Reading Buses has set out its vision for the future of bus travel in the town at a special stakeholder event.
Chief Executive Officer Martijn Gilbert opened the event, which was attended by MP Alok Sharma, Councillor Tony Page, Reading UK CIC Executive Director Nigel Horton Baker, Business Improvement District Chair Adam Jacobs and other town centre partners, by stating that transport is an enabler of economic growth, jobs and housing.
“Reading is a growing economy, but if we don’t have enough of the right transport then things won’t work very well.”
The company’s ‘forward future’ vision document builds upon the work of the Reading 2050 project, led by Reading UK CIC with town stakeholders, which sets out to ensure Reading becomes a ‘truly smart and sustainable city.’
Said Martijn: “Good public transport has to be at the very heart of this if we are to succeed and Reading Buses stands ready to continue working with everyone to help make this a reality.”
Taking inspiration from last year’s summer bus trials of new ideas and technology, the vision harnesses the latest thinking of the company’s employees through their work in internal improvement groups and brainstorming by their leadership team.
He said six themes float possible ideas for the future:
- Personalised customer experience
- On-board ambience
- Guided driving
- Connected networks
- Digitised vehicle maintenance and support
- People and partnerships
“The vision is designed as a starting point to open up the sorts of discussions we need to be having across the region to work together to support public transport and make it an obvious choice for more of our growing travel needs.”
The Reading Buses leadership team explained the workings of the company behind the scenes and what buses offer towns such as Reading.
Buses are <ns0:country-region>England</ns0:country-region>’s most used form of public transport – two thirds travel by bus. Commuters in GB generate £45 billion of economic output in addition to 1.4 billion shopping trips per year by bus.
The average spend is £29.66 giving a total estimated retail spend by bus users in GB of £21 billion according to recent research by Greener Journeys.
A bus of the future exhibition, supported by material from the Reading 2050 project and including interactive seats with sensors, a virtual reality headset bus tour and ideas for new interior layout concepts, was also on display for the public at the company’s recent open day.