Elizabeth Howlett reports on the 21st annual UK Bus Awards held at London’s Southbank Ballroom, which took place last week
More than 650 industry professionals attended the UK Bus Awards (UKBA) 2016 for the event’s 21st annual celebration. The awards scheme plays a key role in raising the profile of buses, helping to shape political and passenger perceptions and in recognising and rewarding the achievements of all the people who work so hard in the industry to deliver, plan and promote the services.
Hosting the awards once again was BBC television personality Jane Hill. “I’m sure that when I started coming here I didn’t need these,” quipped Jane as she put on her reading glasses and announced the first award of the evening – the ROSCO (Road Operators Safety Council) Safe Driver Of The Year. The winner of the £500 cash prize was Stagecoach London’s Raymond Clements, who was described as: “A model employee who has received numerous commendations on his driving and has never had a complaint made against him.” UKBA Chairman Tony Depledge was delighted with the turnout.
He enthused: “This is our 21st event and we have 680 people in the hall, which is the largest number of people we have had for many years now. It shows how important the UK Bus Awards is to the industry and is a reflection on the amount of effort that goes into this event from many people.”
The turnout was indeed a significant increase from the 620 attendees in 2015, and the camaraderie around the venue was apparent when supportive cheers and calls could be heard, as operators and staff collected awards or received special commendations. The Bus Awards collection for charity partner Transaid brought in over £4,390.
Tony continued: “I would like to give a special thanks to our patrons, sponsors and teams of people who make it work. We have many hundreds of judges and mystery travellers who have worked so hard.”
He stressed that the mystery travellers’ results played an enormous role in the outcome, alongside the 40 judges’ assessments of the 250 entries. Tony wished to recognise Stagecoach East Scotland and Stagecoach Cumbria for the Overcoming Adversity Award. Stagecoach East Scotland was commended for its action in the Forth Road Bridge Emergency and Stagecoach Cumbria for its 555 shuttle service following Storm Desmond.
The awards saw operators receive praise for their efforts, but there can only be one Bus Operator of The Year. Claiming the award for the fourth time was Nottingham City Transport, after previous victories in 2004, 2012 and 2014.
The silver award winner went to Reading Buses (RB), which was also named the Top Shire Operator for the fourth year in a row. RB took home two other gold awards; the Environment Award for their pioneering work on reducing emissions and Putting Passengers First Award for their forward-looking project on bus service design under the title ‘Enabling Tomorrow’s Customers Today.’ The team at Reading also went home with a Silver Award in the Making Buses a Better Choice category and a Bronze in the New Horizons Award which recognises innovative thinking. Newly promoted Head of Operations at the company, Dan Bassett took home the Silver Award in the Young Manager of the Year category after a very close-fought contest.
Haddington-based family firm Prentice Coaches won the prize of Top Independent Operator. Neighbouring Lothian Buses took the Silver Award in the Top City Operator competition, along with another Silver for the company’s marketing campaign to promote its Night Bus network.
Ian Morgan, Deputy Chairman of Wellglade which owns Trent Barton and Chairman of the industry trade association the Confederation of Passenger Transport since 2011, was presented with The Award for Services to the Bus Industry. Paying tribute to Ian’s 44-year career, the Awards Management Committee highlighted his key role in creating and developing the approaches to product design, marketing and staff training which have made Trent Barton the hugely successful company it is today.
Amongst the major groups, the Go-Ahead Group took home eight awards: a triple of Golds, one Silver and four Bronze Awards. Stagecoach followed by winning five awards – two Gold, two Silver and one Bronze Award. National Express took three, a Gold and two Silvers. The Gold came in the Young Manager of the Year category and was won by Stephanie Maher.
Results list
Bus and the Community Award
- Gold Award: Helping Hand, Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company
- Silver Award: Safe Zone Bus, Xplore Dundee
- Bronze Award: Work experience for students with disabilities, Transport for Greater Manchester
Specially Commended: First Essex supporting Michael Birch and Essex Air Ambulance, First Essex
Finalist: Disability Awareness, Blackpool Transport Services
Finalist: Big Bus Day, East Yorkshire Motor Services
Finalist: First Bus in the Midlands and Trussell Trust Foodbanks, First Bus – Midlands
Finalist: Skegness Seasiders Team, Stagecoach East Midlands
UK Bus Operator of the Year
sponsored by Arthur J Gallagher& QBE Insurance
- Gold Award: Nottingham City Transport
- Silver Award: Reading Buses
- Bronze Award: Prentice Coaches
Environment
- Gold Award: To ‘planet Reading’ and beyond!, Reading Buses
- Silver Award: Environmental Improvements to Vehicles, First Bus
- Bronze Award: Clean Air for Schools, Transport for Greater Manchester
Finalist: Buses Do Their Bit – Durham Air Quality Monitoring Area, Go North East
Finalist: We think the World of Edinburgh, Lothian Buses
Finalist: Inverness ElectriCity, Stagecoach North Scotland
Local Authority Bus Project of the Year
- Gold Award: The West Midlands Bus Alliance: A UK first, Centro and National Express West Midlands
- Silver Award: Elland Road Park and Ride, West Yorkshire Combined Authority and partners
- Bronze Award: Grasshopper Multi-Operator Ticketing, Aberdeenshire Council and partners
London Bus Garage of the Year
- Gold Award: Leyton, Stagecoach London
- Silver Award: Hounslow Heath, RATP Dev London
- Bronze Award: Brixton, Arriva London South
Finalist: Palmers Green, Arriva London
Finalist: Putney, Go-Ahead London
Finalist: Uxbridge, Metroline West
Making Buses a Better Choice: the Peter Huntley Memorial Award
- Gold Award: Cityzap, Transdev Blazefield
- Silver Award: Leopard and Lion, Reading Buses
- Bronze Award: Two Stars in Two Months, bluestar
Finalist: Eclipse – Driving Up Expectations, First Hampshire & Dorset
Finalist: The Castles Express, Go North East
Finalist: South West Falcon, Stagecoach South West
Finalist: Goldline 212, Translink
The Award for Marketing Initiative of the Year
- Gold Award: Busboost, South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive
- Silver Award: King’s City, Stagecoach South
- Bronze Award: Bus Start, Arriva UK Bus
Finalist: #harveyBus – 410/411 X-Factor initiative, Arriva Yorkshire
Finalist: First Southampton Paints the City Red, First Hampshire & Dorset
Finalist: New Mendip Xplorer Brand, First West of England
New Horizons Award
- Gold Award: CheckedSafe Walk Around App, CheckedSafe
- Silver Award: Traveline GB Journey Planner, Traveline Information
- Bronze Award: claret spritzer, Reading Buses
Finalist: Employee App, First Aberdeen
Finalist: Nerve Centre Revolution, Go North East
Finalist: The Transport for Edinburgh App, Lothian Buses
Finalist: E-paper bus stops, Transport for London
Putting Passengers First
- Gold Award: Enabling tomorrow’s customers today, Reading Buses
- Silver Award: West Midlands Safer Travel Partnership, National Express West Midlands and partners
- Bronze Award: The Transport for Edinburgh App, Lothian Buses
Finalist: Easylink, Nottingham Community Transport
Services to the Bus Industry
- Gold Award: Ian Morgan OBE, Wellglade
The Award for Sustained Marketing Excellence
- Gold Award: Greener Journeys, Greener Journeys
- Silver Award: Lothian Buses NightBus, Lothian Buses
- Bronze Award: Express City Connect, Stagecoach East Scotland
Finalist: Go, Go, Go!, Go North East
Finalist: The 36 – Riding Redefined, Transdev Blazefield
Top City Operator
- Gold Award: Nottingham City Transport
- Silver Award: Lothian Buses
- Bronze Award: Arriva Merseyside
Greener Journey won the Award for Sustained Marketing Excellence, pictured here are CEO Claire Haigh(Centre) with her colleagues Nick Collins and Nicole Martin
Finalist: National Express West Midlands
Finalist: Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire
Finalist: Translink Metro
Top National Bus Driver: the Chris Moyes Memorial Award
- Gold Award: Dave Forrester, Southern Vectis
- Silver Award: Denis McMahon, Abellio Surrey
- Bronze Award: Karen Wilson, Arriva Yorkshire
Finalist: Ian Walker, First Aberdeen
Finalist: Michal Kudla, First Essex
Finalist: Bryan Liddle, Transdev Blazefield
Top Independent Operator
- Gold Award: Prentice Coaches
The Award for Sustained Marketing Excellence – Bronze went to Stagecoach East Scotland, pictured here are: Katie Craig, Sarah Elliott and Laura Dickson - Silver Award: Courtney Buses
- Bronze Award: Compass Travel (Sussex)
Finalist: Ensign Bus Company
Finalist: Uno Buses (Northampton)
Luke Rees Pulley
Charitable Trust Award for Top London Bus Driver
- Gold Award: Dean Golding, Go-Ahead London
- Silver Award: Terry Miles, RATP Dev London
- Bronze Award: Nadine Allen, CT Plus
Finalist: Felicia Grazette, Abellio London
Finalist: Helen Webster, Arriva London
Finalist: Richard Pincombe, Arriva London
Finalist: Peter Huttly, Go-Ahead London
Finalist: Hirji Hirani, Metroline Travel
Top National Bus Depot
- Gold Award: St Andrews, Stagecoach East Scotland
- Silver Award: Fenstanton, Stagecoach East
- Bronze Award: Crawley, Metrobus
Finalist: Tamworth, Arriva Midlands & Shires
Finalist: Gateshead Riverside, Go North East
Finalist: Wolverhampton, Park Lane, National Express West Midlands
Top Shire Operator
- Gold Award: Reading Buses
- Silver Award: Metrobus
- Bronze Award: Oxford Bus Company
Top Independent Operator – Silver went to Courtney Buses, seen here are: Bill Courtney, Dawn Webber and Malcolm Venn
Finalist: Stagecoach East Midlands
Finalist: Go South Coast
Unsung Heroes Award
- Gold Award: Ricky Lennon, RATP Dev UK
UKBA Special Commendation for Outstanding Service:
Darren Jackson, Abellio London
UKBA Special Commendation for Outstanding Service: John Gordon, Go North East
UKBA Special Commendation for Outstanding Service: Chris Vest, Reading Buses
UKBA Special Commendation for Outstanding Service: Joe Somers, Stagecoach East
Young Manager of the Year
- Gold Award: Stephanie Maher, National Express West Midlands
Reading Buses won Top Shire Operator, some of the Reading team are pictured here:: Tony Pettitt, Phil Herlingshaw, Nikki Ball, Martijn Gilbert, Dan Bassett and John Bickerto - Silver Award: Dan Bassett, Reading Buses
- Bronze Award: Sophie Moorby, Go North East
Specially Commended: Matthew Elsey, First Essex
Finalist: Alistair Timmis, Arriva Midlands & Shires
Finalist: Katie Wagstaff, Stagecoach London
