Photo credit: Simply Photography
The best of the Nation's transport industry were honoured last night at the 18th Annual National Transport Awards at the Westminster Park Plaza in London. Hosted by Broadcaster and Presenter Jeremy Vine, the awards attracted over 600 senior transport professionals including Transport Secretary Chris Grayling MP who gave the keynote address.
In his speech, the Secretary of State highlighted the amazing work those in transport do every day, remarking that the night is a 'celebration of teams, individuals and companies that understand what customers need'.
The prestigious Transport Local Authority of the Year award went to Southwark Council who have been working alongside Conway AECOM to deliver improvements in road safety, cycle infrastructure, how people travel, and they can interact with communities. CO2 emissions have been steadily decreasing in Southwark aided by almost 75% of the Bus Fleet being compliant with the ULEZ and the 17 electric vehicle charging points.
Transport for Greater Manchester took the award for City-Region Transport Authority of the Year, sponsored by National Express. A busy year for TfGM has seen initiatives delivered across a range of different areas, all building on the success of previous years. Metrolink's Second City Crossing was completed adding 1.3km of track through Manchester city centre and work was completed on the £122m Oxford Road Bus Priority Package, including Dutch style cycle lanes. Customer satisfaction levels with public transport and patronage numbers have also continued to grow.
The Bus operator of the Year category was awarded to Go-South Coast. Consisting of 5 locally branded bus companies (Bluestar – Southampton, Morebus – Bournemouth & Poole, Swindon's Bus Company – Swindon, Salisbury Reds - Salisbury and Southern Vectis – Isle of Wight), Go-South Coast is dedicated to serving local communities. Within the last year it has focused on colleague training, accessible information, investment in fleet, and latest technologies as well as community engagement. Patronage has increased by 14% since 2012, bucking the national trend!
This year's Rail Operator is Trenitalia c2c who, for the past year, have focused on improving punctuality, with new leadership and a new management structure providing the foundations for this change. It has invested in new initiatives to improve quality of service including DelayRepay 15 compensation, platform displays showing how busy each carriage on the next train is likely to be based on real passenger numbers and free onboard Wi-Fi for customers.
Ferry Operator of the Year went to CalMac who ferried a record breaking 5.2 million passengers around the West Coast network in 2017- a 19-year high. It has invested over £77k and worked extensively with local communities. It has also piloted e-ticketing and introduced advanced passenger information on 12 of their longer routes.
Loco2 took the award for Transport Supplier of the Year. Loco2 (meaning low CO2) represents a new way of booking trains online. By simplifying the booking process, Loco2 hopes to encourage more people to ditch the plane and opt for a lower-carbon journey by train. Loco2 was the first booking platform to enable users to buy train tickets for domestic and long-distance travel in and around the UK and Europe in a single transaction.
Cameron Dyche, a driver at First Aberdeen, took away the prize for 'frontline employee of the year'. Also winning the same honour at the Scottish Transport Awards in June, the judges were impressed with Cameron for his quick thinking and bravery. Last year, as a relatively new driver, Cameron noticed that a Stagecoach bus was moving and with a passenger on board, but the driver was slumped at the wheel and motionless. He proceeded to board the bus whilst it was still moving via the emergency exit and once on board immediately stopped and secured the bus. He commenced CPR on the driver until the paramedics arrived and the driver was transported to hospital.
There were 3 judges nominated awards on the night. Firstly Outstanding Contribution to Local Transport went to Nigel Blackler of Cornwall Council. In his role as Service Director for Transport and Infrastructure Nigel has led the successful application for a 4 year Public Service Obligation to support the Newquay to London air service, and the Cornwall Rail Improvements Package. At a time when there are questions about the future of rural transport, Nigel has shown what can be done with flair and imagination.
Stephen Joseph OBE went away with the 'Lifetime Contribution to Transport' award following his recent departure from Campaign for Better Transport after 30 years at the organisation! He was Chief Executive for 20 years before recently taking up the position of advisor to the charity. In 1996, he was awarded the OBE for services to transport and the environment.
Finally, the 'Outstanding Contribution to National Transport' honour was awarded to Transport Scotland's Chief Executive Roy Brannen. Roy took over as Chief Executive in November 2015 after having held several different positions in the Scottish Government since joining in 1999. His over 25 years of experiences in highways and transportation aided the successful delivery of one of the largest UK infrastructure projects undertaken in a generation. Through innovative design and techniques the Queensferry Crossing has attained world records and firsts during construction.
The full list of award winners and those who were highly commended is as follows:
Road Safety, Traffic Management and Enforcement sponsored by First Group
Winner: Essex County Council, Extra Eyes, the Safer Essex Roads Partnership
Highly Commended: Scotland TranServ, Neatebox, Dynniq and Transport Scotland - Neatebox Button Pedestrian Application
Improvements to Bus Services
Winner: The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Merseytravel, Arriva Merseyside, Stagecoach Merseyside, Cheshire and S. Lancs. Liverpool City Region Bus Alliance – Bucking the trend: delivering growth in partnership
Higly Commended: South Gloucestershire Council: Making rural links work
Excellence in Cycling and Walking
Winner: Transport for Greater Manchester & Manchester City Council, Wilmslow Road and Oxford Road Cycleway
Highly Commended: LB Barking and Dagenham/Be First Regeneration Ltd/Sustrans
Marks Gate DIY Streets Project
Contribution to Sustainable Transport sponsored by Heathrow Airport
Winner: NATS, Acting Responsibly
Highly Commended: Jaguar Landrover Liftshare scheme, The largest carsharing scheme in the UK
Excellence in Travel Information and Marketing
Winner: Stagecoach East Scotland, Express City Connect
Most Innovative Transport Project of the Year sponsored by Go-Ahead
Winner: Transdev Blazefield, VAMOOZ
Highly Commended: Mott MacDonald, Motorway to Motorway (M2M)
Excellence in Technology
Winner: ECR Retail Systems and National Express, National Express ECR Go2
Highly Commended: JustPark, Predictive Availability for parking
Transport Team/Partnership of the Year
Winner: Department for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority, Monarch – How the CAA and DfT led Britain's largest peacetime repatriation
Construction and Engineering Project of the Year
Winner: FCBC and Transport Scotland's Employers Delivery Team, Queensferry Crossing
Highly Commended: Wessex Capacity Alliance Project - Waterloo Station Upgrade
Rail Station of the Year
Winner: Network Rail, London Bridge Station
Airport of the Year
Winner: Edinburgh Airport
Highly Commended: Newcastle International Airport
Transport Supplier of the Year
Winner: Loco2
Highly Commended: Trueform
Frontline Employee of the Year
Winner: Cameron Dyche, First Aberdeen
Highly Commended:
- David Chase, Essex County Council
- Bob Connaway, Glasgow Airport Ltd
- Charmaine Laurie, Lothian
- Barbara Martin, London Borough of Hillingdon
- Murdo McKinnon, Lothian, East Coast Buses
- Margaret Skinner, First Scotland East
- Steven Welsh, National Express West Midlands
Apprenticeship Champion of the Year
Winner: First Bus - First Bus Apprenticeship Programme
Highly Commend: Cubic Transport Systems, Apprenticeship Scheme
Outstanding Contribution to Local Transport sponsored by Siemens
Winner: Nigel Blackler, Cornwall Council
Lifetime Contribution to Transport
Winner: Stephen Joseph OBE
Outstanding Contribution to National Transport
Winner: Roy Brannen, Transport Scotland
Employer of the Year
Winner: Go South Coast - the company that people want to work for and travel with
Ferry Operator of the Year
Winner: CalMac Ferries
Highly Commend: Harwich Ferry Services
Rail Operator of the Year
Winner: Trenitalia c2c
Highly Commended: Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, SPT for Subway
Bus Operator of the Year
Winner: Go South Coast
Highly Commended: National Express UK Coach
Highly Commended: Lothian East Coast Buses
City-Region Authority of the Year sponsored by National Express
Winner: Transport for Greater Manchester
Transport Local Authority of the Year
Winner: Southwark Council in partnership with Conway Aecom
Judges include:-
- Professor David Begg, Chair of the Judging Panel and Chief Executive of Transport Times
- Graham Pendlebury, Director of Local Transport Policy, Department for Transport
- Stephen Joseph OBE, Former Executive Director, Campaign for Better Transport
- Dame Louise Ellman MP, Liverpool Riverside
- Anthony Smith, Chief Executive, Transport Focus
- Claire Haigh, Chief Executive, Greener Journeys
For further information contact:
Kirsty Walton Tel: 0207 828 3804 Email: [email protected]
Photographs from the evening can be purchased at www.simply-photography.co.uk
