BRTuk is launching a series of lunchtime Quality Bus Masterclasses, produced by Landor LINKS, with a wide variety of expert speakers covering topics that bus industry professionals will find interesting and 'of the moment'.

Register here

The first contributor to join James Freeman will be David Leeder, who is famously outspoken and an expert in financing bus operations from a private sector perspective. He will look at how – and whether – the emerging bus industry is still of interest to the private sector. It promises to be a thought-provoking and informative session.

21 October: Buses in Britain – is the industry commercially fundable, and by whom?

Chair: James Freeman, current Chair, BRTuk and formerly Managing Director at First West of England

Speaker: David Leeder, Managing Partner, TIL Transport Investment Ltd

Read David's LTT article here: Bus services need  'rigorous bus priority that leads to faster, more reliable bus journeys – a tall order when faced with weakened town centres and the politically-energised cycle lobby'.

Discussion: With costs at 1.2 or 1.5 times more than pre COVID levels, and revenue 0.7 of pre COVID level, will the result be misery?

• If speed goes down, costs go up and revenue goes down. If speed goes up, costs go down and revenue goes up. Is this the only proven way of growing bus demand and improving bus economics?

• How will bus services work alongside LTNs and private car reduction policies?

• How will be they become net zero?

• How can services support those that need them most??

Register here

About David

David Leeder is the founder of TIL Transport Investment Ltd, and has held senior roles in the bus and rail industry since 1985.
 
David is an economist and strategy consultant, who has held operational, CEO and commercial roles in a variety of passenger transport organisations, beginning his career with roles at British Rail and bus privatisation pioneer Transit Holdings Ltd, as assistant to Harry Blundred.
 
Prior to co-founding TIL, he was a main board director of FirstGroup plc, and an executive director of National Express Group plc., and CEO of West Midlands Travel – the UK’s largest regional bus operator outside London. He has acted as Non-Executive Director or Chairman of Greyhound Lines USA, Heathrow Express, Midland Metro and GB Railfreight. He is a past President of the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) and spent 11 years as an advisor to the UK Department for Transport.
 
As an advisor, he has participated in bus and rail transactions and investments in the UK, USA, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Germany and Turkey, including the sale of Eversholt Rail leasing, the privatisation of High Speed 1, and deals such as Trainline.com, Hansea Bus Group, and Kamil Koc, Turkey.
 
TIL’s clients have included transport operators, governments and global banks and investment funds, including Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, Actera Partners, Goldman Sachs, John Laing plc, Vivarail, Rothschilds & Co, the Government of Saudi Arabia, Arriva plc, ComfortDelgro, Keolis SA, FirstGroup plc and Transdev.

Future events

These will be short, sharp sessions, with James Freeman in the chair, where expert speakers will give a talk followed by questions.

Starting at 12.30 each Thursday from October 21st, they will last just an hour - all wrapped up and over by 13.30 at the latest. We have a first-rate list of speakers and topics and the range covers six weeks, every week from October 21 onwards, on a Thursday at 12.30, for six weeks in the lead-up to the Quality Bus Summit in March 2022.

Register here