Jonathan Welch speaks to Daniel Graham, the founder of new North East operator Northstar
Someone once told me that the best way to make a bit of money running buses was to start with a lot of money. It’s certainly not something that can be done ‘on the cheap’ and anyone wanting to get a foot in the door needs to have the resources, the determination and the knowledge to stand a chance of getting a successful bus or coach operation off the ground.
Regular readers will have seen in our news pages the news of the launch of Northstar, a new bus operator in the North East, and one which, in contrast to many new starts, has made sure to create a smart and well-defined identity for itself right from the word go, with a smart but simple style created with the help of Best Impressions.
A new start it might be, but Northstar is not short of experience. It is the brainchild of Daniel Graham, who had previously worked for major regional operator Go North East before striking out on his own.
“I joined the bus industry in 2015 straight from school, and I spent nine years at Go North East. I was initially in an IT-based role, but moved into the commercial team in 2017,” Dan explained. “I knew that was where I wanted to be and where my ambitions were. From 2017 to 2022 I did various roles within that department and eventually took on a management role in the commercial team.
“Part of my role at Go North East was to run all kinds of special events, rail and Metro replacement, and I had overall responsibility for the contract revenue budget as well. That allowed me to build up all kinds of financial and commercial experience. I was really fortunate in that I was able to gain so much experience in such a short time. The then Commercial Director, Stephen King, and Managing Director, Martijn Gilbert, opened up a development pathway for me when experienced members of the commercial team retired and left the business, and everything fell into place which helped me gain a lot more experience than most people would in such a short time.
“I loved what I did at Go North East and was really passionate about it. The reason I set up Northstar was that I identified a gap in the market, certainly in the North East. What I wanted to do was combine the best bits of professional standards of a large PLC organisation with the attention to detail, passion and entrepreneurial flair of the very best independent operators.
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