Pay award sees NCT top bus earnings league
Municipal makes move in response to 5% vacancy rate Pay award sees top rate of pay increase to £13.10 per hour Nottingham City Transport has announced significant pay increases for driving staff and new starters that will make them amongst the highest earners in the country outside London. In December the council-owned bus...
Reduced timetables – are they temporary?
Rail users lacked trust in train operators before the cuts were announced. Should they have faith that their services will return? Victoria station: Will the commuters return? Back in 2014, Transport Focus produced a compelling paper in relation to trust. It revealed that trust in train operators was pretty low. Indeed, the...
‘We want to be more than just contractors’
Martin Dean, managing director, business development at Go-Ahead Group, wants private sector expertise to retain a place in railway operation There are differing views over how much credit the commercial train operating companies can take for patronage growth The Go-Ahead Group is urging the government to ensure that the skills of the private...
Read our supplement: UK Bus & Coach 2022
Welcome to UK Bus & Coach 2022. Welcome to UK Bus & Coach 2022. This special publication accompanies the Confederation of Passenger Transport’s second annual UK Bus & Coach Conference 2022, which will take place virtually on January 25 and 26, 2022. Speakers at this event include transport minister Baroness Vere and shadow...
51 rising stars in passenger transport
Who are the rising stars in UK public transport? Passenger Transport has teamed up with Tracsis Transport Consultancy, the executive search, selection and interim management specialists, to identify 51 dynamic passenger transport professionals to keep an eye on Alex Warner writes – Our industry continues to adapt to change, and we owe a lot...
Hold tight! Bumpy road ahead for buses
Ministers have shown imagination and commitment in producing the National Bus Strategy, but its lofty ambitions risk falling flat The National Bus Strategy was launched by the prime minister in March 2021 There may have been champagne corks popping when the government finally committed to introduce a National Bus Strategy for England,...
Stop giving a free ride to fare dodgers
The rail industry is giving the impression of a complete dereliction of duty when it comes to taking steps to prevent fare evasion It wasn’t always like this. Pictured is South Central boss David Franks checking tickets in 2002 Between Christmas and New Year, I caught two trains and a tram with...
How can we plan for the railway’s future?
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT I know we are entering the festive season, which is meant to be a time of good cheer, but I fear I have to end the year on a cautionary, if not...
Stagecoach and National Express agree merger
Two groups agree all-share merger, creating worldwide transport group worth £1.9bn Deal creates worldwide group with 40,000 vehicles and 70,000 employees The Boards of National Express Group and Stagecoach have announced they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended all-share combination of the two groups. The two groups have been in...
National Bus Strategy has £5bn funding gap
The government’s spending review offered £2.1bn to improve bus services in England but Bus Service Improvement Plans have requested £7.2bn Graham Vidlier: “Current funding is likely to be able to transform bus services in only a small number of places” The funds made available by the government to transform bus services fall drastically...
England is UK ‘outlier’ on transport policy
Welsh deputy minister for climate change seeks ‘alternative axis’ Lee Waters, deputy minister for climate change in Wales Transport policy in England is increasingly at odds with the other nations of the UK, and even with its own regions, according to Lee Waters, deputy minister for climate change in Wales. Waters explained his...
Time is running out for public transport