With over 50 exhibitors and exciting activities, it’s not to be missed: That’s the message from the organisers of this year’s Album conference, in Glasgow on 14-16 May.
And, in a substantial change, the event has now been opened to non-members, with the key aim of welcoming all operators.
The event sees a variety of speakers, networking, more than 50 exhibitors and a display of nine vehicles.
Changing times
The move to open the event to all is recognition of the change in the operating landscape since Album (the Association of Local Bus Company Managers) was formed in October 1984 when bus industry deregulation was under political consideration.
Membership is on a personal, rather than company, basis and today 160 members from 54 independent (i.e. non-group) operators representing the remaining municipal and independent bus operators in the UK form the organisation.
Album provides networking for managers to share best practice and to respond to government consultations affecting the industry. There are separate marketing, engineering, finance and traffic groups that meet regularly.
Album remains true to its mission: “To provide a forum to exchange best practice among its members and to influence policy, for the promotion of high quality services that encourage more people to travel by bus.”
Every spring, the Album Conference provides an excellent opportunity for members and suppliers to come together and talk about the big issues of the day.
Plenty to mull
And, there are plenty of big issues to tackle. The conference theme is ‘Driving Stability out of Uncertainty’. Delegates will hear from a variety of speakers on topics including Brexit, The Buses Bill, franchising, implications for insurance, ticketing technology and low emission zones
While the event starts on 14 May with a Golf Day at the Cameron House Hotel and dinner cruise on the Clyde, it’s the next day, when the conference opens at the Glasgow Marriott, that debate gets meaty.
Each year the conference moves to a new venue, hosted by a local Album member. This year it is the turn of McGill’s and its MD Ralph Roberts will provide the opening address, setting the tone for the event.
With twin eyes on technical developments and the need to keep innovating against a background of a changing new bus market, Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) CEO Colin Robertson takes ‘manufacturing in uncertain times’ as the title for his address.
He is followed by James Backhouse, of Backhouse Jones solicitors, who will set out the issues around franchising and its implications.
Suppliers
During the conference, delegates will have plenty of opportunity to visit the 50 supplier trade stands, and examine the nine vehicles on display, supplied by Alexander Dennis, Bus & Coach World, EVM Direct, EvoBus, Mellor, Optare, Volvo and Wrightbus.
The suppliers cover many aspects of bus operation.
Employees are the lifeblood of any operation and the Transport Benevolent Fund will be on hand to explain the benefits it offers employers’ staff.
With technology playing such a large part, there will be a number of suppliers offering products. For example Ticketer will be celebrating another year of partnership with Album members, helping them to offer individualised, easy travel experiences for passengers by moving to contactless and m-Ticketing. It will be demonstrating its new app, with m-Ticketing with free multi-operator journey planning and real-time service information.
Alfatronix will be launching its new USB charger designed for installation into environments where dust and water ingress prove to be a problem such as the sidewall of a vehicle. In addition, it has a new wall-mounted device permitting ease of installation of USB chargers into disabled bays and is also perfect for retrofit.
Appropriately, given the insurance topic on the third day, Timespace Technology’s presence will focus on its digital CCTV recorders and systems.
It’s not all work, and the second day concludes with a barbeque at the Cameron House hotel.
Changing environment
The final day deals with other hot topics. Mike Russell MSP brings delegates up to date with ‘Brexit: The Story So Far’, while LowCVP MD Andy Eastlake will tackle the subject of Low Emission Zones. The day concludes with Mark Prowting, Account Director at Willis Towers Watson Land Transportation Practice, explaining ‘insurance in a changing environment.’
The event concludes with a gala dinner at the Marriott Hotel.
Today’s operators need to be nimble and agile, and that’s also been the case with this year’s conference that had to be re-arranged and re-dated after fire destroyed some of the facilities at the original venue at the Cameron House hotel.
Fortunately, a number of facilities remain available, enabling some of the social activities to be carried out at the popular site, while considerable work by McGill’s has ensured that the programme, content and networking are expected to be among the best, maintaining the standards of this highly-regarded event.
Delegate places are still available for booking, with all details on the website.
Details and bookings at www.albumbus.co.uk
