First Glasgow

Source: Exec Digital UK

Date :21/05/2007 16:04:12

First Glasgow: Forward thinking on the buses

With a number of progressive community based and environmental initiatives, First Glasgow is engaging with the city it serves and coming up with positive solutions to persistent challenges

Written by James Hurley & Produced by Paul Radbourne

With a revenue of over £3 billion per annum and some 74,000 employees across the UK and North America, First is the UK’s largest surface transportation company. It is also the largest bus operator in the UK, running more than one in five of all local bus services and carrying 2.9 million passengers every day. First aims to work closely with Government and local authorities to develop bus services that are part of a sustainable transport policy.

First Glasgow is the largest bus company is Scotland, and has 1000 buses in operation and some 2800 employees. The group’s Glasgow network is First’s largest operation in Scotland, and is also considered one of the group’s most significant functions in the whole UK.

Modernising the business

Bus companies aren’t traditionally associated with being at the forefront of technological developments, but First’s philosophy is that there is an increasing convergence between travel, information and telecommunications. As such, the company is implementing Real Time Passenger information schemes across its nationwide network. The group is fitting many of its buses with GPS tracker units, which use satellite technology to communicate with land-based computers. The information is then sent to displays at bus stops and shelters, which enable bus users to see what time the next bus will be arriving.

First is also working hard at updating its fleet - in the past seven years, it has invested in more than almost 4,000 new buses. These include articulated buses, double decker buses, single deck buses and guided buses which offer a comfortable, spacious, relaxing, and smooth journey. New low floor buses also offer easier access for parents with pushchairs, wheelchairs and the elderly. All of this adds up to one of the youngest fleets in the country with an average age of around 8 years.

First also strives to achieve an environmentally responsible business model; in a sense, the company’s entire business plan is inherently consistent with an environmentally conservationist ethos. Its core business strategy is to increase passenger numbers and encourage a greater move towards the use of bus and rail transport. This would support the needs of society to achieve more sustainable travel. First does however recognise the environmental impacts that arise from its business activities and is committed to reducing these through effective environmental management. The company’s policy is to achieve continual improvement in environmental performance. The group’s entire fleet has been converted to run on ultra low sulphur diesel fuel to reduce emission levels and improve the environment and it maintains an internal management structure for the management of environmental issues which includes clearly defined responsibilities for environmental management capable of delivering its policy commitment.

Community initiatives

Glasgow is a medium sized city, with a population of around 600,000. First Glasgow maintains 118 routes across the Greater Glasgow area, and the company can transport its customers to both the cosmopolitan highlights of the city and the rural beauty of Loch Lomond in a single journey.

First works closely with the community that it serves in a number of ways. One of its most interesting activities is its involvement in Glasgow’s ‘Restorative Justice Programme.’ In part, this has been a progressive response to a perennial problem that faces transport operators in British cities. First has over 1,000 buses in Glasgow, and approximately 8,000 bus windows are broken every year. In addition, 18,000 seats are replaced annually due to acts of vandalism, amounting to over £1 million of damage each year – this is just the cost of materials and labour, and does not take into account loss of revenue or disruption to services. As well as being an unnecessary cost, anti-social acts of vandalism are a risk to both passengers and staff.

The Restorative Justice Programme finds ways in which young people can make amends for the damage caused by their actions. Aiming to reduce the rates of re-offending and the amount of low-level crime across Glasgow, the programme is not about punishment or retribution, but aims to facilitate a dialogue between people enabling them to move on from a negative experience in a positive way. The aims of the initiative are underpinned by "an early intervention approach" and it encourages the re-engagement of young people with some of the opportunities and services which exist across Glasgow. First’s involvement in such a forward thinking initiative is indicative of the company’s positive approach to the challenges that it faces.

Another initiative, the group’s ‘First Football’ scheme, aims to promote football as a positive alternative to anti-social behaviour. The scheme was developed in association with Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Football Association. Since its high profile launch in November 2002 by First Minister Jack McConnell, a combination of football leagues, coach education, after school and holiday programmes have been running across the city, attracting more than 2,500 young people on a weekly basis. All activities within the programme are conducted under the supervision of fully qualified SFA coaches and referees. At every opportunity the anti-vandalism message is reinforced to the youngsters involved through informative and educational talks by SFA coaches, Strathclyde Police and First. The ‘First Football’ clubs are located throughout Greater Glasgow, specifically within ‘Social Inclusion Partnership’ areas, where vandalism and crime levels are high.

Industry Development

Buses in Scotland operate largely in a de-regulated market with the private sector providing the majority of services, backed up by a public sector contribution to the bus and road infrastructure. The Scottish government currently supports buses in Scotland through a range of funding mechanisms. At 84-87 percent, satisfaction levels are high among bus users across Scotland as a whole, but there is scope to develop the bus network yet further and improve the standard of service for the millions of people who use the bus. To examine this, the Scottish Executive undertook a Bus Policy Overview last year which involved interviews with key stakeholders, ‘Bus User Quality Audits’ of local bus services including First Glasgow’s, analysis of correspondence from the public and MSPs, and a literature and statistical review conducted by consultants, MVA Consultancy.

While the overview concluded that many bus operators in Scotland, including First Glasgow, provide high quality services which meet their passengers' needs, and many transport authorities provide the infrastructural support which bus operators need, it reported that failure to achieve a step change improvement could result in a decline in some bus networks and gridlock in cities.

To this end, First has just signed the first ever Quality Contract in the bus industry with their local authority. On each side the two organisations have signed a contract to implement improvements in the infrastructure, including installation of real time information terminals improvements to the transport infrastructure by the council, and service improvements in terms of reliability and frequency. The company is also working with Glasgow City Council on the ‘Streamline Initiative’, a £31 million joint investment where traffic signal priorities are altered to give priority to state of the art buses fitted with satellite tracking.