Blackpool Transport Finance and Commercial Director James Carney is to retire from the business in January 2023.
Mr Carney has spent seven years in the role and boasts an industry career of over three decades. He steps down to spend more time with his family and “will depart having made substantial contributions to the industry,” a Blackpool Transport spokesperson says.
One of the key achievements under Mr Carney’s tenure was an overhauled approach to fleet policy introduced by the operator. Under its Palladium programme utilising vehicles with high interior specifications, wholesale renewal has greatly reduced the average age to below three years. A promise to operate no buses that are over five years old has “largely been delivered,” the operator adds.
Such fleet regeneration has been driven by an innovative business plan that Blackpool Transport says “turned an industry tradition on its head.”
Under the Palladium model, buses always display the latest technologies. That policy will advance significantly thanks to a successful bid to the Zero Emission Bus Regional Areas (ZEBRA) scheme’s standard track by Blackpool Council. It will see 115 zero-emission buses delivered to the municipal operator, all to Palladium specification.
The ZEBRA work will be accompanied by other projects, says Blackpool Transport. Earlier in 2022, Mr Carney was credited for his contribution to the successful organisation of 2022’s Association of Local Bus Managers conference in Blackpool. Recruitment of his successor is yet to begin.
