Transport User Voice January 2024 – Chief executive’s editorial

20 December 2023

First impressions

This is my first Transport User Voice after taking over from Anthony Smith as Chief Executive on 1 December.

Anthony has been generous with his time handing over to me. I have picked-up a real warmth towards him inside the organisation and from the stakeholders we have met together. He will be a hard act to follow, no question.

What are my first impressions? We’re a friendly, collaborative group, with a great deal of knowledge and expertise. Everyone is committed to improving the experience of transport users. It’s a great starting point.

The challenge is how we prioritise and plan our work so it has the most impact we can for the public. We need your help with that. As I and the team get out and about over the next few months, we’d love to hear where you think we can work together most effectively.

Many years ago I used to work at Transport for London. Coming back into the sector it’s striking how similar some of the debates are now: bus franchising models, how to make devolution work and the structure of the rail industry to name a few. The one that is noticeable is by its absence is road pricing.

I’m glad to be back – there is much to be done. The need to manage disruption effectively will be a theme we keep returning to and you’ll see some research we did on what users want to know. I hope you enjoy the newsletter.

 

Back to newsletter