Oxford Bus Group – the Go-Ahead subsidiary made up of Carousel Buses, City Sightseeing Oxford, Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel – has appointed Luke Marion (pictured) as Interim Managing Director after existing MD Phil Southall was seconded to the role of Bus Performance Director with the owning group.
Mr Southall’s secondment will last for six months. The Bus Performance Director role will involve visiting operators within the Go-Ahead Group “to help drive operational excellence across the business,” Oxford Bus Group says in a statement.
Mr Marion has been with the business since 2012, most recently as Finance and Commercial Director. He will hold the Interim MD role for the duration of Mr Southall’s secondment, and retain his commercial responsibilities.
Service Delivery Director Paul Hennigan will additionally take on HR matters while Mr Southall is seconded to a group role, while consultant Phil Lashford has been appointed as Interim Finance Director.
Speaking about the temporary changes, Mr Marion says: “We have a strong broader leadership team in place that we developed during the pandemic. It gives excellent support to the Director team and has enabled us to transition into this new interim senior management structure smoothly. We wish Mr Southall well during his secondment and welcome Mr Lashford into the group.
“While it remains a challenging time for the bus industry, I believe we are in an exciting period where we can continue to rebuild patronage as public confidence gets stronger. Combined with this, we are continuing to strive to make improvements to our workforce, infrastructure, technology and networks.”
