Founder's Experience

Manchester, Sheffield, Dublin, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Carlisle, Newcastle, Sunderland,Stockton, Liverpool, Chester, Preston, Hull, Cambridge, Peterborough, Northampton, Bedford, Oxford, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Cardiff, Exeter, Plymouth, Riyadh, Dubai

Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Dorset, Fife, Ayrshire, Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, Falkirk, Stirling, Norfolk, Dearne Valley, South Wales, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire

North Devon Expressway to Bristol, Birmingham, Exeter, Plymouth.

North Devon National Express Rapide to London

South West Falcon Plymouth, Exeter, Taunton, Bristol Airport, Bristol

The Oxford Tube

X5 Cambridge - Bedford - Oxford

515 Glasgow - Scottish Borders - Whitley Bay

900 Glasgow - Edinburgh

Citylink Air Glasgow to Edinburgh Airport

Scottish Citylink national network

Irish Citylink network

Stagecoach Commuter Express serving Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness

megabus.com Scotland - Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham, London

Cross border overnight sleeper service

Internal Scottish megabus.com Saltire Cross netowrk

megabus gold high quality intercity network

megabus.com England, Wales, Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Italy

megabus.com North America

Extensive experience of using price to kickstart demand and growth on urban, rural and intercity express operations

Developing online bus ticketing on both web and app

Developing Smart/Contactless ticketing and payment for single and multi operator schemes

Manchester

Mobilised a greenfield high frequency minibus startup in Manchester deploying 250 buses from 2 new depots with 650 staff over a six month period including business set up, fleet and depot procurement, full management team and staff recruitment and training, network planning and design, brand development, marketing campaign, develop all systems, procedures, processes and documentation and stakeholder engagement

Riyadh - the biggest urban bus startup in the World

Mobilised Riyadh PTC as part of the Riyadh Public Transport Project through 2018- 2019 turning a planner's network into a fully deliverable, fully scheduled set of bus and crew workings, procured and constructed 2 x 500 bus depots on brownfield sites including accommodation for 2,400 international drivers, procured 842 buses from Mercedes and MAN, delivered the bus operational ITS and all of the necessary systems, processes, procedures and documentation to pass a comprehensive, independent operational audit certifying PTC as ready to operate.  

.

Devon

Incorporated three small rural depots with 50 buses and purely depot operational staff into a free standing bus operating business and left it three years later with 92 buses, one depot and a growing business

South Yorkshire

Delivered a turnround plan in 1988 where South Yorkshire Transport's market share had fallen from 90%+ to 60% since 1986 and continuing to fall. Created a restructured, rebranded network with different working practices and some strategic acquisitions to bring market share well above 90% by late 1990.

Dublin

Inherited Dublin Bus in 1991 with an initial £25m loss on a £100m turnover and left it 4 years later at break even with a restructured network, restructured working practices, new Quality Bus Priority Corridors with a bespoke branded network, a separate branded high frequency minibus network and an underlying growth trend.

Glasgow

Inherited First Glasgow in 1997 with serious delivery failures, major on street competition from Stagecoach and a 30 year history of year on year patronage loss. Through a focus on reliability, modernised working practices, network restructuring and brand development produced the first year on year patronage growth on the city's bus network since 1968. 

Held Managing Director positions at bus operators continuously from 1983 through to 2021 including 4 years as Managing Director of Stagecoach Group's UK and European Bus Division operating 7,000+ buses, employing 23,000+ staff at 100+ locations with annual turnover of £1.2bn.

In all cases, there was continuous work on transforming the bus product, working practices and business culture .

Carried out substantial work on the interface between private sector operators and public sector transport authorities dating back to consultations with the Department of Transport on the 1985 Transport Act and subsequently with the Scottish Government on the Transport(Scotland) Act 2000 and the Department of Transport on the 2017 Bus Services Act

Led Stagecoach Group's work on the NEXUS Proposal to franchise the bus network in Newcastle and Sunderland between 2013 and 2015 and did work in collaboration with Oxera on a peer review of the First Draft of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority's Franchising Assessment in 2017 and 2018 .

Advisor to Cityswift in the design, development and retailing of their data analytics products focused on delivering a deeper understanding of operating performance to deliver much enhanced punctuality and reliability leading to both cost savings and revenue growth. 

Planned and delivered a major £25m contract to supply Athlete, Media and Official Transport at the 2012 London Olympics, opening two temporary depots and the 3 month relocation of 1,200 vehicles and 2,000+ staff from across the UK to London against tight deadlines

.