This week's episode sees Leon sitting down for lunch in the North East of England, with Martijn Gilbert from Go North East.During this episode, the two discuss investment in the brand-new local bus depot, the rollout of new express buses across key routes in the North East, and the rise in electric buses.How has the negative perception of public transport during Covid-19 impacted the bus industry? And what is being done to revolutionize and update key messaging? Listen to this episode to find out!

This week sees Leon sitting down for lunch with Christian Wolmar - a noted railway historian who has appeared on TV, Radio, and is a celebrated author to name just a handful of his accolades and achievements.
In this episode, Leon talks to Christian about his latest book release on Crossrail and its inner operational workings - introducing the motivation behind the book and just some of the projects and releases which are explored in the pages. If you've ever wondered about the £19 billion project to revolutionise the railway in the United Kingdom, this is a great listen for you.

In this week’s episode of Lunch with Leon, Leon is on a whirlwind trip to Dublin to meet with the Managing Director of Aircoach. Dervla McKay was appointed MD of the company following a bright career which started back in 2005 when McKay joined First Group as a graduate trainee. Since then, her experiences have seen her working across public transport usage in England and Ireland, with her focus now on navigating the post-Covid and post-Brexit public transport market.

Things are moving forward for Aircoach with Dervla McKay at the helm - pun 100% intended!

In this week’s episode of Lunch with Leon, our host sits down with Roger French. Roger may be retired from the day-to-day world of public transport but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still in touch with his industry roots - sharing his thoughts on the pending funding and service changes in the public vehicle sector, the rise of low-emission buses, and the changing of peak transport requirements as a result of the pandemic.

Once the Managing Director of Brighton and Hove, Roger shares his own experiences with Leon as the two make their predictions on what’s coming and how the bus and rail industry could adapt to meet changing demand in the coming months and years.

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In this first episode of 2022, host Leon sits down with a handful of special guests as he makes his way around ITS America.

Leon’s first conversation is with Chief Executive Officer of one.network, James Harris, who shares his experience of launching a data company in the USA market and provides insight into his time at the ITS America show.

The second guest on Lunch with Leon is the President and Chief Executive of ITS America, Laura Chase, who discusses some of the key insights being shared across the show and reveals that the next ITS America show will be held in September 2022 in LA at the World Congress.

Later guests in this special episode include a senior transportation engineer who discusses traffic control, road users, and the impact of AI on transport; a director of connected and automated vehicle services who talks about whether autonomous vehicles are here to stay; and an automated transportation program manager who shares just some of the opportunities open to those who attend a show like ITS America.

In this Lunch with Leon - which actually started life as a dinner in Scotland during COP26 - host Leon Daniels OBE chats to Ian Constance, who is the CEO of the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (and if you don’t know what that is, then it’s a good thing you’ve found your way to this episode!)

Picking up from where their conversation over dinner left off, this episode provides insight into the reality of climate change, talks about the campaign work of Greta Thunberg, and uncovers some of the project work being done by the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK to bring innovative solutions and products to the market through funding. 

Education, convenience, and understanding are at the centre of this episode - with Ian and Leon discussing just some of the ways that industries can and are bringing customers and consumers on board with their work to support the environment in a positive way. 

Fresh from attending COP26, Leon Daniels OBE has lunch with Ben Plowden, formerly of Transport for London, who is one of the country’s leading minds on urban planning, the environment and ensuring a sustainable lifestyle.

They chat about Independence Day and State of Fear, and why the climate emergency doesn’t feel like an emergency, in the way that Covid did last year. And, why COP26 was a partial success.

They chew over what’s happening in British Columbia – a wealthy industry country – that’s been knocked sideways, and why it’s a manifestation of change that’s already here.

A very different approach to low-carbon cities and public transport, is what sets GoAscendal apart. The difference for the global mobility advisory company founded by Ascendal Group and GoMetro, is that they are consultants who have real-life experience of running public transport.

Now they are harnessing the potential of data technology, by using their Cambridgeshire coach operation as a ‘living lab’, enabling new technology to be tried out in a real operating environment.

Justin Coetzee and Graeme Inglis chat with Leon Daniels OBE about how GoAscendal Labs’ 12-week programme will help sort out what works and what doesn’t.

https://goascendal.com/

Anthony Smith CEO Transport focus – the government-supported independent rail, bus and roads watchdog – chats with Leon Daniels OBE about the problem in the public’s understanding of what green transport actually is.

Anthony talks about the ‘say-do’ problem: what we say is so different to what we do and how this is especially true when it comes to the environment, why attitudinal research is a ‘waste of time’ and why people lie in surveys.

And, he addresses the ‘silos’ of car Vs bus, and reckons we have passed ‘peak public transport’.

Now the government effectively has control of rail and bus, Anthony Smith sets out how the new rail concessions that are replacing franchises could finally bring genuinely integrated transport.

Do you understand the message you’re giving to your customers? It seems that many companies don’t, reckons renowned brand and design guru Ray Stenning. “It’s not just what you say, but how you say it.” In conversation with Leon Daniels they talk about how public transport’s solution to any problem is to “post a notice.”

The “art of communication is a two-way process” says Ray, and explains how to turn hard messages into welcoming ones.

“I sometimes refer to our profession as being magicians and people distrust magicians; they don’t like the dark arts,” he explains as he talks about the difficulty of culture change within transport companies, before they move on to talk about why the ‘joy of journeys’ is so important.

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