For 20 years, Grant Palmer has been operating bus services across Bedfordshire. We find out the secret to the firm’s success and how it plans to celebrate
What is the secret of success to running an independent bus operation?
For Grant Palmer, Managing Director of the Flitwick, Bedfordshire-based bus firm of the same name, it’s having a strong team behind him.
“I know it’s a cliché, but it is the team around us that makes the business a success. It really is a team effort – you can’t run a company this size with one person,” he says.
Celebrating its 20-year anniversary this year, Grant started his business running two double-deckers operating two school contracts.
The firm now has a 35-strong fleet – running 15 commercial and nine tendered services across Bedfordshire – and employs 75 members of staff, comprising around 60 drivers and an administration and engineering team.
Good foundations
While recruitment and employee retention are thorny subjects for the bus industry, Grant Palmer prides itself on providing a personal and honest environment for its staff.
“We’ve tried to deal with recruitment issues in our own personal and targeted way by making employees feel they are a part of a family that cares,” says David Shelley, who Grant appointed as his business partner just over three years ago.
“We then use this personal touch to build relationships in the business, which I think has created a nice, friendly feel for everyone who works here. We’re a close-knit team because of this.”
Adds Grant: “As we sit here today we are fully-staffed, so I think that is an indication of the success of the strategy we use.”
Creating this type of working environment is what both Grant and David attribute to the firm’s success.
Says David: “Throughout the whole business, people care a lot about what they do because it is family-run and that’s a really good foundation.
“If people really care about what they’re trying to achieve, it’s going to make a real impact on customer service.”
A personal approach
Being able to offer a more personal service to customers is one of the plus points of operating a small independent firm, says David.
This personal touch is carried on throughout the business, including its relationships with customers – both passengers and local authorities (LAs).
“We’ve tried again to use this more direct and personal contact with LAs by keeping ourselves accessible, which has meant we’ve been able to maintain network stability and deliver any help to LAs to resolve any issues they may have,” says Grant.
Furthermore, Grant’s wife Emma deals with the customer service side of the business, and because of her last name, it helps people to realise that it is a family business and promotes a more personal service.
Rising numbers
Of course, no business would be successful without customers and Grant Palmer believes that it is offering a dependable and stable bus network that encourages passengers on its buses.
Says David: “We operate in an area of the country that perhaps traditionally you would associate with declining bus usage. However, we’re lucky that we’ve managed to deliver passenger growth.”
The firm also credits its focus on delivering a good quality, good value and dependable local bus service on increased bus patronage.
“We’ve also done a lot of work to deliver a stable network,” says Grant. “We don’t change our services that often and when we do we try to change them in an intuitive way and not impact too many of our existing customers.”
Focusing efforts
Knowing what works and what doesn’t is also imperative to Grant Palmer’s success.
Says David: “The size of the business means we are in touch with what’s going on within it. We’re in touch with the costs, the revenues, the opportunities and the risks, and we’re able to manage our way through them effectively.”
The use of social media is not high on the firm’s agenda, for example, with the view that time and money can be best spent on other more worthwhile activities.
“We’ve taken a step back from social media because we didn’t feel we were getting value for money from the time spent on it,” says David.
“When we looked at the number of followers that bus operators typically get to the number of passengers they’re carrying, we just think it’s better to invest our time into methods that reach the public more widely.
“As a small family-run business and we need to focus our efforts on what’s going to deliver us a better return.”
The basics
One of these focuses includes upholding the operator’s image, such as maintaining its vehicles’ presentation.
“We introduced a new livery a few years ago, which has been very well received,” says David.
“We keep vehicles clean and smart on the inside and out. That also includes the drivers, with the focus on customer care to create this reliable and personal feel, so that people get to recognise the drivers.
“It’s basic stuff, but it does have a positive impact.”
Ensuring information about its bus networks is consistent in terms of branding and readily available to the public also plays a part. This includes a recently-improved website and a range of printed publicity that is distributed to local businesses.
“We’ve also tried to improve roadside publicity. We’ve worked closely with particularly Central Bedfordshire Council to improve the presentation of bus stops, for instance,” says David.
“It all sounds like obvious things, but as an industry it’s maybe where we’ve let things slip over the years – you’ve got to remember the basics,” Grant adds.
Positive investments
The firm’s investment in technology has also been an asset to the business, says Grant. This include multi-camera CCTV on all of its buses, which has been beneficial in terms of its accident and complaints management.
Last year it invested in Lytx for its driver behaviour safety systems.
Says David: “It has been really positive in allowing us to improve awareness and understanding of what’s going on out on the roads.
“It’s not about identifying when a driver has a near miss and telling them off, it’s about raising awareness of a particular risk on road.
“It has allowed us to identify the amazing job that so many of our drivers do on a day-to-day basis avoiding incidents and recognising that more.”
The firm continues to progress, with contactless payments high on its agenda for the future.
New talent
It’s not just technology Grant Palmer invests in, but also its staff – something that is an important consideration when it comes to business succession.
Says Grant: “It’s always a nice thought that your children will take over, but I am not pinning any hopes on that as they are still young.
“It’s all very well being of an age where you can have a business handed over to you, but you’ve also got to have the experience and experience in this industry does not happen overnight.”
David adds: “Strategically we’ve deliberately tried to bring in some more dynamic people into the business – people who have potentially got the capability, calibre and experience to run the business and do more with it.
“We’re lucky that we have got a team of people that are enthusiastic and eager to learn and develop new skills.”
The firm also has its own engineering team, which has welcomed apprenticeships in the past and is something it plans to look into again. It also employs a number of drivers that it has put through training.
“It’s a way to support the industry and bring in new talent,” says Grant.
Celebrating 20 years
While specific plans to mark the 20-year milestone are still under wraps, celebrations will “predominantly be for our staff,” says Grant.
However, the firm does plan to mark the occasion in June by taking people – nominated by local charities – to Woburn Abbey for cream teas on its 1965 London Routemaster.
Says David: “We do want to raise awareness of the anniversary to our customers as well.
“It would be wrong to say it will significantly change our network and delivery because we try and do our best every year, but it is something that should be marked because it’s a good sign for our customers about the stability of what we do.
“We’ve been here for 20 years, progressively delivering better bus services and our message is that it’s going to continue.”
