Bus franchising is a hot topic right now as authorities look to up their game to improve value and service levels to passengers, and reverse years of patronage decline. Much franchising discussion references a ‘London-Style’ system because the capital is the only UK city where such an approach has been implemented. Trapeze Group has been central to London’s franchised model, having developed and managed the iBus system that underpins it over the past 15 years. And as a market-leading transport solutions provider in regions outside of London, Trapeze has a breadth and depth of expertise across both franchised and deregulated bus models.
Trapeze’s Intelligent Mobility Solutions Manager, Colin Urquhart, joined us at TRANSPORT Smart Class, North of England 2022 to discuss the critical themes, deliverables and measures associated with a London-Style franchising solution – as well as some of the pitfalls that authorities following this path should avoid. Colin addressed Deregulated vs Franchised models and explained the key steps to franchising. His presentation outlined the importance of data consistency from conception, through route design and the tender process, to live operations; accurate passenger information and the critically important calculation of operator payment based on service delivery KPIs.
Programme Director, Paul Attenborough and Senior Software Architect, Neil Sherman accompanied Colin for Trapeze’s deeper dive roundtable discussions with the delegates.
If you meet our regular delegate qualification criteria but were unable to join us at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester, for the live in-person event on September 9th, CLICK HERE and complete the short “Download form” (located at the bottom of the post) to receive a unique link enabling free access to the presentation video recordings and slides (including the film footage and slides from Colin’s initial presentation).
Those qualifying to receive the rich presentation content from this event include commissioning, procurement, trialling and partnering leads, senior influencers, strategic decision makers and planners from local authorities (e.g. city, borough, metropolitan, district and county councils); public transport operators; regional transport partnerships, sub-regional transport bodies, combined authorities, integrated transport authorities and passenger transport executives; highways authorities and road operators; government and supporting national transport agencies; fleet operators, parking operators, prime contractors etc.
