Our industry boasts a wealth of talent
This edition features LOST Group’s ‘Ones to Watch 2024’. It was exhausting to put this list together – but the end result is inspiring Hooray! A good news story! For all the doom and gloom in the industry, it was a real antidote to the January blues to be part of the judging...
Let’s have some detail from Labour
While Labour’s intention to repeal the minimum service levels legislation is clear, not much else is. We’ve heard little of substance Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the duopoly at the top of Labour I see that Germany has been hit by a wave of strikes by 90,000 transport workers affecting rail, bus...
‘They wouldn’t be seen dead on a bus’
There are times in the bus sector when some organisations and individuals appear embarrassed to be associated with bus travel It’s rare to stumble across a business or sector where you get that disconcerting vibe that those at the helm would deep down rather not be doing what they’re doing and would prefer...
Lothian – municipal and entrepreneurial
Edinburgh is a city where every kind of person uses the bus and where everyone owns their local bus company, Lothian Buses An initial fleet of 50 new Volvo BZL electric double deck buses will enter service in the spring It’s good to be in the warmth of the great value Lothian...
Walking and public transport are allies
Walking is good for our mind and body, our environment and public transport. Hana Sutch of Go Jauntly wants to make it easy Hana Sutch set up Go Jauntly in 2018 I’ll be honest, before the pandemic I had zero interest in walking for fun. But then, apart from model railways and...
Five brakes on rail’s growth potential
The latest ORR figures on rail usage are surprisingly good because the railway suffers from brakes on progress. Here are five of them Rail usage is up 14% year-on-year Industry, politicians, and civil servants will doubtless be taking some quiet satisfaction from the upward trend in rail usage reported by the regulator,...
My hopes and fears for the New Year
Happy New Year to you all. To ring in the new dawn, here are some of the things I hope to see or fear we will see in 2024 Bring back NRPS! Remember the National Rail Passenger Satisfaction Survey (NRPS)? It was a very simple, quarterly customer survey with a decent sample size....
We need one last Christmas cracker
Capital investment in transport across English cities is welcome, but we must not forget London. Its success must be maintained 50 year old Bakerloo line trains being maintained I am writing this column after our work Christmas party, which was held in Manchester. Unfortunately, the Urban Transport Group team didn’t get invited...
A quarter century of caring for customers
For almost 25 years Anthony Smith has represented transport users. He’s about to move on and leaves behind a strong legacy Anthony Smith received the ‘Lifetime Contribution to Transport’ award at this year’s National Transport Awards The internet was just a novelty, text messaging was starting to replace pagers, compact disc players...
Transport must wait as election looms
With the government focussed on defying the odds and clinging to power, and Labour being cautious, transport is in the long grass The prime minister Rishi Sunak hosting a Cabinet meeting last week And so the long run into the general election has begun. It is the period of a Parliament when...
A mood-lifting trip should start with us
Public transport isn’t just about essential journeys. It can also be about fun days out, but this opportunity is too often overlooked I don’t think the transport industry does enough to extol the virtues of a trip out from a well-being perspective Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I guess...
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