I’m not supposed to be here, it’s a real challenge – but I love it!

In the last issue we began a series of contributions from newcomers to the local transport world and invited further voices to join the debate in the run-up to the first Local Transport Summit in November. We were delighted to receive this article from Sarah Huntley who shares her unexpected journey into this sector

Sarah Huntley

Sarah Huntley

I’d like to share my journey into the world of local transport and, like Ellis Dodwell in LTT703, it’s not entirely conventional.

Not only did I never plan on being in this industry, I specifically spent most of my life avoiding it! I was born the same year as the company I now help to run, which my parents both founded and worked for. Even in my teenage years I was engulfed in ‘transport stuff’ that they engaged in and I wanted nothing to do with. 

When my friends went on holiday, their dad’s rented cars. Not mine. I was stuck crossing Asia on a sodding sleeper train. I did a politics degree, a social policy masters, and worked in retail, actively avoiding any work offered by my dad at the Transport Advisory Service.

Then things changed. And one of us (me, my brother or sister) needed to work at TAS in some capacity for a period. So, I joined; to take on the admin role from which Heather was retiring. To do JUST admin, I stress, and I managed to stick to that quite well for a few years. 

But something changed and, when I try to explain it to others, I liken it to a sort of infection: you don’t notice till it’s too late and it’s completely taken hold. I heard Brian Souter speak a while ago – I don’t even remember where – but I remember agreeing passionately with everything he said. I also remember realising that I was actually interested and wanted to get involved. I realised I love this industry, I care about its survival and I want passenger transport to improve and prosper… Then I had to go for a stiff drink. 

Since then, I have been hooked. Every project I can work on, every new idea we can explore, every new person I can meet all excite me. And I still don’t quite know why. I have never been more passionate about my work than I am now. Now I’m learning as fast as I can; every new job brings new experiences, skills and solutions and it never bores me. 

My journey into this world was not very likely. In fact I have the privilege of being here purely by accident. I have no official transport qualifications or academic knowledge, and I am by a long way probably the least informed person that will ever respond to this, but I saw the piece that Ellis wrote in LTT last week and wanted to add my bit anyway, because I love this industry and most days that still surprises me.

One of the questions last week’s issue asked me was ‘what are the three major challenges facing local transport over the next 20 years?’ 

Perception

The perception of passenger transport, both locally and nationally, is one of the single largest challenges facing the industry. Though anyone working in local transport knows there’s an array of modes and provision options between the bus and the car, for most of the population, it’s very much an ‘us and them scenario’, with the car widely perceived as the better option. 

Until recently I was in the same mindset. Public transport was a last choice or worst-case scenario. If I could drive, I would. Now I see this perception in others more than I did before. My friends, family and even some of my colleagues show a profound reluctance to take the bus, train or tram because it’s ‘easier to drive’ (it’s ‘common knowledge’ that it’s harder to get anywhere on public transport). Yet in reality it rarely is. There’s traffic, parking, getting lost, accidents, diversions and limits on what you can do at your destination as a responsible driver. 

From speaking to friends in Germany and other European countries, I am led to believe that this misguided perception is fairly unique to our little island. But I have no real idea why. I have considered the effect of a sector that has seemingly waved the white flag already, and accepted it is in decline, a sector that gave up on selling its product with a united front decades ago: an industry that, en masse quite simply gave up on itself. How can I expect the rest of the country to have any other perception? Why would anyone choose a donkey like Eeyore, when they can drive their own shiny happy honey-loving vehicle? 

In the next 20 years the passenger transport sector, whatever form it takes, must facilitate a perception shift. If it can’t be at least seen on equal standing to the car in some circumstances, it may as well give up now!

Loss of knowledge

Something I have noticed is, more and more frequently, TAS is employed as a consultancy to do things that local authorities should be able to, and generally had been doing, themselves. But it seems that the people who had done so or were going to learn to do these things have been the first to be cut. 

In the short-term this might not have an immediate impact. There are consultancies geared to do what they need – but that won’t last forever. More and more of the specialist knowledge needed is disappearing; absorbed into larger more general consultancies that rarely dabble in the day-to-day scheduling and procurement problems of local authorities; diverted to a more lucrative line of work; or just simply retired. There seems to be a big gap between the under 30 or fast-approaching 60+.  

In 20 years, most of the conventional wisdom will be gone – not necessarily an entirely bad thing as it will make way for new ideas, new ways of doing things and new solutions. However some things of real value risk getting lost – including knowledge and experience – and there will be a huge challenge to fill those gaps over the next 20 years.   

The changing nature of connection

We live in a different world than the one into which the traditional public bus service was born; in a number of ways, things have changed including both the nature of human interaction and connection and the effect of those connections on expectations and lifestyle. 

I remember being four or five and stood with my dad on Preston train station, when he explained to me how the train brought about Greenwich Mean Time. 

I always remembered that fact because it blew my tiny mind: that such a short time ago, our island had local time zones because of a lack of connectivity. As I got older it still impressed me that, at a time when we were one of the great imperial powers of the world, it could be 6pm at my house in Lancashire and half past at my aunt’s in Kent.

The nature of human connection has radically changed in just a century or so. The internet, mobile technology, online shopping, automation and other developments have altered connectivity so much it almost leaves the physical dimension behind – though it can’t absolutely do so because we are still physical beings, with physical needs, that we sometimes need to move ourselves from one place to another to fulfil our physical needs. However, traditional public transport is fulfilling less and less of these needs, and is a decade (at least) behind the rest of the retail industry. Whether public or private, retail is the sector passenger transport must relate to. Supermarkets have rethought their offer and created online provision – in fact almost everyone else has. Food, clothes, beauty services, builders, landscapers can all come to you with a few clicks. You can transfer money, check in with and pay for your utilities, order a wheelie bin, and pay your rates without having to leave home or make a call. Transport needs to follow suit. 

Merely being a means of connection is not enough, and has not been for a long time. Transport services must be provided with the same level of interconnectivity (and held to the same standard as) as my weekly shop, for which I get an email on a Friday asking if I want anything extra this week, and is delivered Saturday morning without me having to lift a finger.

Transport services must be provided with the same level of interconnectivity as my weekly shop

So where does it fit into the wider agenda? Nothing is truly separate anymore in our world and is unlikely to be ever again. Of course, proper transport planning and provision will always benefit from local and specialist knowledge and understanding. However, without interacting with and taking account of the wider picture, local transport is unlikely to be very efficient, will lack real benchmarking and will fail to benefit from lessons learned in other parts of the economy and society.

Local passenger transport must endeavour to be less bound by the traditional connotations of ‘brand’ and ‘business model’, less insular and inward-looking and must explore the entire rainbow of possibilities. 

It’s a given that local public transport delivery will get faster, cleaner, safer, automated, more or less centralised in varying degrees; that the current Bus Services Bill, franchising and all that follows, will have an uncountable amount of possible effects on provision. 

But far more significant will be the wider situation in which it is delivered, outside of any industry developments or regulation, and impactful changes beyond its control. Socially things are dramatically changing and the madness of the Pokemon Go app is just the start. The internet, online gaming, social media, new ways of interacting and socialising and spending leisure time which over the last few decades have encouraged/necessitated more time staying at home are being turned inside out. We now enter the era of augmented reality (AR) where taking our social networking and online gaming out into the world is more attractive than keeping it behind closed doors. And it’s not purely tech-based. In real-life zombie runs, escape rooms and geo-caching are booming too. A clever transport operator or local authority would already be developing their own service-specific AR app with some clever patronage-growing rewards, but I’ve been harping on about that since Ingress came out… (Those who need to ask what Ingress is, by the way, are making my point!)

It might not wave a magic wand on local transport delivery, but a good knowledge and understanding of the implications of augmented reality events and gaming and the necessary transport implications will be valuable. Are they taught on transport courses yet? Well they should be!

Some of the issues are obvious. There’s a big difference between driving and getting on a bus and being able to be on your phone for example. Meanwhile, we have only begun to scratch the surface on proper use of the phenomenal amount of data available on people’s travel patterns and habits, which could fundamentally alter the way we deliver transport.

I know Uber is often a dirty word in this industry, but surely they’ve got it right? It isn’t just that they can undercut taxi costs or that they have a very ‘comfy’ business model or because the drivers are self-motivated towards the best level of service. It’s because they are data-savvy and smart in using systems so I can book a taxi without speaking to someone, see it every step of the way, and never have to worry about cash; I NEVER HAVE TO SPEAK TO SOMEONE: I JUST TAP MY SMARTPHONE.

That’s not really an anti-social or social-anxiety thing, though for some people it may be; it’s about accountability/reliability/security. I get a face, a registration and a name before I even pick up my transport. I can see their exact location up until they reach me and my location all through my journey; I have paid without having to negotiate a price or choose a payment type. Some local transport providers/services are getting closer to this - while others still seem light-years off. 

It is a double-edged sword that I can sit in the park and watch buses move in real time around Tbilisi knowing when they are approaching each stop, where they are going next, and which ones are near… But if I want to get the bus home from the park in Preston, it’s a game of guess and wait. 

Local passenger transport missed the smartcards boat. Schemes being developed now or already in place are too late. Contactless or phone payments are the now. The future is the application of smart tech to provide user-centric  information that enables passengers to use a scheduled service as a semi demand-responsive mode of transport - as part of a personal mobility package. 

I don’t mind, but I do care about dealing well with all the change this will bring to the industry I love. Do you? It isn’t going to stop either way! 

Let’s talk about it all at the new Local Transport Summit: I want to be there!