Category: Essays

  • E2 Who or what is the bus’ real competition?

    E2 Who or what is the bus’ real competition?

    In most other industries and markets, there is usually a clear definition of who the competitor is, or at least it’s quite obvious. It depends on the market and product line but you can probably rhyme them off: Apple and Microsoft, PlayStation and Xbox, Corsa vs Micra.

    The bus, and especially publicly owned buses, the question is not quite so straightforward. Think back to the early deregulated days and a humble bus start up could list all its main rivals. The bus wars of old have receded as the industry consolidates once more. Today, in cases where there are more than one operator on a route, generally there is a lack of enthusiasm for cut throat competition. Not saying it doesn’t still happen, but it’s becoming rarer to witness.

    So who or what is the bus industry really competing against?

    No, it’s not the car, although things would certainly be smoother without it.

    Long ago travelling used to be a lot harder. If you didn’t have a horse you’d be on two feet or on the back of someone’s cart. This limited where you could go and what you could do. Back then travelling for leisure didn’t really exist for the working classes with most travel occurring out of necessity. Then along came the bus, tram and railway under various propulsions. Travelling quickly became something that could be packaged and sold. One-way from town to the factory. Those with money were able to travel more quickly to spas and summer homes. The need to travel started to change and moved from necessity to desirability. People could live just that little bit further from the centre, there were coach and railway trips to the seaside, and the ability to seek work in adjacent towns.

    Fuelled by all these new desires and needs, the motorcar came to prominence, opening up the whole country. As the 20th century progressed more and more ordinary families bought their first cars and were able to choose more widely where they went on their much-anticipated holidays and wider choice of shopping and employment destinations.

    The ubiquitous nature of moving around by the different modes made travel as a concept into a commodity. All transport modes have contributed to the idea that you can travel whenever you want; wherever you want. Once travel became something that people took for granted, just like we take for granted that you can get a loaf of bread or a bottle of milk from a supermarket, our lifestyle choices shifted to expect that we should be able to do anything we want at any time. With the key word here being do and not travel.

    Businesses opening 24-hour factories and warehouses, hospitals and schools being built in the middle of nowhere, retail parks built away from any kind of transport system – including the roads to serve them.

    Planners thought the car was the mortal enemy of the industry, until the rise of Uber and the likes. Hackney cabs and private hire had been working within their distinct niches, alongside public transport, but here was a new technology and concept that dramatically shifted the playing field. Uber satisfied that primal need – the ability to travel anywhere, at any time. For the privilege of paying the going demand-responsive rate you can see the vehicle and driver, estimate of the cost, estimated travel time and possibly the most game-changing of all, you could track the vehicle.

    The public transport industry has attempted to catch up with vehicle tracking, with real-time information, but it’s not the same. There’s something personal and individual about the app showing “your” car, to “your” destination, from “your” home, and so on.

    Initially, some thought the likes of Uber would complement public transport, be that last sore point of the journey between home and the station and back again, and the utopian ideal of everyone ditching their cars for Uber accounts and their local public transport mode of choice. It didn’t happen that way. (Just as it hasn’t happened with walking or cycling). Instead tech-savvy users saw it as their escape from public transport and its confinement. No longer bound by timetables and location constrictions they were finally free to go anywhere, at anytime.

    But even Uber isn’t the competitor, although it’s a worthy adversary.

    Convenience and instant gratification are fuelling the challenges facing the whole travel industry. Want to watch a film; sit in your home theatre room and watch at your leisure. Ready for your weekly big shop; order a slot on-line at your supermarket of choice. And so on. Whether it be working from home, social media, home bars and saunas, the modern world seems to be obsessed with keeping people at home.

    A glimpse of change

    The pandemic period was the accelerant for many of the travel industry’s woes, but despite the lifting of restrictions people have not wholly returned to their regular habits. Working in the office for a whole week is now seen as some kind of oppression. There are changes happening. They’re slow but they’re happening. Little trendy micro breweries, independent picture houses, farmers markets and more little pockets rejecting the antisocial behaviours emboldened in the past two decades.

    Where the success stories appear are where companies not only understand their markets, but build experiences into the journey and build trust with new and existing users. Transdev’s The Witchway or Route 36 are high profile, high specification examples where style, comfort, experience and trust all come together. There are travellers who willingly use these services in preference to the train, or even the car. That is success driven by the experience.

    By Aubrey – https://www.flickr.com/photos/wltmauc/54520242920/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=165294580

    The companies and routes may not compete directly with online shopping or streaming services, or even working from home, but by considering the whole travel experience they stand a chance at challenging the antisocial blight that has gripped the nation. If you do decide to venture out to Manchester or Leeds, to experience real night life or an event, there’s a luxurious regular double decker that will transport you there. Have friends with you? Nab one of the tables upstairs and have a good natter before you arrive. Even an Uber can’t compete with that.

    Kind regards,

    JP | Greater Buses

    26th May 2026

  • E1 What does winning look like for bus?

    E1 What does winning look like for bus?

    The bus industry sits in its quiet corner of the industrial world, minding its own business, its activities blending into the daily hustle and bustle of life. Entry into the industry is typically very different to other sectors. Starting a new bus company, whether that be as a bus operator, manufacturer or authority is, again, very different.

    These differences have served to both help and hinder the industry, and in the case of operating and designing bus networks, the differences have led to a fragmentation to the quality of service received by customers across the country.

    I start a new series of essays exploring this issue with strategy, management and leadership in mind. I will apply current business and commercial thinking to the bus operating industry and see if there are things we can learn from mistakes made by others and their successes.

    What does winning look like?

    Before we can learn from others we first must understand what it is we’re comparing them to. We need to understand what winning looks like.

    Bus operation is a multifaceted industry. A win in one area could be a loss in another. Diverting a high frequency service off into a housing estate may be a win for the local residents, but for the new and existing customers travelling from each side of the diversion it could mean longer journey times, missed connections, and the potential for a loss in reliability and punctuality. Definitely a loss.

    A new route connecting a retail park with low patronage could appear as a win for the town or retail park’s sustainability goals, but could mean resources diverted from potential higher patronage opportunities that don’t hold the same moral standing.

    It’s this conflict in priorities, across lots of issues and challenges, that creates the perfect ground for strategy to appear. Winning is not universally agreed.

    If we don’t define what the strategy is, no clear picture of winning, then all what you have is planning and activity, which leads into the illusion of strategy and subsequent races to the bottom, or for ever more efficiency.

    So what is winning? Winning is not a document, a statement, or a collection of thoughts, it’s a clear, specific definition of success in a particular area. If you haven’t defined your win, your lofty visionary goal, then you have nothing to aim for. It’s different to a company vision or mission statement as it forces you to choose. It forces the uncomfortable.

    A humble bus company may have a vision to provide the best service in Lancashire, comparable to that of any major European operator, but it doesn’t tell us what the win looks like or how to achieve it. Because the bus industry doesn’t have a single definition of success, it instead competes on priorities. The passenger wants speed, the operator efficiency, the local authority coverage, and so on.

    Aesop’s fable telling of the father and son travelling with the donkey sums this one up perfectly. You can’t please everyone all the time. So the bus industry spreads itself too thinly, trying to please everyone.

    From my analysis of the industry over the years, the success stories have one thing in common, they have defined what winning looks like and what they’ll do to get it. The ones that struggle also have one thing in common, they lack a coherent message of what they believe their success looks like. A good first example would be the Oxford Tube. 24 hour express departures between Oxford and London 7 days a week. Want a stopping service? Sorry you’re not their customer. Want 24 hour access to London from Oxford? Right this way.

    By km30192002 – https://www.flickr.com/photos/km30192002/53284652423/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=139513614

    Conclusion

    The Oxford Tube is not trying to be everything to everyone. It has made a choice. It knows who its customer is, what they value, and what it’s willing to sacrifice in order to deliver it.

    That clarity is what allows it to succeed.

    This is where much of the bus industry struggles. In attempting to satisfy all competing priorities, it risks satisfying none. Services become slower, less reliable, and harder to understand. The very things that matter most to passengers are diluted in the process.

    Winning, therefore, is not about doing more. It’s about choosing what matters, and committing to it.

    For bus, winning will look different depending on the context. A rural network may define success through coverage and accessibility. An inter-urban corridor may define it through speed and frequency. A town network may define it through simplicity and reliability.

    But in all cases, the principle remains the same.

    Winning is a choice.

    And until that choice is made clearly and consistently, the bus industry will continue to operate in the space between ambition and outcome, mistaking activity for progress.

    Kind regards,

    JP | Greater Buses