The new Chair of the Institute of Transport Administration (IoTA) wants the organisation to return to its roots and to promote skills exchange and training programmes for the coach and other transportation sectors.
Greg Powell, a Director at Cozy Travel of Sandy, took over in the role at the road, air, rail and sea transportation body last month and wants more coach operators to take advantage of what it offers.
The Institute, which was founded in 1944, is a registered friendly society that exists to share knowledge and promote educational programmes. Despite its official scope, the bulk of its membership is road-based, with an estimated 30% of that from the coach and bus industry.
Mr Powell, who has been a member of the institute since 2007, says he is proud to represent the coach industry in the new role and adds: “My primary aim is to get the Institute back to what it was initially for, which is education and training. We offer different forms of education, knowledge and training to members and make them the best they can be within their sector.”
Stuck in a rut
Believing the organisation had become “stuck in a rut”, he says: “I want to push it forward and give it momentum. I want to ask ‘What’s the plan? What direction are we heading in?’ There are lots of members that have lots of ideas and we need to put all that together. We have lots of trainers who have different ideas for training courses. We need to use that and develop new training courses that we can be offering to members and non-members. We have so many members that are so skilled within the industry but it’s not being utilised.”
Offering an example of what he believes IoTA offers to individuals and organisations, he says: “We had someone contact us yesterday struggling to do their PSV module four and asked if we had any members that could help him. We guided him to our member skills centre and there was a member that could help him.”
Promising to be “visual and vocal” within the industry, among Mr Powell’s pleas is for more variety when it comes to the training courses offered.
DCPC changes
Regarding the proposed changes to Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC), he is largely of the “don’t fix what’s not broke” ideology. An advocate for ongoing professional development, he says: “You’ve got to do something to keep yourself in line with all the current legislation, all the changes that come through and the only way you can do that is by training.”
When it comes to the possibility of increased flexibility on DCPC courses, he adds: “It’s the course content and the material that need to be improved upon. There needs to be more flexibility in what you can put within the courses.”
He is also not enthusiastic about suggestions for e-learning taking over from traditional settings.
“My personal thinking is you learn more in a classroom setting than you do sitting in front of a screen,” he says. “You get more interaction with those around you, you’re able to compare stories and experiences.”
