and I won’t chide you for this, Great Scenic Journeys is the small venture that I started a couple of years ago, working with bus companies and other organisations to help promote transport leisure routes and also the customer experience on them. We cover all modes but, for the purposes of this fun-packed article, we’ll focus on bus.
I’m expecting readers of this wonderful mag to be converts to bus or at least have a soft spot for it, and with this in mind I would firstly implore you all to be role models and make a pact over the Great Scenic Journeys season: lead by example and not only get on board bus services for leisure purposes but cajole your family, mates and work colleagues to do so too. And for those of you working in the bus sector, do your bit to help enhance the proposition, however great or small your contribution. After all, if we can’t do this, then there’s little hope.
As we look ahead to the campaign, it’s worth reflecting on the way in which bus services across the UK really do traverse the heart of the most stunning scenery contained within our shores. Through Snowdonia, alongside lochs, beside Ben Nevis and as far afield as the Isles of Skye and Orkney, are jaw-dropping adventures. So too, caressing the cliffs in Land’s End and Exmoor and circling Lake Windermere, or perching over the top of Beachy Head, or gazing up at the Giant Causeway in Northern Ireland – buses really do get to the best places across the UK!
However, I would implore you to look beyond the showpiece, flagship scenic services and make an expedition on the many underrated gem journeys that are present in every single county, the length and breadth of the nation. There are some delightful services that capture the essence and fabric of the counties that they traverse, the landscape, history and communities. One of the highlights of my 2024, was a two-day sojourn I enjoyed travelling on Nottingham City Transport and Stagecoach East Midlands services, letting the bus take the strain as I explored the Lace City alongside Loughborough, then through the heart of Sherwood Forest and stopping off at charming Southwold on an itinerary that included lovely Lincoln, gutsy Gainsborough and Grantham, with Newark Castle and a fabulous model railway shop thrown in for good measure. Who needs an expensive holiday in Dubai, Florida or the Maldives when you can enjoy a staycation on a bus in East Midlands?
Indeed, there’s unsung hero routes everywhere. Another favourite holiday destination for me is Warrington. Well may you mock but the municipal bus company, Warrington’s Own Buses, led by the talented Ben Wakerley, is right up there when it comes to great customer service and a day out on the Cat 9 across Cheshire’s undulating pastures, through quaint and fascinating villages, with perfectly manicured gardens, stately homes to enthralling Northwich was another highlight of last summer for me. So too, a trip on the McGill’s-operated Clyde Flyer, which in under two hours takes customers from the cultural melting pot of Glasgow to the coastal beauty of lovely Largs, with magnificent views over to the island of Great Cumbrae, and the invigorating towns of Greenock and Gourock en route, where there are many gems to be explored.
There’s 270 routes on our website (www.greatscenicjourneys.co.uk) and every single one of them is a treat, but the real pleasure for me, is when we add new ones and I’m working on a huge list of new entries due to join us imminently, many in the north of England. The most excited I’ve been in the first three months of 2025 was when we enlisted routes from Go-Ahead subsidiaries in East Anglia (Konect Bus and Hedingham & Chambers), a business in the throes of a customer service revolution led by the class act that is Rupert Cox. Dereham’s a delight and a trip to Wroxham and the sumptuous Norfolk Broads is something else. Clacton and my first ever trip across to serene West Mersea was hugely atmospheric, capped by a bottle of coke and pack of Scampi Fries in the Community Hall whilst waiting for my bus back to Colchester. Simple pleasures.
There are also some great treats in terms of the dedicated sightseeing bus tours around big cities. Last week, I had a blissful day on City Sightseeing York, which is operated by Transdev Blazefield. Hopping on and off at stops to pop in and enjoy the many tourist attractions, from the York Dungeon to The Puzzling World of Professor Kettlestring and a cheeky visit to the National Rail Museum, I haven’t enjoyed myself so much in years. There was a live guide upstairs on our bus, regaling us of all manner of unknown facts and tales about this marvellous city and the drivers were joining in the fun too, creating a real sense of occasion.
Leisure bus routes across the UK are a joy to behold, but bus companies could exploit them more. Many of these services still feel a bit municipal and ‘going through the motions’. Tatty poster frames, unbranded interiors and filthy windows don’t really generate the kind of feel-good factor that scenic thrill-seekers are looking for. So too the fact that many bus journeys start and finish at moribund bus stations, where groups of hoodlums might gather for anti-social behaviour and bus shelters are caked in pigeon droppings.
Many routes lack governance of the customer experience. No customer service standards for drivers, no one putting their arm around the proposition or even keeping a note of whether the right vehicle is allocated for the route or taking even the slightest interest in customer sentiment. I’ve known some of the most scenic services in the UK being remotely managed by teams based several hundred miles away. When I meet up with them and tell them about my experiences on their flagship services – the bus stop flags without route numbers, drivers complaining about unrealistic running times or customers rightly moaning about closed vehicles on an open top route – they gawp at me with incredulity.
The problem in many respects is that these remotely run organisations, far away from the markets that they serve, are the last to involve those closest to customers to help shape and develop the proposition – the drivers and their supervisors. There are thankfully exceptions and another highlight of last summer for me was the ‘Delight the Customer’ training course I facilitated for drivers on Go Ahead’s East Yorkshire Buses’s open top ‘Beachcomber’ service in Scarborough. The marketing team also joined the course, and with the room literally bouncing with ideas to uplift customer service and get bums on seats, I binned my training content at half-time and commandeered a driver and Beachcomber bus. We got on-board and drove the route round the town that the drivers reckoned would be most successful, stopping off at key attractions, handing out leaflets and developing third-party partnerships with the owners. We had such fun and the ideas from the drivers and marketers are now in this year’s programme!
Each leisure route does though need a nuanced approach to its development. As mentioned previously, they need to be, as a basic priority, managed locally. Indeed, every route should have a ‘product manager’, accountable for developing and ensuring the brand integrity and marketing promise is preserved on each route. This person should be the bane of the depot manager and managing director’s life – identifying and nagging when the proposition has weaknesses and the customer experience has been diluted. If a bus company can’t afford a product manager, then this could be an additional responsibility added to an enthusiastic, role model driver or someone back at the depot, perhaps as a CV-building developmental opportunity. Don’t use cost constraints as an excuse not to make this happen!
For dedicated sightseeing routes, there’s a requirement that drivers and hosts (street-based ticket selling staff) have a shared purpose. Tying in with other tourism providers, as many do, is also key. So too ensuring that as many attractions as possible retail their tickets. Social media, not just for sightseeing services, but all leisure routes, should also relentlessly show compelling content of ‘everyday life’ in the places they serve and of fabulous scenery. Showing footage of buses should be banned – it’s about compelling customers to travel and giving them reasons to do so, not drawing attention to a vehicle. It’s generally only us bus spotters that get off on this kind of thing.
An overriding factor is that many businesses leave it too late to plan for the popular summer season. It does surprise me when as late as March, many companies say “we must sit down and work out our plan for the summer”. Initiatives, such as hurriedly adding new routes or designing and printing timetable leaflets or vinyls for bus stops, are left very late in the day, or even the most basic reviewing of how last year went in terms of customer insight, patronage and revenue. Could you imagine summer just creeping up on Butlins or Center Parcs? The reason for this is that bus companies still don’t take a market-led and product-based approach to designing and delivering their proposition. I shake my head in despair when I see commercial and marketing bigwigs recruited to the bus sector from leisure and tourism sectors. They come in with bold ideas, use flashy jargon and sneer at crappy old buses, scruffy drivers and dilapidated bus stops, and us idiots who have presided over this for generations, and then do precisely nothing to change the situation. They prefer instead to work from home and dream up a national marketing campaign that is lost on the distinctly different communities within which it is supposed to land.
It’s difficult to predict how the next few months will pan out for leisure services. As always, a big key factor will be the weather. If the sun is shining, folk will come out both on the stunning scenic routes but also those underrated ones, even if it’s for a trip to the park or other countryside attraction or maybe just a hop on the bus to the pub for a pint in the beer garden. My fear, as it always is each year, is that the proposition on many services is good, but it could be more polished and in keeping with a typical leisure attraction. We can’t get away from the fact we are providing a bus service, but at times, there’s too many of the ‘old school bus’ traits that mean the experience can be underwhelming. Forward planning, a product management approach and good weather are the ingredients to success. We’ll let the gods worry about the weather but planning ahead and providing a more stylish and consistent product is very much within our gift. So too, leading by example and getting on-board a bus for leisure purposes and maybe bringing a mate or two, is also something we’ve no excuse not to do this summer. Use it or lose it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of transport technology business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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