Bruce Springsteen famously sang about believing in the Promised Land. Well, I have just watched a really excellent video that has inspired me to write this blog. Having spent my entire life – all 64 years of it -involved in the UK bus industry, and actively working within it for over 40 years, I have always felt that the benefit of the bus has never really been appreciated by the great British public, partly because we have never really been able to articulate the massive benefit that the humble old Omnibus offers society as a whole.
Well, today I watched a 34-minute film that captured exactly what I always hoped to see. The film is called Britain’s Buses At Their Best, made by a chap called Geoff Marshall. His own enthusiasm beams through the documentary as he showcases the best bus routes, the best partnerships, the best innovations, the best buses, the best infrastructure, and some of the best technology that the UK bus industry has to offer. Equally vital is the passion and enthusiasm that reverberates with all those interviewed, many of whom I am proud to call my friends. I will spare them the embarrassment of naming them, but if it were possible to bottle their genuine commitment and, dare I say it, simple love for what they do and the people they serve, then that would be a truly priceless and rare gift.
What this film does is quite simply jump onto several bus routes as a passenger and then highlight what makes these bus services some of the best in the UK. From Bournemouth to Harrogate, and Brighton to Reading, the experience as a passenger is enjoyed while the quality of the buses, the frequency, the comfort, the technology, and the whole positive experience is felt – it is tangible. The point is that it is not only a journey but a good experience from start to finish, one that makes you want to do it again and again. That is what makes this work so different; it truly showcases the best of the best. Underpinning most of it is partnership – whether between local authorities (Brighton, Reading, Leicester, Hertfordshire, etc.) or, equally important, the partnerships with the communities they serve that really make the difference. Good bus companies are at the very heart of the communities they serve. I have believed this from the start of my own career, when, as a young man, I managed a bus depot in Hereford where, for seven years, I immersed myself and the people I worked with in the belief that we were not just serving the city we lived in, but we were vital to its future and well-being – and guess what, it worked.
Interestingly, this same evangelical quality also emerges loud and clear from those interviewed, and it is not only great to witness but also infectious – or at least it was to me. I make no apologies for feeling this way, as I have watched the bus industry steadily decline for all sorts of reasons. No one wants to manage decline; it goes against everything you want to achieve both professionally and, more importantly, for the betterment of society as a whole. But this excellent film celebrates not just the role of the bus within society, but it also proves that good partnership practice generates growth. Passengers interviewed all said the same: when you get the holistic package right, people will leave the car at home and not take the train because the experience is so good that they enjoy it. They can relax, read books, reply to emails – they can even wave to fellow workers stuck in cars in traffic jams as they whizz past in a shiny electric bus. It is all about tipping points – small triggers that persuade people to vote with their feet as they choose to catch the bus.
So well done to Roger French OBE, members of the 10% Club, Geoff Marshall, and all those involved – you have created a film of great value. In my opinion, those of us in the bus and coach industry should be sharing this great body of work across the land, shouting from the rooftops about what can be achieved when innovation and expertise work together for the common good.
Author: Austin Birks.
