Transport User Voice – June 2022 – Chief executive’s editorial

26 May 2022

A time to celebrate

The days are getting warmer (occasionally) and there’s a real buzz in the air. Not least because of the approaching long weekend to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Transport operators will have their hands and vehicles full. It’ll be the biggest test for trains and buses in quite some time, with people travelling to various events around the UK. We know that there is some planned engineering work so, with capacity reduced and passenger numbers up, if you are planning to travel – do make sure to plan ahead!

It’s great to see some operators have free deals or even free travel on selected days over the weekend. We need to see more of this throughout the year and not just on special occasions.

Earlier this month, we had our first in-person Board meeting since Covid rules were relaxed, in Edinburgh. Some of Scotland’s key transport movers and shakers shared their plans for the year ahead. We heard from ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, Scottish Rail Holdings and Confederation of Passenger Transport Scotland.

This event was all about Scotland’s transport users so we wanted to really bring their views to life. We set up a ‘conversation wall’ in Waverley station the day before our meeting, and invited people to share their thoughts and priorities for Scottish transport. Our Board members and staff had some great conversations, which they referred to throughout the next day and beyond.

Last but not least, we were pleased to welcome our new chair, Nigel Stevens, who joins us in an official capacity on 1 June. We’ll be sorry to see Jeff Halliwell leave after doing such a great job in steering the direction of the work we do for transport users since 2014. But Nigel is a very worthy replacement and with the biggest rail reform in a generation on the horizon, we’re fortunate to have him on board. Farewell Jeff and welcome Nigel!

 

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