Lunch with Leon

Greg Harris is right at front end of the latest developments on the road to net-zero. 

As Global Electrification Services Leader at HORIBA MIRA, his role includes developing strategy around electrification.

Best known as the UK industry’s first vehicle test track  - called the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) opened in 1949 on a former airfield in Leicestershire -  Greg chats over lunch with Leon Daniels about its development into a private company, now owned by HORIBA, and how today it is much more than test track, with 46 different test facilities on the site.

They chat about HORIBA MIRA’s role in engineering consultancy – across the whole of automotive engineering – and the potential for re-engineering commercial vehicles as we move to net-zero.

They discuss whether we’ve reached the ‘tipping point’ for electric vehicles to become commercial propositions, before moving onto subsidies, trade tariffs and how the government could replace the £28bn it raises each year from fuel duty.

They also chew over what tactics the government could use to boost the take-up of zero-emission vehicles.

Thanks to his role, Greg is part of the wider engineering ‘family’ that links up around the world, and the conversation moves on to the hydrogen fuel cell v. battery-electric debate, reminiscent of the Betamax v VHS ‘battle’ of the 1980s.

They also chat about job opportunities for young people in engineering as a result of the push to develop technology in the UK, and HORIBA MIRA’s links with education.

Matt Ginsberg, author, teacher and entrepreneur once tried to sell to London intelligent traffic lights to speed up the traffic.

At Transport for London, MD Leon Daniels surprised him by declining since that was the opposite of what was wanted.

A specialist in AI (artificial intelligence) since 1983, Matt chats with Leon about why we travel too much, but why some things will have to remain face-to-face.

Over a long lunch they cover a massive range of topics, from body language on Zoom to protecting personal data, the good things that are happening and why autonomous cars will not happen, but drones will…

Lucy Yu is the Director of Public Policy at Voi Scooters. With eScooters increasingly popular around the world, Leon Daniels chats about the Swedish company’s trials in the UK, one of 11 European countries it serves.

They chew over the apparent lack of regulation and Leon discovers that while illegal on UK roads, a trial with the DfT means that a number of UK cities - but not, so far, London - are seeing the eScooters on the streets.

With on-street rental, using an app with an unlock fee and use fee per minute, day and monthly passes are also available.

And, we hear how technology - through the use of geofences - will stop people leaving eScooters in inappropriate places, and encourage them to leave them in designated parking zones.

Find out why knowing your ‘football foot’ is helpful, and hear as Leon describes his first journey on an eScooter, and the look on his colleagues’ faces during his attempt…

This special episode comes from the recent ITT Hub Open Day at Warwick University where 30 partners, current and prospective exhibitors discovered how to plan, design and run a Covid secure exhibition stand.

Leon talks to some of the key stakeholders at the event, the ITT Hub team, as well as Charlie Cox from Natural Green CS, the event partner.

After a bad taxi experience in 2011, Bhavish Aggarwal resolved to do something better. The result was to co-found Ola Cabs in India. 

In 2015, along with co-founder Ankit Bhati, they were the youngest to be included in that year's list of richest Indians.

 Since then, Ola Cabs has expanded to Australia, New Zealand and now London.

Last year the company was valued at £6.5bn and at 35-years-old Bhavish is one of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs. 

In conversation over Lunch with Leon Daniels he opines that the pandemic will not alter travel in the long term, although the modes will change: “The human need to travel is very deep in us; it’s not going away,” he says.

 “The pandemic will force an acceleration in innovation in mobility,” says Bhavish. “We cannot envisage what it will be like in 10 or 20 years’ time,” before going on to discuss some of the potential.

“There is so much stuff that’s happened in the last 10 years, that hadn’t happened in the previous 50 years. I’m very excited and enthused about the next 10 years.”

He also talks about what sets Ola Cabs apart from its competitors and how one platform (the app) does everything, from buses to taxis, to home delivery.

The next development is Ola Cabs’ own design of electric two-wheelers that are now being launched across the world, and he expands on how software and hardware are being brought together into one solution

There are also messages for young people who are thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, and he tells us why “now is the best time to start a business.”

Running buses is a people business, so the appointment of HR specialist Jane Reakes Davies as MD First Cymru, shouldn’t come as a surprise. 

Yet it’s still often the case that the traditional career route to becoming a bus MD, tends to be through engineering or operations.

Over lunch with Leon Daniels, she chats about the different perspectives of the role of a bus MD, and what it really means, along with her career transition into the MD role

First Cymru’s HQ is in the university city of Swansea and the 2009 introduction of the ‘ftr’ project saw a great deal of (largely since removed) bus priority.

Jane talks about relationships with local authorities and the business’ ‘social conscience' - providing a service to customers with a commercial head, as the conversation turns to what role buses really play - retail, utility or ‘other’.

With a varied network - serving a city and deeply rural areas with two distinct customer groups - how to serve them, meet their aspirations and expectations, are chewed over.

Jane has enlightening views on the expectations of its teenage customers of what they want from an operator - and the answer isn’t what you might expect - and she expands of why now, is a really exciting time to be in the industry.

She also reveals who her ‘business hero’ is. At first blush it’s an unlikely choice, not only due to the industry they are in, but also as a person widely perceived as a ‘Marmite’ character.

This leads to a fascinating conclusion to lunch, with a revealing opinion about ways of engaging people and bringing in leadership skills from a very different sector.

Barrister, butcher and now busman: John Clarfelt has revolutionised on-bus payments with his start-up Ticketer which now has 25,000 on-bus electronic ticket machines (ETMs) in the UK.

Having qualified as a barrister and also been a butcher, Ticketer is his third venture.

Over Lunch with Leon Daniels, he chats about how cashless payments have changed society and what the possibility is for charging passengers after a journey is made, to get them the very best fare.

They talk about the relationship of trust between operators and passengers and what more can be done by using data.

“The UK is very far advanced in terms of ETMs,” he says adding that public transport should be “enjoyable to travel on and efficient to operate.”

They mull over the possibilities for variable pricing on public transport according to demand, how to take fares without intervention (i.e. the passenger simply walks on and off , never touching in or out or buying a ticket) using facial recognition and how data about passenger loadings could improve vehicle utilisation.

Given how much Ticketer has changed the face of transport ticketing already, and the enthusiasm of enlightened operators, their discussions about the future might become reality sooner than we think…

“Data is the new oil,” says EnRoute founder Aviv Frenkel.

‘Shop with us and ride for free’ is the new calling card for retailers thanks to an entirely new transport system developed by EnRoute.

Over lunch, Leon Daniels chats with EnRoute founder Aviv Frenkel about the genuinely exciting development in transport, where public transport agencies and companies come together to provide free travel to their customers. When passengers make their on-line retail purchases across a wide range of goods using the operator’s app, the retailers pay for the ride.

Already in operation in Germany in a partnership with DB, EnRoute’s technology is now about to launch in Singapore and Madrid.

In explaining where the idea came from, Aviv - a former technology presenter on TV, who gave up his job to start EnRoute - gives advice for young people wanting to get into a start-up, which is especially relevant as transport continues to move from being an engineering business to a technology business.

And, Aviv warns transport companies that COVID-19 has accelerated the change in transport habits not by five, but 10 years.

“Ridership and revenues are down, so transport companies need to diversify their business model - and this helps start-ups,” says Aviv.

He also talks about financing start-ups and where the investment comes from. “We are at the confluence of mobility, e-commerce and FinTech (financial technology),” he adds.

As the discussion moves to the use of anonymised data by London Underground to improve its service, Leon lifts the lid on what really happened when London’s buses stopped taking cash payments, and the complaints it received. The details will surprise you….

Young people: Don’t worry about the recession, as there are career opportunities right now in transport for engineering and other high-skill roles such as operations.

That’s the upbeat message from Howard Collins OBE, who says that as other sectors shrink, transport offers good opportunities for young people aspiring for a skilled career.

Chatting over Lunch with Leon Daniels, he argues that the transport sector has traditionally been seen by young people as “not exciting” and struggled to recruit as a result of this perception. 

He says that we should do much more to wave the flag and highlight the range of jobs available, beyond the stereotypical roles.

The former London Underground Chief Operating Officer at Transport for London, Howard Collins now holds the same post at Transport for New South Wales (TNSW), but in a wider role covering the whole of the Greater Sydney region, responsible for rail, bus, roads, maritime, metro and light rail.

Despite the recent setback of the ‘second resurgence’ of COVID-19 in Australia, TNSW is one of the few large organisations that is busier than ever, as social distancing sees it running more services than it did pre-COVID.

Backed by a highly-intensive vehicle and fixed-infrastructure cleaning regime, he draws lessons from his time in London and other world events to predict what 2025 will look like. 

“We’re flat out with an A$80bn (£43bn) programme over the next four years,” he tells Leon Daniels about the TNSW investment in new projects, as they discuss whether the ‘infinite suppressed demand’ that London and other major cities experience will return.

Dave Joshua is the man who is going to ‘revolutionise the bus industry’. That’s quite a claim for this native of Gloucestershire who is now General Manager for Optibus in the UK and Europe.

With a background in data and software, he’s also a ‘newbie’ in the bus industry and brings with him clarity of thought that comes from standing outside of the wood, while the rest of us are in with the trees.

Chatting over lunch with Leon Daniels, he talks about the huge opportunity in front of us - but adds that a “level of bravery is required.” 

“One the greatest things the bus industry needs to realise is the impact it can bring to the individual. But to make that change, it has to change itself.” Dave Joshua says.

He argues that we need to alter the perception of the industry to treat it like a utility, not a ‘nice to have’.

“We need to change the bus industry so the next generation coming through, use it like brushing your teeth - they do it without thinking about it.”

At the moment, you need to know so much about transport before you use it, “a bit like an entrance exam,” observes Leon Daniels. 

When we turn on a tap, water comes out. We don’t need to know who supplied it, what process it went through and what source it comes from.

So is it possible that transport can become as intuitive? You hold your hand out and it’s just there.

Well, that’s what optimisation and big data is about is about. 

If you thought that this is all about straightforward bus scheduling, you’d be wrong. That’s like comparing a Sinclair ZX Spectrum with today’s latest laptops…