Whippet is a bus operator with a long history and a long future. Its sale to Tower Transit in 2014 paved the way for innovation – in technology, staff culture and management style
The imminent Bus Services Bill may have thrown up a lot of uncertainty in the industry, but there is one rural operator in the UK that advocates a franchising regime.
It’s not surprising, seeing as Cambridgeshire-based Whippet has been owned since 2014 by Tower Transit – a British bus operator with an Australian heritage, with strong businesses in London and Singapore, both of which are franchised.
A re-regulated industry would make it far easier for Tower Transit to compete with the big operators in cities, not least in Cambridge, nine miles from Whippet’s Swavsey depot.
And Whippet already reduces risk by conducting most of its business in franchise-like fixed-term contracts, through National Express work, services on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, and a prestigious contract with Cambridge University.
Its view is that the best competition is derived where a strong franchising process is run – “no question.”
Regardless of how the Bus Services Bill looks when it’s published, Whippet has a strong future.
Stretching people
At the helm is Charlie Hamilton, probably one of the brightest young minds in the industry, who in a few short months has turned around Impact Coaches of London, another Tower Transit business. His time is now split between Impact and Whippets, where his non-industry background allows him to innovate in management style and bring fresh perspective to this 98-year-old business.
But, crucially, he’s not on his own. “Tower Transit’s mindset is to put people into a position slightly earlier than they’re ready, and stretch them – but surround them with people so they can't fail,” he says, adding that he’s a good example of that. He is supported at Whippet by Paul Young, another London busman, who moved to Whippet in 2014 as Area Manager Special Projects when Tower Transit bought it.
Charlie quotes his father: “Surround yourself with people better than you, and you can’t go wrong.” But Charlie’s knack for people management and business innovation combined with Paul’s industry knowledge creates a management team that’s not to be sniffed at.
The ‘stretch’ principal works across the team at Whippets, with several staff members promoted out of their comfort zone, surrounded by people who can help them with anything, and encouraged to grow into their new role.
It’s produced outstanding results, with several team members – Engineer Paul Titterington, Driver Training Officer Dave Panton, Traffic Controller Steve Whitehead, and Performance Manager Phil Hale, to name a few – having developed careers, so they’re no long “just a driver” or “just an engineer”, but a developed member of the team. Phil, who is now Performance Manager on Whippet’s Universal route contracted by Cambridge University, says: “For the first time I'm nervous but excited about coming to work.”
The idea is to create careers in the industry.
Paul Young began his career as a bus engineer with Nelson Coaches; he worked his way through driving, to staff management, to general management. In more recent years, he says, “it’s got to the point in the industry where the pot has seemed to dry up.
“People have been coming in as bus drivers but don't want anything more from it, or see it as a stopgap, and don’t see the business as having a career path. I would dispute that; a lot of people would.”
With the bus industry’s notoriously low margins, says Charlie, “there’s more reason to be creative about what we do in terms of creating a career. You can do so much that’s not related to money.”
Engineering investment
The engineering team has been the first target for Tower Transit’s investment in Whippet, with new equipment in the garage and IRTE Workshop accreditation complementing irtec and FTA training for all six technicians. In 2017, the plan is to get them all to IRTE’s Master Technician level accreditation.
“The engineers are impressed with the investment,” says Paul. “They actually came to us last year and said they didn't want a pay rise, because they understand how much has been invested in them and in the workshop.”
Drivers have proved a little trickier to win over than the engineers, and one of Tower Transit’s first challenges was to manage their expectations: Naturally, being taken over by a London operator led some to believe they’d be getting London wages, but Tower Transit is far from being a “bottomless pit”, says Paul.
In November, an average 9% pay rise was awarded to drivers. “Other companies pay more, but that’s against not finishing after 2000hrs and limited Sunday working,” says Paul. “It’s settling down now. There have been a few moans and groans, but mostly the staff can see what we're trying to do.”
Charlie adds: “The biggest thing we're changing is the culture, and that's the hardest thing to change. You can't change it with a stick. You have to prove what you're doing and saying, and then people buy into it.
“The engineers bought into it quite quickly, and now the drivers are coming along; they're starting to see the benefits.”
Fleet upgrades
Since 2014, 70% of Whippet’s fleet has been upgraded, with the age profile being reduced from nearly 18 years to 11 years.
One of the reasons Whippet was an attractive buy for Tower Transit is that it gives the London business scope to cascade its vehicles within the company, but that’s not to say there has been no fresh investment in new vehicles.
Seven new Wrightbus single-deckers have been bought for the Universal university contract, and Whippet currently has seven brand new tri-axle Caetano Levantes on order for its National Express work, which tripled in January with a new five-year contract. Whippet is a National Express ‘Gold’ operator, with a close working relationship between the two.
Biggest growth area
Charlie admits that he was initially disparaging about rural and city commercial bus routes; he now calls it the business’s “biggest area for growth”. Cambridge is one of the UK’s fastest-growing cities, and Whippet, through Commercial Manager Mat Wool, is trying to convince housing developers to subsidise new bus networks, so that transport is in place for new home owners that will entice residents onto public transport, and help them adapt their travel patterns – which ultimately will put up the value of the new houses.
Whippet’s focus is on its three big clients: The council, the University, and National Express. Each presents several growth opportunities: More than its commercial bus network, which relies more on risk on Whippet’s part for growth.
The management team are keen to work closely with the council and support their public transport strategy where possible.
The National Express work has doubled since Whippet’s first contract started, three days after Tower Transit bought the business. In future, there is potential for Whippet to run more National Express routes from the Impact depot in Perivale, London, and there has been discussion around National Express using Whippet’s Cambridgeshire network to expand its catchment area.
The university contract, relaunched by Whippet as the ‘Universal’ in July 2016, is the result of an innovative tender bid that proposed using part of the Guided Busway to improve reliability and make it more cost-efficient. It uses new buses with USB charging points and branding designed by the University – “They know what their students and staff need better than we do,” says Charlie.
Whippet was bought by Tower Transit partly as an “incubator” for new ideas and new technologies, and partly to see how the deregulated bus regime works in the UK. That it is still such a firm proponent of franchising is telling. “Competition breeds innovation,” says Charlie. “We’re not big enough to threaten major operators, but we’re big enough to make them sit up and take a look. And that’s good for both our businesses.”
For the next 90 years
Whippet was, until 2014, run by the Lee family since 1919.
For a global operator with its UK base in London to take on this small rural family business has involved a culture change, but that has been helped by the company’s flat management structure and the approachability of its managers. Charlie’s and Paul’s doors are always open, and Tower Transit is a family-run firm itself, with a strong team ethic. “We talk to people instead of at people,” says Paul. “We want to be the best at what we do.”
“We don't have to be the biggest or the most brash,” adds Charlie. “We want to be different and more agile. The business has been going for over 90 years: We're only two years in, and we're developing it for the next 90 years.
“Our mentality is – let's get it right. Let’s have a small business that works, rather than a big business that can't cope.”
