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News Category: Bus

Go-Ahead invests in transport skills with target of hiring 1,020 bus and rail apprentices in 2023

19 January 2023

Go-Ahead invests in transport skills with target of hiring 1,020 bus and rail apprentices in 2023

Target includes 700 trainee London bus drivers and 220 rail apprentices

Go-Ahead’s apprentices increase ethnic diversity of workforce

Recruits of all ages wanted: Go-Ahead’s apprentices range from 16 to 65

The Go-Ahead Group, the largest employer of apprentices in the UK transport industry, has set a target of hiring 1,020 apprentices in 2023 to train as bus drivers, rail drivers and engineers.

The intake will include 700 apprentice bus drivers for Go-Ahead London, which runs a quarter of the capital’s buses for Transport for London. Some 220 apprentice engineers and train drivers will be recruited by Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express rail. And a further 100 apprentices will work at Go-Ahead’s regional bus companies and in head office roles in London and Newcastle.

Go-Ahead was named as one of the UK’s top 20 apprentice employers recently in a ranking developed by the Department for Education, and as the top provider in the transport industry.

The group’s apprenticeship intake is highly diverse: 61% of apprentices recruited in 2022 were from ethnic backgrounds other than White British, including 78% of those who joined Go-Ahead’s London bus operation. And 32% of new apprentices were aged over 40, including many career switchers who are seeking a new start in transport.

In the bus industry, Go-Ahead London’s Camberwell academy is the first and largest in-house provider of bus driving apprenticeships in the UK and recently celebrated its fifth birthday. The academy uses virtual reality technology to teach driving skills, and trainees alternate over the course of a year between periods driving buses and time in the classroom. Last year 77% of those who started the course completed their apprenticeship and gained a qualification.

Since the training programme was introduced in 2018 the bus company has been able to deliver all aspects of training to their apprentices including offering numeracy and literacy training equivalent to Maths and English GCSEs, and additional support to those with a range of neurodiverse conditions.

A further 466 apprentices are in training at Govia Thameslink Railway, the UK’s largest railway network, working across engineering, driving and customer service roles. In 2022, 184 new recruits began their training- 30% were aged over 40.

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We’re proud to be training a new generation of drivers and engineers at Go-Ahead. Apprentices are fundamental to the future of our business and of our industry as a whole – and providing on-the-job learning has helped us to attract people from all walks of life. We want our workforce and the transport industry to reflect the communities we serve. Our apprenticeships programme is forever expanding, and the vast majority of our apprentices continue their careers with Go-Ahead after their training is completed.

Scott Maynard

Go-Ahead Group HR Director

Zero emission transport for the Dreaming Spires: Oxford Bus Company orders 104 all-electric buses

01 January 2023

Zero emission transport for the Dreaming Spires: Oxford Bus Company orders 104 all-electric buses

Buses to be part of a 159-strong zero emission fleet on Oxford’s streets from late 2023

Go-Ahead’s largest electric bus order to date accelerates the group’s green transition

Environmental impact will be equivalent to taking 6,000 cars off the road

Co-funded by Go-Ahead, Oxfordshire County Council and the Department for Transport

Passengers in Oxford will benefit from a brand new fleet of zero emission buses on the city’s streets later this year, following an order placed by The Go-Ahead Group for 104 electric vehicles.

The deal is Go-Ahead’s biggest electric bus order to date, adding to the group’s 350-strong fleet of plug-in buses across Britain, and is a further step towards a goal of a zero-emission fleet nationwide by 2035.

The order will comprise 5 single and 99 double-decker buses, to be manufactured in Northern Ireland by Wrightbus, and all vehicles will be fitted with free customer WiFi, at-seat USB chargers and audio-visual next stop announcement systems as standard.

8 of the double-decker buses will be open-topped, to support the company’s popular City Sightseeing tour route, and once all buses are in service all local bus routes wholly within the Oxford urban area will be converted to zero-emission operation.

Go-Ahead is investing more than £30 million in the buses, alongside funding from Oxfordshire County Council and from the Department for Transport’s Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme. This is part of a total package of £82.5 million of funding for 159 buses for operators in Oxford, which will become one of Britain’s leading electric bus cities.

The buses are part of a package of improvements for bus travellers in Oxford. Passengers will also benefit from speedier journeys with the installation of several new traffic filters in the city, an expanded zero emission zone and through additional bus priority schemes implemented by Oxfordshire County Council.

The buses will save an estimated 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year – the equivalent of taking more than 3,900 cars off the road.

The mobilisation of these buses will see Oxford Bus Company become the second largest bus operator of zero emission buses within the Go-Ahead Group, behind Go Ahead London. Once on the road in late 2023, it will bring the total number of zero emission buses within the Go-Ahead Group to 456.

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This is a fantastic day for bus passengers in Oxford. We’re proud to be ordering a fleet of state-of-the-art, UK-made electric buses which will be cleaner and healthier for local residents, and offer a quieter, more comfortable ride for customers.

Luke Marion

Managing Director of the Oxford Bus Company

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We are, through this significant order, delighted to be working with Go-Ahead to further demonstrate their commitment to offering zero-emission public transport. It has been a real team effort between Wrightbus and the Oxford Bus Company to deliver this exciting project. All of the buses will be manufactured and assembled at our Ballymena factory, which means support for jobs in Northern Ireland, and wider across the UK through our domestic supply chain.

Ben Werth

Chief Commercial Officer at Wrightbus

“”
This is a step towards our goal of a zero-emission bus fleet nationwide by 2035. It’s important to remember that decarbonising vehicles is only part of the challenge – we also need to encourage more people out of their cars and onto public transport. It’s great to see Oxford taking progressive measures to prioritise buses over private cars.

Christian Schreyer

Group Chief Executive, The Go-Ahead Group