INSIDE TRACK
Welcome to my first column. Hopefully you’ll find it as interesting as those typed by Julian Peddle, Phil Stockley, and Roger French.
For those who don’t know me, along with my wife, I set up and run Connexionsbuses, based in North Yorkshire. It’s our 20th year this year, and there are some challenges for bus and coach operators currently, the likes of which most of us have never known.
Notwithstanding the post Covid challenge, where we are trying to get some sense of what the level of demand will be once people regain their confidence and travel on public transport as they did before, we also have the staffing issues which don’t seem to be easing and the ‘what vehicle do I buy next’ problem. Its this last one that I’m going to focus on, as there seems to be a very serious disparity between organisations.
Small operators left out
We operate in North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the City of York, and are signed up to the enhanced partnerships in each of these authorities. Two of them have been relatively successful with their BSIP bids, and have some very forward thinking ideas. City of York and North Yorkshire have also been winners in the ZEBRA (Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas) funding…
