Omnibuses meets Gavin Booth

We continue our popular interviews with bus industry greats. Here, former Scottish Bus Group marketing manager, prolific author and Bus Users UK chairman Gavin Booth shares his thoughts on BUUK, Passenger Focus, writing and enthusiasms. Get in touch if you want to meet over a coffee to share some views...

OB: How disappointed was BUUK at not being made the passengers’ statutory representative? What role do you have in England, now? What are your strengths & weaknesses?

GB: If I am being honest, we were briefly disappointed when Passenger Focus was appointed, but quickly realised that we were simply not geared up to handle the type of high-level research that Passenger Focus specialises in, and that our strengths are that we can relate to the bus passenger at bus stop level. We have a continuing role in England, working with Passenger Focus, and as far as weaknesses are concerned, I would suggest that we are under-resourced and can’t provide the level of coverage throughout England that we would wish.

OB: How do you foresee your relationship with Passenger Focus developing and what can you offer that PF cannot?

GB: We have had an excellent relationship with Passenger Focus that predates their appointment and we meet regularly and recognise that we can both bring something to the table. We expect to be working closely with them and I sit on the Passenger Focus Bus Stakeholder Board.

OB: How successful do you think BUUK has been and do you see PF being more so?

GB: I like to think that Bus Users UK has given bus passengers a voice they never had and that we have raised awareness of the needs of bus passengers. In spite of there being more bus passengers (5 billion of them each year) than any other form of public transport, there is still a tendency to believe that rail and air passengers are more important, perhaps because they can often appear to be more articulate than bus users. I expect Passenger Focus to build on this success.

OB: Can Passenger Focus really have any influence?

GB: I genuinely believe so. The existence of a statutory body representing bus passengers should mean that buses move further up the political agenda, which would be a good thing, and Passenger Focus can produce well-researched data to pinpoint the concerns bus users have, which is something that hasn’t been readily available before.

OB: You are funded by the Scottish Executive and Welsh Assembly, on a more formal footing there. What have you achieved in that region when compared to England?

GB: We receive some funding from the Scottish Government, and the Welsh Assembly Government has been providing sufficient funds to allow us to employ a small staff and a team of local contacts throughout Wales, and this has proved very effective in reaching bus passengers and helping to improve the services they use.

OB: For some in the industry, BUUK has either an ‘anorak’ image or is viewed as made up of amateurish ‘do-gooders’. How can you dispel such views?

GB: An organisation like Bus Users UK will inevitably attract people who have a deeper interest in public transport, and if they are seen as ‘anoraks’ or ‘do-gooders’, then so be it. In fact they are people who are passionately interested in improving and retaining bus services and without them we would miss out on much excellent local knowledge and a load of well-directed enthusiasm.

OB: One operator that takes BUUK very seriously is Southern Vectis. You currently do interesting work with Southern Vectis. Is this something that’s likely to grow and, if so, what can you offer that a conventional consultancy cannot?

GB: We have carried out quality audit work for a range of bus operators—often the ones that are already very good, which tells you something. It is an aspect of the service we provide and I believe that our knowledge of and enthusiasm for buses and bus services allows us to look for and see things that other organisations might miss. It is always rewarding to discover that our criticisms and comments have been taken on board by bus operators and acted on.

OB: What has been BUUK’s greatest achievement?

GB: I would suggest it is that we have given bus users a voice they never had before and have nagged bus operators so much about customer care that this has moved up the agenda and is recognised as an essential part of staff training.

OB: You’ve written a good few books on buses and bus services. Which is your favourite and if you could recommend only one, in print or not, what would that be?

GB: I suppose my first ‘proper’ book, ‘Bus Stop’, published more than 40 years ago, would be my favourite, not just because it was the first but because it was very different from previous bus books and it is the one book many people mention when I meet them. I was trying to convince readers that an interest in buses was not only a perfectly normal thing, but that it could be fun too, and not just dry history.

OB: Which book has been your most successful, in terms of sales? And, least successful?

GB: Publishers don’t always give you sales figures, but I would guess ‘The British Motor Bus’, which attempted to tell the story of the vehicles from the earliest experiments over a century ago. By the same token, I don’t know which book has been least successful—but I have my suspicions!

OB: Knowing that the market’s limited, what motivates you to write on buses?

GB: They say you should always write about what you know about, and I know about buses. Or at least I should, as I have been in and around the bus industry since I first started as a management trainee back in 1961. I feel it is important to share what I have learned with others, in the hope that they will be encouraged to dig a bit deeper and maybe write books of their own. Digital publishing means that it is easier and more cost-effective to publish books on any subjects these days, and I know there are many enthusiasts out there who have gathered a huge amount of knowledge that is in danger of dying with them.

OB: The future of books remains uncertain. At some point, they’ll go the same way as CDs. How do you think this will change transport publishing and will there be the same sort of future in it?

GB: I believe that there will be a continuing demand for books, but I recognise that transport publishing, and in particular bus publishing, is catering for an increasingly limited market, but fortunately the economics of book production mean that quantities can be reduced and books can still be profitable.

The big problem is getting these books in front of potential readers, and the big High Street bookshops are increasingly reluctant to stock transport books, so publishers are relying on their own outlets, museums, model shops, rallies and of course increasingly the internet. If mainstream book publishing moves towards electronic books, then I rather think transport publishers will follow suit.

OB: Many of your books are aimed squarely at the enthusiast market. That market is quite mature (in economic and age terms!). Will there be the same appeal in, say, 20 years' time and how can we all foster younger enthusiasts?

GB: Certainly the generation of enthusiasts that grew up in the 1950s and 1960s—what you might call the ‘Buses Illustrated generation’, is growing older and from my knowledge of various organisations ranging from The Omnibus Society to local interest and museum groups, they are all searching for the answer to the big question—how can we encourage younger enthusiasts.

I know there are plenty out there, but their contact is often only through the internet, which is very different to my younger days when there was an opportunity to meet fellow enthusiasts face-to-face and learn from them. When I started taking an interest in buses in the 1950s I genuinely thought I was the only person with this interest and it was only through chance meetings with other enthusiasts, the discovery of ‘Buses Illustrated’ and a friend pointing me towards the Omnibus Society that I realised I was not alone!

I hope there will still be bus enthusiasts in 20 years’ time; it’s a harmless hobby that has attracted many people into the bus industry, and I can testify to a much greater knowledge of UK geography than I might otherwise have gained, as a result of teenage (and later) gricing trips.