The autumn Young Bus Manager’s Network event took place on October 25-26 in Oxford, and CBW’s Dominic Ward was in attendance
The autumn edition of the Young Bus Manager’s Network (YBMN) took place at the Oxford Spires Hotel, Oxford, on October 25-26.
The network, which has been running since 2008, seeks to help and inspire young people to become the next breed of ‘great managers to take our businesses forward,’ and runs two conferences a year, as well as a number of seminars throughout the year.
The autumn event featured a packed schedule, with talks from various leaders in the industry, as well as a depot visit – a welcome addition to the schedule.
The first night
The event began on Wednesday, October 25, with visitors from far and wide – some from as far as Aberdeen – descending on the Oxford Spires Hotel for hotel check-in and event registration.[wlm_nonmember][…]
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After everybody had arrived, we were invited into the bar area for pre-dinner drinks. This gave everybody a chance to meet up with old friends, as well as talk to some of the new faces at the conference – myself included.
Dinner began at 1900hrs, and we were led into the dining hall, still talking to each other about various areas of industry everybody covered. I sat at a table with four people from Arriva North West, who were talking to me about life in their depot, which made for some interesting conversation.
Following on from our meal, we then had an after-dinner speech from Kevin O’Connor, Managing Director UK Bus for Arriva Group. He spoke to us about some of the highlights of his career. “I had a bit of an unorthodox start to my career,” Kevin said. “I left school at 16, after failing every GCSEs apart from media studies, so I had two options: I could either become a journalist or do something else.”
Kevin said that he chose his next courses based on where he could travel to – Amsterdam and Tenerife – before joining Waitrose as a shelf-stacker at the age of 21. From there, he worked his way up before running the departments. He then started to train graduates, and asked whether he could go on the graduate development programme, only to be met with rejection simply because he didn’t have a degree himself.
It was whilst talking to us about his time at Securicor, based in a warehouse counting coins that had come from buses and trains, he gave some sound advice to the delegates in the room: “Do not buy a cream suit if you’re going to work in a bus depot. Equally, don’t buy one if you’re going to work in a coin centre. I turned up with my brand-new briefcase and my cream suit, and got annihilated.”
Kevin went on to say how he became the Managing Director of the cash processing business: “It was about £60m turnover which, depending on where you work, is a region, or a large SME bus company.
“I started to play around with strategies. I failed more than I succeeded, so for the first two years my strategies were pretty awful. However, no one minded because the business was losing money and it carried on losing money. Then I hit on a strategy that worked, which was using manufacturing techniques to make a profit. We got more productive, and those techniques had never been used before.
“As I say, I failed for two years, because every time we brought new people in, we had instant organ rejection – they couldn’t get their head around this new product and this new business. Again, I think there’s a parallel, and I think I’m talking to all people that are in the bus industry – and I’m now in the bus industry – but I always think it’s interesting to mix up with different stimulus as well, and to try and mix up something that’s never been done before. The other thing I’d say is try and get as many influences as possible in your career and in your network.”
The second day
The second – and main – day of the event began bright and early at the hotel.
Following breakfast and check-out from the hotel, we then proceeded to gather in the conference room, where Roger French OBE – co-patron of the YBMN – outlined the day ahead.
The day began with a talk from Michael Watson, Regional Director England and Wales Stagecoach UK Bus.
Michael started his presentation by telling us about his background, before going on to talk about where the industry has come from and where it is going to. “The Bus Services Act has just been enacted,” said Michael. “It’s a tool kit which gives local authorities different routes to get to franchising, enhanced partnership or advanced partnership. It comes down to the choice of the local councils – combined authority if they want to go for franchising – but it’s a serious evaluation local authorities will be going through in the next few years.
“When I look around the country I see a lot of authorities evaluating this now. They will spend a lot of money evaluating that, or they will use consultants and that’s absolutely fine, but when I think that money could have been spent on public services, part of me thinks that it’s unnecessary administration, but then I think ‘that’s come because of how the bus industry is.’ There is obviously a need to create a tool kit around us, so we keep on giving good value – and actually, that’s not a bad thing.”
Michael went on to say that he believes partnership is the way forward, and that the industry needs to show entrepreneurial spirit to demonstrate it can shape the market better than under a franchise.
On the point of the future, Michael added: “I think the future is very much about behaving responsibly in the marketplace, such that people want to do business with us, people want to use us, people want to respect us, people appreciate us. That involves talking better with our customers – being a bit more responsible when it comes to customer consultation, having better relationships with our customers.
“We need to branch out. We need to get into economic teams and start to influence more planning policies in individual district councils. I remember getting to Stagecoach South and my Commercial Director telling me ‘we don’t bother with the district councils. We haven’t got time for that.’ These guys are building a 2,000-home development in Fleet, which hasn’t got any supporting infrastructure. Despite a massive section 106 agreement, worth millions of pounds, the council had actually taken away the bus service because they believed it wasn’t needed. That section 106 money is still sat there.”
Michael rounded off his talk by offering advice to the delegates in the room: “I think it’s really important to be self-aware. Understand where you sit, how you’re perceived, seek feedback from your teams and listen to others around you. You’ll often find that, if you do that, that’s where the ideas will come from – that’s where the inspiration comes from. That’s where you will gain more knowledge and grow and develop.
“Delegating can be a bad word, because it makes it looks like you’ve getting stuff out of your in-tray and shoving it on, but I’ve been in jobs where you’ve got a control team that are paid around £27k a year, and actually all they’re doing is handing out duty boards to the drivers. That’s a first-line management position and not a first-line management task.
“I think humility is important too. You’ve got to ensure you have a decent work/life balance as well. I think if you get too embroiled with work then you can get to a point where you don’t see the bigger picture, and it’s so important just to step back and just see where you’re at, where you’re going, what you’re doing, and if you don’t do that, you can start to panic. It helps you to keep on evaluating your own position if you do that.
“Finally, and the big part of my presentation – adapting to the inevitable change that our industry faces, and will continue to face. The pace of change will speed up – you can have a job for life in this industry if you want. In that time, we will change as an industry, but embrace it and enjoy it. Be prepared for it.”
Deposited at the depot
Following on from Michael’s talk, we had a 10-minute recess to allow us to grab our high-vis jackets, board the two double-decker buses outside, and head over to the Oxford Bus Company’s (OBC) depot. We were then split into two groups – the first bus, which went on the depot tour first, and the second bus, which I was on, which went to the meeting room to have a talk from Phil Southall, Managing Director of OBC.
Phil initially spoke about the long history of OBC, which he was keen to point out has been around in one form or another since 1881, making the company 136 years old!
His talk included aspects of what the firm has done over the years, the troubles it has faced, bringing us through to the modern day, before moving on to talk about OBC’s five to 10-year plan: “So what is the next big thing? Well, this is my next big challenge:
- Workplace parking levy. Oxfordshire County Council is planning this starting from February 2018, so we’re currently working to say you can’t just go to businesses and say ‘we’re going to apply a levy on your business rates.’ You have to come up with some form of manifesto, and say ‘this is what your money would pay for’;
- Congestion charge. In parallel to the workplace parking levy, the council is going to be carrying out a congestion charge study as well;
- City Centre strategy. The local authority is finally looking at a city centre strategy to join up how do we want to use the city centre and what streets have we got to use, where do we want buses, where do we not want buses;
- Further bus priorities. We’re looking at further bus priorities, so each of the corridors, which is now referred to as a petal in the transport strategy. The council is looking at each petal in turn; about how you can improve bus priority, but then how do you make it rapid?
- Zero emission zone. It’s quite well documented that Oxford wants to start the first zero emission zone in 2020, and we are trying to persuade that it’s not a great idea at the moment – the technology isn’t ready; and
- Intelligent mobility. It’s growing exponentially, and lots of folk in Oxford are intelligent enough to make this happen. Again, we’re trying to work with the local authority on a number of things.
“In the medium term, people are saying that the Park & Rides are too close to the city centre, and actually you have to sit in a lot of congestion before you actually get to them, so there is an agenda to push them further out by 2026. That’s a challenge we’ve got to face.
“There are three ‘Bus Rapid Transit’ routes planned up to 2030. They’re lines on a map at the moment, so it’s how do we make that a reality? What do they look like? What routes will they take? What do we need to do in terms of boarding times?
“Zero emission zones will obviously be gradually rolled out, and there’s talk of guided busways. There’s even talk of bus tunnels under the city centre. Your bus will disappear at the railway station, and reappear at the plane, and if you’re coming from the North, it will disappear at the Old Parsonage restaurant, and will come back up when you’re at St. Aldates Police Station.”
Phil also went on to explain some of the ticketing technology being talks about in OBC’s five to 10-year plan, and mentioned that biometrics are always on the agenda but there are no firm plans as of yet. He then moved on to the vehicles themselves, including propulsion and bus interiors: “It’s inevitable that we will be doing different things with bus interiors to make them more attractive to customers, so we need to think what that’s going to evolve to.”
Phil rounded off his presentation with a lasting remark of fighting for the bus: “Political pressure is there all the time to do things that are going to have a detrimental impact on the bus industry, and I would encourage you to fight for the bus, because no one else is going to. If you feel that something is going on that’s not right, then you need to have your say. And that’s what makes me angry – people give in far too easily. You’ve got to be persistent, you’ve got to be fair, you’ve got to be reasonable – you’ve got to be the voice of reason. And you’ve got to make your case for the bus.”
Following Phil’s talk, we then swapped with the other group and were led through to the staff canteen, which commands a fantastic view of the depot and all the vehicles lined up outside. We were then split into groups of 10, and given a walking tour of the depot.
Our tour guide – Sam – gave us a great insight into how OBC works, from the teams in the office, to the training school, right the way to the engineers who keep the fleet of vehicles running.
We were able to see first-hand the vehicles being worked on, and all members of the team we met on our tour were incredibly friendly and welcoming – they looked as though they thoroughly enjoyed working there.
Once we had completed our tour, and posed for the obligatory group photo alongside our two buses, we then headed back to the Oxford Spires Hotel for a buffet lunch, before heading back to the conference room for the final talk of the day – Martijn Gilbert, CEO of Reading Buses.
The finale
Martijn gave a truly fascinating talk about not only his career to date, but also some of the threats to the bus industry as he sees it. Martijn told us that, as he sees it, the bus industry faces three main problems: congestion, competition, and the digital world. But he was also very keen to emphasise the importance of people in the industry: “I’m a firm believer that we can have the best tools, the best facilities, the best plans, but without our people – and you are a really important part of that – they’re all pointless, quite frankly. This is a people industry. I think the solution to our industry’s challenges isn’t about regulation versus non-regulation, all the laws and rules, it’s people that will drive the change. If we can foster the next generation of really energetic, focused, passionate people that are up for the challenge, and think outside the box, we stand a good chance of winning.”
Martijn then went on to talk about his time at Reading Buses, and told us that, at the age of 31, he was appointed Chief Executive for Reading Buses, back in 2014. He said that it was daunting then and it’s still daunting for him now, but did also praise the team he has around him. He said the company continues to challenge the industry with what it’s doing, in order to take things to the next level.
He then rounded off the last talk of the day by offering some of his pearls of wisdom: “I’m just going to reflect on a couple of the things I’ve learnt so far that I think are key learning points:
- Take the initiative. Nobody is going to come down and give it to you. There’s no silver spoon that says ‘here’s this opportunity’ or ‘here’s this training course.’ You’ve actually got to ask for some of these things, or seek out the opportunity. Go and talk to people at conferences, network, ask the questions, force yourself into those uncomfortable situations;
- Understand it. We are businesses. You do need to understand your costs and your finances, the operational details. There are people in management roles that do not know where their routes go. I think that’s shocking, personally;
- Really care. We do want a bit of fire in our belly. This can be as good or bad a place as we want to make it. I think it’s a good industry in terms of passion about it. Attention to detail is important – my guys laugh because I obsess about the wheels being clean on the buses, and I say ‘it’s like trying to work with dirty socks if the buses are running around with dirty wheels.’ You do also have to keep nagging – you can’t stop nagging. You’ve got to keep those standards up. You’ve also got to work hard and be flexible; and
- Get out there. Don’t just sit behind a desk. You need to walk the talk and experience things from a customer perspective. That’s what we’re here for. It shouldn’t be a once-a-year ride around on buses because it’s International Customer Services Day – it should be every day. That’s what we’re here for. That’s our bread and butter. That’s how we earn our money and keep our jobs and continue to grow.”
Martijn concluded with his pet hates, which include people that say: “I think so,” “I’ve emailed them,” “I want it but don’t get it,” and people who talk down to others.
Closing the show
The event ended with Chris Cheek of Passenger Transport Intelligence Services giving one of his customary statistical updates, as well as a group workshop led by Roger French.
We then said our goodbyes to one another, with a successful couple of days of networking under our belts. Whilst the dates for the spring conference for 2018 haven’t quite been worked out, nor a location, it’s definitely an event worth attending for any young bus manager.[/wlm_ismember]
