Lunch with Leon

“A force to be reckoned with,” is how Leon Daniels introduces Anna Delvecchio in his ‘Lunch with Leon’ podcast.

One of the most influential women in transport, she joined the industry as an apprentice and after a rising through a varied range of posts is now Development Director of Transportation at Mott MacDonald.

She talks about why the industry needs to change the perception of transport among youngsters, to encourage the talent of tomorrow.

“We rise by lifting others,” she says, as she explains the importance of mentoring and professional-development support networks, alongside recognising rising stars. 

That ethos also flows through to Highways Sector Council, launched during lockdown, of which she is a member.

“We are stronger together than separately,” she says about the public-private partnership that is sponsored by the Department for Transport.

And here too, the old ways of working are being challenged. She explains how the council created a plan, presented to the DfT, to take advantage of lockdown by bringing forward major road repairs and improvements while traffic was at its lowest levels since the 1940s.

With a passion for transport she sets out how the industry can encourage young people to join the UK’s most dynamic and exciting sector with its vast range of opportunities and career paths.

She says that we need a new showcase for transport that changes the perception of ‘who does what’ among young people, to show them that transport roles are much wider than the stereotypical one of driving.

With 23m people in city that is a modern metropolis whose location links Hong Kong to China’s mainland, Shenzhen is now well into its post-COVID-19 recovery phase.

So, what’s life like post-lockdown and what lessons can we learn? 
To find out Leon Daniels speaks with Joe Ma, Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen Bus Group and also Chair of UITP’s Taxi and Ride-hailing Committee.

They discuss the economic bounce-back, how ridership levels have returned and what the ‘new normal’ looks like.

Joe explains how the bus operator is winning back passengers using a range of new initiatives - including demand-responsive 50-seater coach express services from housing areas to the city centre.

They also talk about battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell electric buses. Joe describes Shenzhen as the “lab mice of electric buses” having taken its first 100 e-buses in 2010, with the entire fleet becoming electric in 2017.

We need to think differently: That’s the challenge that Jo Bamford throws down to operators in a chat over lunch with Leon Daniels.
Part of JCB’s global vehicle business and son of Lord Bamford, Jo is a passionate advocate for hydrogen, aiming to bring hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles to the world on a large scale .
Having set up Ryse Hydrogen in 2017 to produce and supply hydrogen, last year Jo hit the headlines when he bought Wrightbus. As a result it now offers turnkey solutions for both hydrogen and battery buses.
In a wide-range discussion they chew over how the capital and operational costs of hydrogen vehicles can be reduced to the same as diesel.
They also discuss breaking the chicken-and-egg scenario of hydrogen production and infrastructure.
In a radical approach, Jo challenges bus operators to think like airlines when procuring zero-emission vehicles, arguing that a totally different approach is needed. And, he says, if operators are prepared to be “more daring”, they could pay much lower vehicle prices. Listen now to find out how this would happen.

ITT Hub’s ‘Lunch with Leon’, hosted by Leon Daniels OBE, takes a new twist as he talks with Matt Eisenegger, MD of Commercial Vehicle Media & Publishing, that publishes a suite of truck and logistics magazines.
Ahead of the launch of Matt’s own ITT Hub podcast next week - called CV Focus - they discuss the sudden changes brought to freight and logistics.
He also reveals who his first guest on CV Focus will be.

Matt joined the industry from school in the 1980s as a technician for Wallace Arnold’s Bedford truck workshop, before spending a decade in truck sales for AWD and Renault and then moving into commercial and marketing.
Over lunch, Leon and Matt chew over the positive legacy of the London 2012 Olympics, and it ultimately delivered a range of road safety improvements that continues today.

They also explore whether hydrogen is the future for long-distance trucking, the opportunities and what lessons we can draw for ‘platooning’ and autonomous vehicles.

This Lunch with Leon special features Steve Whiteway, President of the Confederation of Passenger Transport and Ian Jones, industry legal advisor as they returned from Honk for Hope in central London, the third rally in the UK to draw attention to issues in the coach industry, a diverse sector with a ‘lost cause’.

With 42K people in the UK employed directly by coach operators, contributing £6 billion to the economy, the coach industry wants to bring the importance of their contribution to the attention of Parliament.

Many coach companies are family businesses who face an 18 month ‘winter’ due to the seasonal nature of their operation.

Honk for Hope is calling for the furlough scheme and financial agreements to be extended for this sector until March 2021 and for a statutory instrument to prevent finance companies enforcing commercial debt against personal assets.

Featuring Isbrand Ho, Senior Director of BYD Company and Managing Director BYD Europe, along with Frank Thorpe, Managing Director BYD UK. Speaking from the Netherlands, Isbrand talks about the opportunities which will emerge following the current crisis. 

· How does public transport emerge cleaner and better without leaving anyone behind? · Will volumes of bus orders come back, despite current numbers being “eye-wateringly low”? Frank shares thoughts on the need to combat the car and improve air quality· The quality and cost of the latest buses are often better equipped than the private car· How is BYD adapting its solutions in battery technology?· Poor air quality kills. How will the world emerge into a safer, better place? What are the predictions for 2025 and beyond?· How will last mile delivery and battery technology be even more important? · How manufacturers and operators must work even closer together to make the bus even better

In the second edition of Lunch with Leon, Leon Daniels OBE hosts Professor David Begg – author, academic, advisor to secretaries of state, conference entrepreneur and self-confessed “general no good troublemaker”. 

Leon and Professor Begg discuss how far and how deeply the legacy of where we are now will track into the future. With five years of change compressed into the six-month period of the pandemic, what will be the effects of WFH, online shopping, reduced business travel and even a four-day week? Public transport is being used for essential travel only but there is continued demand for low cost summer holidays by air. Is this the death of business travel and national airlines? How will the current clean air of our cities fast forward our thinking in their future planning? Is the case for franchising bus travel outside London weaker or stronger now? How will it all pan out on a human level? Human beings or human doings? 

Leon and Paul discuss the state of the industry and how the past and present will inform our future. The podcast includes discussion on public transport and the effect of changes in habits, clean air and how to maintain the momentum post coronavirus, support needed for the bus and coach market, how to attract a younger, more inclusive workforce, government-backed guarantees on investment, plus electric vs hydrogen – either or both?