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News Category: Bus

Keeping Manchester moving: Go-Ahead kicks off Britain’s biggest recruitment campaign for bus drivers

05 May 2023

Keeping Manchester moving: Go-Ahead kicks off Britain’s biggest recruitment campaign for bus drivers

Go-Ahead’s Manchester bus company, Go North West, to hire 300 drivers on apprenticeship or training contracts.

The drivers will operate Bee Network buses as part of mayor Andy Burnham’s new integrated transport network.

The Go-Ahead Group has kicked off Britain’s biggest recruitment campaign for bus drivers in preparation for the launch of Greater Manchester’s Bee Network public transport service.

Go North West, the group’s Manchester bus company, plans to hire up to 300 bus drivers on apprenticeship or trainee contracts for a newly created Elite Bus Driver Academy in Bolton.

The drivers will operate yellow Bee Network buses in Bolton and Wigan from September – the first two areas to be franchised under Transport for Greater Manchester’s new vision for local buses.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester, has set out a vision of an integrated London-style transport system bringing together buses, trams, rail, cycling and walking. In an initial step towards this, Go North West was selected by TfGM in late 2022 as the winner of its first two bus contracts.

“”
Bus drivers play a pivotal role in helping people all over Greater Manchester get to where they need to go.

The Bee Network is set to transform public transport here and it’s great to see this huge recruitment drive taking place, as we prepare for the launch in September, and the creation of hundreds of jobs for local people.

There’s no better time to get involved in transport, so I’d encourage anyone who’s thinking about becoming a bus driver to get on board with us.

Andy Burnham

Mayor of Greater Manchester

Themed as ‘Be an Elite Driver’, a recruitment campaign for Go North West uses fighter pilot style uniforms and imagery. Applicants will be urged to become ‘the best of the best’, to find the thing that will ‘make them awesome’ and to brace themselves for a career with ‘wheels…that you’ll steer’.

They will undertake an intensive six-week training program, open both to existing bus driver licence holders and to those who have never sat behind the wheel of a bus before. Furthermore, Go North West will offer longer term apprenticeships combining studying with hands-on driving, allowing people to earn while they learn.

“”
This is a ground-breaking recruitment campaign to match the huge scale of change that we’ll be helping to deliver in Greater Manchester’s public transport. We’ve already had lots of interest in driving the new Bee Network buses and we’re expecting thousands of applications.

Our parent company, Go-Ahead, is the largest bus operator in London so we’re specialists in busy, joined up urban transport networks. We’re very proud to be pioneers in delivering bus services fit for such a great city as Manchester.

Nigel Featham

Managing Director, Go North West

Go-Ahead is already one of the largest apprenticeship employers in the UK, taking on 1,100 apprentices annually to train as bus drivers, train drivers and engineers. The group has a strategy of offering apprenticeships in order to widen the diversity of its workforce.

Once the new contracts are underway, Go North West will operate more than 500 buses from Bolton, Wigan and from its existing Queen’s Road depot in central Manchester. And the company’s facility in Bolton will be the largest UK bus depot outside London.

Bus driver jobs include 20 days’ annual holiday, generous pensions and pay rates from £28,000 that quickly increase with experience. Go North West has quadrupled the size of its training team in anticipation of an influx of new recruits.

Fit for a king: Go-Ahead’s coronation buses take to the road

17 April 2023

Fit for a king: Go-Ahead’s coronation buses take to the road

Go-Ahead has unveiled commemorative buses in London and in the south-west of England to mark the coronation of Their Majesties Kings Charles III and Queen Camilla.

In Devon, a red, white and blue Plymouth Citybus double-decker with festive bunting will take to the streets of Britain’s Ocean City to mark the historic royal event, operating on route 25 which runs around Plymouth Hoe and waterfront.

In the capital, a special Go-Ahead London bus is still in its iconic red colour but  boasts a new design and is decorated in the official emblem of the coronation. The LT511 Routemaster, delivered alongside Transport for London, is in service on Route 11 (Fulham Broadway to Waterloo), which passes Westminster Abbey and Parliament Square.

Go-Ahead’s transport companies are at the heart of the coronation and will be bringing millions of people to festive events over the weekend – including big screens in parks and city centres, community parties and volunteering events connected with Monday’s “Big Help Out” day.

Many of those travelling to central London will be using Go-Ahead services. Govia Thameslink Railway, which operates Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Express services, is the largest rail operator in the south-east. And Go-Ahead London runs a quarter of the capital’s buses on behalf of Transport for London.

“”
We’re proud to be involved in carrying so many people to celebratory events this weekend – be it the coronation in London itself or to community and street parties across the nation.

In common with the rest of the country, we congratulate the King and Queen on their coronation and we hope these buses add to the buzz across the country over the course of this historic weekend.

Mark Anderson

Go-Ahead Customer and Commercial Director

Ten million Go-Ahead passengers benefit from £2 nationwide bus fare cap

23 March 2023

Ten million Go-Ahead passengers benefit from £2 nationwide bus fare cap

Promotional ticket sales reach £20 million since scheme began in January.

Passenger numbers up by 130% on one Carousel Buses route.

Go-Ahead launches a prize competition to encourage more passengers onto buses.

National low fares scheme has been extended until the end of June.

Go-Ahead’s bus companies have carried ten million passengers at the nationwide promotional fare of £2 since the Government began funding a scheme capping the price of bus travel on New Year’s Day. As of today, Go-Ahead bus companies outside London have sold more than £20 million worth of tickets.

The initiative, which is part of the Government’s Help for Households initiative, has made bus travel cheaper on all of Go-Ahead’s regional bus companies – which have networks stretching from Cornwall to Northumberland.

The biggest seller of discount tickets in the Go-Ahead network is Brighton & Hove Buses and Metrobus, where more than 2.5 million passengers have travelled at £2.

On certain routes, passenger numbers have jumped significantly. For example, a route in Buckinghamshire operated by Go-Ahead’s Carousel Buses has seen a 130% uplift in passenger numbers since the beginning of the year. Route 102, which runs from Heathrow Airport to High Wycombe via Beaconsfield and Gerrard’s Cross, has proven particularly popular under the scheme.

Initially planned to run until the end of March, the £2 adult single fares offer across England was recently extended by three months to the end of June, backed with an additional £75 million of funding from the Department for Transport.

“”
The £2 fare cap is an excellent initiative to promote bus travel, and it is great news that it will continue. This valuable funding will safeguard hundreds of routes which are commercially challenging but important for local people.

Buses provide vital connections for local communities across the United Kingdom and we’re pleased to be working with the Department for Transport to make them as affordable as possible. A big increase in passenger numbers on services such as Carousel Buses’ route 102 demonstrates how popular this offer is proving to be.

Martin Dean

Go-Ahead Managing Director, Regional Bus

Participating Go-Ahead bus companies include:

Brighton & Hove Buses and Metrobus

Go South Coast – Bluestar, Morebus, Southern Vectis, Salisbury Reds and Swindon’s Bus Company

Go South West – Plymouth Citybus, Go Cornwall, Go Devon and Dartline

The Oxford Bus Company – including Carousel Buses and Thames Travel

Go East Anglia – Konectbus, Hedingham and Chambers

East Yorkshire Buses

Go North East

Go-Ahead is offering passengers the chance to enter a prize competition by submitting a short video of their £2 bus, journey, route, or destination, with an Apple iPhone for the winner. Videos of up to 1 minute 30 seconds are eligible – the more creative the better.

Shortlisted entries will be shared on the group’s social media channels.

 

More women behind the wheel: female bus drivers up by 20% at Go-Ahead

08 March 2023

More women behind the wheel: female bus drivers up by 20% at Go-Ahead

Female-focused recruitment campaigns yield hundreds of applicants

Award-winning apprenticeship scheme enhances diversity.

Higher pay rates and attractive sign-on packages enhance appeal of driving jobs.

One in eight bus drivers across Go-Ahead’s network are women.

The number of women drivers at Go-Ahead’s UK-wide network of bus companies has risen by 20% in a year following a wide range of efforts to attract more applicants.

Go-Ahead’s bus companies have seen a significant increase in applications for driving jobs from women, following efforts to address the traditionally male dominated image of the industry.

Overall, female representation among Go-Ahead’s 11,000 workforce of drivers has risen from 10% to 12% in 2022, a year in which the industry experienced a chronic shortage of labour, with bus driver vacancies at a high level.

Go-Ahead employs 15,600 people in the UK bus industry. The group is the largest bus operator in London, running a quarter of the capital’s services on behalf of Transport for London. Go-Ahead owns eight regional bus companies outside London – including operations in Devon and Cornwall, Hampshire and Dorset, Brighton & Hove, Oxford, East Anglia, Manchester, East Yorkshire and Tyne & Wear.

Efforts to hire more women bus drivers have included:

Female-focused advertising including a campaign called “we’re hiring people like you” by Go North West in Manchester and a “heroes of the road” campaign at East Yorkshire Buses

A program to build the foundations of culture change across the group which focuses on growing inclusion as a way we do things

A bus driver apprenticeship scheme pioneered at Go-Ahead London

Salaries of £26,000 to £40,000 per year depending on region and experience

“”
Driving a bus is a valuable and rewarding role, providing a vital everyday service up and down Britain.

We want our workforce to reflect the communities we serve, which means a better balance of men and women behind the wheel. I’m pleased that we’re getting more women on board – we’re moving in the right direction but there’s much further to go yet.

Claire Mahoney

Head of Colleague Experience at The Go-Ahead Group

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

31 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.

Luke Marion, Managing Director of the Oxford Bus Company, said: “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.”

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.

Ben Werth, Chief Commercial Officer at Wrightbus, said: “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.”

Christian Schreyer, Group Chief Executive, The Go-Ahead Group, said: “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.”

In December, Go-Ahead opened a Zero Emission Centre of Excellence aimed at developing best practice in operating electric and hydrogen buses. The group already operates electric buses in London, Newcastle, Manchester, and Salisbury, and has ordered a fleet of hydrogen buses for the Crawley and Gatwick Airport area.

Go-Ahead carries two million passengers at £2 under nationwide fare cap

24 January 2023

Go-Ahead carries two million passengers at £2 under nationwide fare cap

National low fares scheme proves popular across Go-Ahead’s bus networks

Promotional ticket sales reach £4 million in first three weeks of January

Scheme allows Go-Ahead’s local operators to add new routes and services

Go-Ahead’s bus companies have carried two million passengers at the nationwide promotional fare of £2 since the Government began funding a scheme capping the price of bus travel on New Year’s Day.

Under the offer, adult single fares across England are no more than £2 for a three-month period, irrespective of distance. Funded with £60 million under the Government’s “Help for Households” program, the initiative is intended to help the public with cost-of-living pressures this winter. As of today, Go-Ahead bus companies outside London had sold over £4 million worth of tickets.

Participating Go-Ahead bus companies include:

Brighton & Hove Buses and Metrobus

Go South Coast – Bluestar, Morebus, Southern Vectis, Salisbury Reds and Swindon’s Bus Company

Go South West – Plymouth Citybus, Go Cornwall, Go Devon and Dartline

The Oxford Bus Company – including Carousel Buses and Thames Travel

Go East Anglia – Konectbus, Hedingham and Chambers

East Yorkshire Buses

Go North East

Demand created by the scheme has allowed Go-Ahead bus companies to launch several new routes – including a new route from High Wycombe to Great Missenden run by Oxford Bus Company, and a Konectbus service in Norwich connecting the city centre with the Heartsease Estate.

Bus journeys available for £2 on Go-Ahead’s buses stretch geographically from Go Cornwall’s route 34 from Redruth to The Lizard – England’s most southerly point – to Go North East’s route 19, which links North Shields with Ashington, Northumberland.

The Buses Minister, Richard Holden, launched the national scheme in December with a visit to Go North East’s depot in Gateshead.

“”
The £2 fare capping scheme is the right idea at the right time and we’re pleased that two million people have so far benefited from it on Go-Ahead buses.

Buses are a great value way to get around, wherever you live in the UK. We’re keen to work closely with the Department for Transport and with other operators to promote this scheme, in order to get maximum benefit from it.

Martin Dean

Go-Ahead Managing Director, Regional 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.

“”
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

Luke Marion appointed Managing Director of the Oxford Bus Company

12 January 2023

Luke Marion appointed Managing Director of the Oxford Bus Company

The Go-Ahead Group has appointed Luke Marion as Managing Director of the Oxford Bus Company.

Previously Finance Director for ten years, Luke has been Interim Managing Director since April 2022, replacing Phil Southall who has moved to a role at The Go-Ahead Group’s head office in London.

A chartered accountant by training, Luke qualified at Ernst & Young, and he worked at Reckitt Benckiser before moving into transport. In addition to his role at Go-Ahead, he is a director of Oxfordshire’s Low Carbon Hub.

The Oxford Bus Company comprises Thames Travel, Carousel Buses and City Sightseeing Oxford as well as the Oxford Bus Company network. Based in Cowley, the business employs 600 people and is wholly owned by The Go-Ahead Group.

Martin Dean, Go-Ahead’s Managing Director, Regional Bus, said: “I’m delighted that Luke will be taking on the role of MD permanently in Oxford. He’s done a great job steering the commercial aspects of the business and he’s the ideal person to take the company forward.

“I’d like to thank Phil Southall for his outstanding leadership in Oxford, and to wish him well in his group role.”

Go Ahead wins franchises to operate Manchester’s Bee Network buses in Bolton and Wigan

23 December 2022

Go Ahead wins franchises to operate Manchester’s Bee Network buses in Bolton and Wigan

  • Go-Ahead’s Go North West selected in first two major contracts awarded under Greater Manchester’s new franchising system
  • Contracts in Bolton and Wigan comprise 55 routes served by a fleet of 308 buses, worth up to £400 million in revenue over seven years
  • Buses will be branded yellow as part of Greater Manchester’s new Bee Network

The Go-Ahead Group has won the first two contracts to be awarded by Transport for Greater Manchester as part of its plan to re-regulate bus services in the city region under its new Bee Network.

Go-Ahead’s Go North West operating company beat off competition from eight other operators bidding to run bus routes in both Wigan and Bolton from 17 September 2023.  TfGM are due to announce a further eight franchise contracts by early 2024, with the full network up and running from January 2025.

The buses will be part of Manchester’s new Bee Network, which will have a common brand and integrated ticketing across the city’s public transport. Under the deal, Go North West will run 55 routes to the north and west of Manchester.

Go North West will be paid a fee to operate the buses and all fares collected will go to TfGM. Around 750 people will transfer to Go North West from existing bus operators.

The Go-Ahead Group has been operating in Manchester since 2019, with a network of buses operating across Greater Manchester and Salford out of the Queens Road depot.

“”
We are very aware of the significance of these awards, and look forward to working closely with TfGM to deliver best in class bus transport in Wigan and Bolton from day one.

We’re delighted to be the first bus operator contracted to run services for Manchester’s new Bee Network. We’ve got an exceptional team at Go North West and we’re very proud of the level of service we provide to passengers.

Nigel Featham, Managing Director of Go North West

Under a strategy called The Next Billion Journeys published in early 2022, Go-Ahead set out plans to grow in the UK regional bus market. Go-Ahead is already the largest operator in London’s franchised bus market, running a quarter of bus services on behalf of Transport for London.

“”
Operating public transport in busy urban areas is Go-Ahead’s speciality. We believe bus travel is going to get more popular over the years ahead as cities around the world grapple with twin challenges of congestion and pollution. We’re pleased to be working with TfGM to deliver Manchester’s vision for the future of local transport

Christian Schreyer, Chief Executive, The Go-Ahead Group

Go-Ahead and UGL win contract to operate buses in Sydney’s South-West

22 December 2022

Go-Ahead and UGL win contract to operate buses in Sydney’s South-West

  • Buses in Sydney’s South and South-West will be operated by a newly created joint venture, U-Go Mobility
  • Contract commences in July 2023 for a term of approximately seven years, delivering over 500,000 passenger journeys daily
  • Go-Ahead is a UK and international bus operator, while UGL brings extensive, proven expertise of public transport infrastructure, operations and maintenance within the Australasian public transport market

The Go-Ahead Group and UGL are pleased to announce that their joint venture company, U-Go-Mobility, has been awarded a contract to operate buses in Sydney by Transport for New South Wales, worth approximately A$500 million, to be split 50-50 between the two partners.

Under a seven year deal with operations beginning in July 2023, U-Go Mobility will operate buses across the Sutherland Shire and Bankstown regions of Sydney. The network will comprise of 225 buses run by more than 400 colleagues, and it accounts for more than half a million passenger journeys every weekday.

The contract combines the previous Sydney Bus Contract regions 5 and 10, and will be known simply as Region 10. The operations are south-west of Sydney’s Central Business District and include services stretching from the city’s southern beaches to south-western suburbs. Areas served include Bankstown, Hurstville, Miranda, Cronulla and Bundeena.

Nominated transferring staff will be provided with offers of employment, allowing the opportunity to transfer to U-Go Mobility.

The contract award draws upon Go-Ahead’s expertise in the operation of buses in global cities and in zero-emission technology, together with UGL’s extensive, proven experience across the Australian transport market. Over the course of the contract term, U-Go will work with Transport for New South Wales to explore opportunities to introduce more zero-emission buses.

Go-Ahead is the largest operator of buses in London, running one in four of the British capital’s iconic red buses, and the group runs more zero-emission buses than any other UK company. Go-Ahead has transport operations stretching across six countries – including buses in the UK, Singapore, Sweden and Ireland, and rail in the UK, Germany and Norway. Go-Ahead has had a transport consultancy business in Australia since 2018.

UGL, a member of the CIMIC Group, is an engineering and services provider, with a track record of major transport infrastructure projects in Australasia’s biggest cities.

Christian Schreyer, Chief Executive of The Go-Ahead Group, said: “We specialise in running busy bus networks in global cities, so we’re delighted to be entering Sydney alongside our partner, UGL. We look forward to delivering punctual, good value buses to get Sydneysiders on their way each day, with outstanding customer service.

“Australia will be Go-Ahead’s seventh country of bus and rail operation. This underlines our ambition for international expansion as climate change, urbanisation and convenience encourage people around the world to switch from cars to public transport.

UGL Managing Director Doug Moss, said: “UGL is keeping Australia moving through our involvement in rail, tram and light rail operations in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra.  We’re pleased to add Sydney bus operations to our portfolio and we’re looking forward to combining our local transport know-how with Go Ahead’s international expertise to provide a quality service for the people of South and South West Sydney.”