Brighton & Hove Buses isn't just talk – its ethics and commitment are written right through it, says Managing Director Martin Harris
“That’s a hard act to follow.” Words Martin Harris has heard many times.
As he took the reins at Brighton & Hove Buses (B&H) four years ago, Martin was following in the footsteps of one of the industry’s best-respected managing directors – Roger French, a charismatic face to the high-performing operation.
But instead of trying to wear Roger’s shoes, and become the new ‘face’ of Brighton & Hove, Martin has taken a different approach – and made the team the focus.
Living up to the strapline of 'essential travel for our city', the team at B&H have worked hard to make the company an integral part of the city, and not just a local bus service. Martin says: “The emphasis is on the strength of the team. That's what our approach is about.”
There's a different strand to the approach too, and that is not to simply appear to have good ethics and intentions – but to hold those ethics at its heart.
“We want to be an active part of community,” says Martin, “rather than running buses and doing a few good things on the side.
“The way you work has to be how you do your good things. It's never just about signing a cheque.”
Great mentors
Martin, a Liverpool man by birth, has worked for Brighton & Hove and the Go-Ahead Group for 37 years, coming to Brighton in 1980 as a Southdown trainee. He returned to Brighton & Hove full-time in 1984 and left in 1996. “My bus career began here,” he says. “It made a big impression on me.”
He then went to Go North East, where he stayed, as Commercial Director, until 2013 when the Managing Director post came up at B&H.
To his surprise – and “for the third time in my career” – he was offered two jobs instead of one, as Alan Eatwell, MD of Metrobus in Crawley, was also retiring. Go-Ahead decided to split Metrobus's London-going franchised operation from its deregulated services, with the latter being merged with Brighton & Hove for greater synergy, and with Martin MD of both.
Martin pays tribute to both Roger and Alan, who he calls great mentors, along with Peter Huntley from whom he learnt much at Go North East.
“People say Roger French must be a hard act to follow, but it's never felt that difficult to me,” says Martin. “I worked with Roger, I know him, but I'm conscious I have to run the business in what I think is the right way. There’s no sense in feeling that you’re in someone’s shadow. You have to do the best you can – and that’s what I feel I have done.”
Strong brands and rebrands
Four years later, B&H and Metrobus have a common management structure, and each depot has its own Operations Manager and Engineering Manager, but there are no plans to strip either brand of its strong identity. Metrobus has been given a refreshed livery in its traditional colours of blues and yellow, in an ongoing programme.
“There would be no sense in merging identities – both brands are really strong,” says Martin. “Bus services are local and people identify with them locally. They're not interested in who else is involved down the road.”
Another exciting, locally-driven change to the business is the rebranding of B&H's day trips, tours and private hire side as Spirit of Sussex – to set it apart from the bus operation, give it a personality of its own, and make it a more attractive, upmarket proposition.
The change also repositions it as being for the people of Metrobus's Crawley heartland too.
It's been a successful launch, and Martin reports good feedback from drivers and customers so far.
All in favour
Martin's assertion that the drivers are in favour comes without prompting, which indicates the way he thinks about the business. The team is a key part of everything he does.
He pays tribute to many individual members of staff, including Mike Best, Commercial Director, Kevin Carey, Chief Operating Officer at Metrobus, and Steve Ambury, Engineering Director at B&H. “And they'd pay credit to their teams, too,” he says.
There's certainly a lot to shout about. B&H has had an OCRS 'green' score for 18 months now, with a 100% first-time pass rate for MoTs.
Its 265 Brighton & Hove buses are modern, with 87% of the fleet Euro 5 or higher, and another 34 new Euro 6 buses are due for delivery in the autumn. It's a year ahead of the city council's LEZ target, and has earmarked £2.5m for a new city centre depot. There are a further 130 buses in the Metrobus fleet, with a similar profile.
The Brighton & Hove fleet is 100% Wi-Fi-fitted, getting on for 100% USB charger-fitted, and 100% 'talking bus' with next-stop visual/audio announcements, too.
But the company recognises that even in the best companies with the best cultures, staff are still human and disagreements and difficulties can arise. It works with Unite to operate a Dignity and Respect campaign among its 1,500 staff, promoting mutual respect and better relationships between them.
“We've acknowledged that we still have work to do, and we've developed values to work to,” says Martin. “We want to be a really great place to work.”
The company is also trying to be even better with accessibility, not just in terms of boarding buses but with customer service as well, and supporting the community in getting to the buses – for instance, by helping people lead a more active life.
Helping hands
It's launched a Helping Hand scheme, which allows passengers to discreetly hand the driver a card that tells the driver about their specific needs; it has trained over one third of employees as 'Dementia Friends' in partnership with the city's Dementia Action Alliance; and it runs a taxi guarantee service, for any wheelchair user who cannot board a bus for any reason.
“It's been developed through teamwork, from engineers, to drivers, to our Accessibility Officer, plus people from a range of organisations, and users with different mobility challenges – it's a real collaborative approach,” says Martin.
That Accessibility Officer is Victoria Garcia, the only such member of staff at any bus company in the country, as far as B&H is aware. Her work with community groups has resulted not only in the Helping Hand scheme, but also in the company using buses with a pull-down handpole for the wheelchair space instead of an access-obstructing fixed one, and extensive work on installing hearing loops for hearing aid users on board the buses.
Crucially important is getting feedback from people who will use the services. “We want to find out what it's like from people who will use it,” says Martin, “and how to do it in a way that works for them. With the Helping Hand scheme, we took it to the community for them to take it apart and rebuild. It wouldn’t be half as good without their input. They came up with lots of little details that are important and helpful.”
B&H has won two recent awards for its accessibility work: One from Guide Dogs UK, recognising its 'exemplary work' in accessibility measures, and one from Eastbourne Care, recognising its work to help carers, which includes the Carer's Card, a discount for those looking after people with mobility issues.
Special editions
Brighton & Hove's famous red and cream livery is well-known for never carrying much advertising, but go to the city these days and you might catch sight of one of its nine brightly-coloured Special Edition buses.
One of these is entirely given over to the Rockinghorse children's charity, celebrating its 50th year. The others are the Fringe Festival-supporting Arts Bus; the Diversity Bus; the Paddle Round the Pier Bus; the Beach Bus; the South Downs Bus; the Music Bus; the Fun Bus; and the Get Active Bus. Each promotes to striking effect an aspect of Brighton and Hove's rich culture, and all of them have been designed by local creative agencies.
“Bus companies are unique in the way we're physically on the streets of the cities we serve,” says Martin. “We have a prominent presence, 18 to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's a huge responsibility, and an opportunity to use that within the community.
“We've got opportunities to do things that other businesses just don't or can't.”
B&H backs all this up with practical ways for local people to use its buses cost-effectively.
Its Community Deals are a package of discounts for those who may struggle to pay bus fares. They include free travel for people trying to get back to work; family discounts including 'sibling savers'; free travel for the first four weeks for new employees with its employer partners; and an annual discount pass for members of the East Sussex Credit Union.
“We're trying to be more proactive on these; make them more high-profile,” says Martin. “We need to make sure we're doing these sorts of things, and not just talking about them. It's not just PR.”
And that sums up Brighton & Hove Buses, really. It's not just talk.
