Making an impact

While I know that two posts in the same year represents a 100 per cent increase in my normal productivity levels on here, I thought it was time for an update. Many people seem to have been aware that things changed for me job-wise recently, but from the questions I've received it's clear that many people (of those who are kind enough to be interested) aren't too sure what it is I'm actually doing now, and even more don't know enough about my employer. So, let's start with where I am now, then fill in a bit of history and finally talk about some exciting stuff that's going on.

In Defence of Local Brands

Almost a year since my last post (I know, but I’ve been busy) I’ve decided to bring the old blog roaring back to life, as I feel moved to respond to an article by the Creative Director of MHD Partnership, published in the most recent issue of Passenger Transport magazine.

Mapping The Future

Yesterday, Citymapper reinvented the bus for the smart city era and gave us... a bus.

The Way Ahead for Bus Advertising?

While it may not be the highest profile issue confronting the industry today, the merit of on-bus advertising is a subject about which many industry professionals hold strong opinions, and occasionally the debate gets an airing in public.

Is 'transport on demand' the future for rural public transport?

 

Rural bus services are under threat.  Increasingly we hear of local authorities threatening drastic reductions or even complete removal of their budgets for supporting unprofitable bus services, with the risk that communities may be cut off from the public transport network.

 

Understandably, those affected protest against such cuts, for fear of being isolated and unable to access essential services for education, health, shopping, work or the simple independence of being able to get out and about without having to drive a car or rely on a lift.

 

They are joined in their protests by observers with an interest in good public transport, who bemoan the loss of any service, every cut in public expenditure on buses, as a threat to the future of the industry.

 

But is a reliance on heavily subsidised but often lightly used fixed route bus services, really the best way forward for public transport in deep rural areas?  Or is there an alternative solution that couples the imagination of operators with emerging technology to provide a more flexible, agile solution with commercial potential?

Skylink Flying High

It's exciting enough that I get to spend a healthy chunk of my time doing network design and commercial planning for trentbarton.  But for an aviation geek like me, when it involves airports as well, the enjoyment level goes off the scale!

What makes a MAN a man?

Amid all the glamour and sparkle of life at the sharp end of the East Midlands bus industry, we've been quietly getting on with a little refurbishment project in the background at TM that is actually one of the most rewarding things we've done.