I spent the 1980s driving as what was called at the time a one-man operator, starting the decade with the National Bus Company’s Eastern Counties subsidiary and working through deregulation of the bus industry.
Following in my father’s footsteps, I loved the job, but I cannot remember a great deal of training given to the values of good customer service. If we were running light back to the garage, we simply rolled the destination display to show ‘out of service’.
Nowadays on buses I see an electronically displayed message that reads ‘Sorry, not in service.’ There is the difference for me. That additional word – ‘sorry’ – shows much greater awareness of the customer.
There are leading operators that seek to employ people with proven customer service backgrounds and then train them to be coach and bus drivers, rather than solely seeking existing ‘badge holders’. This is an aspect that was covered in last year’s CILT BusMark driver shortage report.
As we all appreciate, passenger transport is a people business. It is based upon attracting and retaining customers. So what more can we do to recruit new talent into the industry and support them in building successful careers?
As Go-Ahead Group Managing Director, Regional Bus, Martin Dean said when addressing the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK Bus and Coach Conference recently, driver apprenticeships “really do work” for the industry.
In response to BusMark member requests, our latest snapshot survey is looking at the recruitment and development of graduates and apprentices.
Questions being asked include whether the respective operator prefers its fresh and talented people to concentrate on developing knowledge in one specialised area of the business or across many departments, and whether it encourages them to attend and network at cross-sector events. Maybe a new initiative in rail or aviation could inspire development of good practice back at their coach or bus base?
Supporting these people throughout their careers, and their employer, is part of CILT’s reason for being. That is demonstrated by the Institute’s Competency Framework. It provides an understanding of the competencies required for success.
Many organisations have professional development frameworks in place. This competency-based approach will serve to inform and enhance what already exists within the areas of passenger transport, as well as logistics and supply chain organisations.
As CILT’s coach and bus benchmarking club, BusMark has a current membership operating more than 28,500 PSVs. It will continue to strive to improve the recruitment and long-term career development of talented staff at all levels and areas of operation within the profession.
Initiatives such as this regular guest column with routeone can certainly help to encourage new ways of thinking, whether that involves reaching out to those with customer service backgrounds, attracting back to the profession existing qualified drivers and engineers that we may have lost to other sectors, or other approaches that benefit the industry.
Passenger transport is fast paced, innovative and critical to our daily lives. It should be viewed as a profession of choice for talented individuals looking for roles that make a difference to society’s safety, prosperity and freedom of movement.
About the author
Chris Ruane has enjoyed a long industry career and been with CILT since 2010. He plays a major part of its work in coach and bus. Contact him via email.
