Transport User Voice August 2024 – Thank you to Linda McCord

01 August 2024

15 years of helping passengers

Linda McCord’s 15 years at Transport Focus has been marked by her commitment to improving lives through transport. From buses to trains, Linda’s legacy is one of positive change. Now, as she embarks on retirement, her passion for art awaits.

Helping people has always been at the heart of Linda’s career, even before she joined us. She worked in customer relations with an organisation called PostWatch, and before that she spent a decade helping unemployed people find work.

Linda began her journey with Transport Focus back when it was known as Passenger Focus.

“My role here has changed over the years,” says Linda.

“For the first few years, I was working with two rail operators, and then I moved across to buses. As things changed, I started to take on more of a multimodal role, working across both.

A few years ago, we had a campaign called Give Bus a Go. Many people underestimate what bus travel can offer them. It aimed to encourage people in the West Midlands to get onto buses, and it was very successful.”

Linda has been a champion for bus users in the West Midlands to the point that she recently had a bus named after her.

“One of the key roles I’ve had, particularly in the last eight years, is that I chaired the West Midlands Bus Alliance. That involved steering the West Midlands when it came to improving their bus offering for passengers.

When the Bus Alliance started, passenger satisfaction as measured by the Transport Focus Bus Passenger Satisfaction survey was at 72 per cent. This improved significantly over the years, reaching 85 per cent at one stage.”

Linda has kept busy throughout her time working in transport. She has also chaired the Norfolk Enhanced Partnership Board, the West of England Combined Authority Advisory Panel and sat on the Suffolk Enhanced Partnership Board.

Reflecting on where she started, Linda says she has enjoyed being able to progress through the organisation, eventually working with more senior stakeholders in the transport industry to drive change for transport users.

“I was able to move from a more junior employee to somebody who engaged with people in the industry at a very high level, including Secretary of States and Metro Mayors, talking through what Transport Focus can do to improve transport in general.”

She points out that transport is a very exciting industry because you get to contribute to helping people in their everyday lives.

“Transport is an enabler – it gives people freedom and the ability to do what they want to do. But it must work. Otherwise, it can make life more difficult, particularly for those who are less able to travel, or have some anxiety about it.

A really important aspect of transport is choice. Sometimes I will travel by train, and sometimes I will get in my car, and other times I will take the bus. I want each experience to be a good one and to meet my needs for that journey.

I guess I kind of helped improve things for people over the years, by working together with colleagues, together we have had an impact. I’ve had an impact.”

So, what is next for Linda? Now that she is retiring from her work at Transport Focus, she is looking forward to focusing on her other passion – art, creating oil paintings and mosaics. She will also dedicate more time to her role as Chair of Babylon Arts in East Anglia.

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