Women in Transport and their partner First Bus, hosted the inaugural Inclusive Cab Summit at First Bus Leicester’s Depot on Tuesday. This ‘industry first’ was attended by 30 organisations from across the sector and marked the start of the journey towards creating a gold charter for inclusive bus cab design.
Guests included drivers, operational colleagues and engineers from across all of the major bus groups, as well as representatives from key bus manufacturers, suppliers, Trade Unions, CPT and Bus Users UK. The event also hosted 12 different buses which took centre stage as participants rated cabs for comfort, safety and overall inclusivity.
Accelerating ‘Inclusive cab design’ is one of Women in Transport D&I Bus Group’s key objectives for 2024. The group undertook a driver survey in January this year, and in conjunction with First Bus’ own internal surveys, they highlighted key issues and themes throughout the day via their ‘colleague insights’ boards.
The event also hosted, inspirational keynote speaker, Mike Adams OBE from Purple Tuesdays, an organisation that supports companies to be confident in putting in place accessibility solutions for both disabled employees and customers.
Caroline Ward, Spokesperson for Women in Transport said: “It is a great achievement to get so many people together in one place all with a common goal to improve the working environment for themselves and their colleagues; and to ensure a career in bus driving provides a safe, comfortable and inclusive space to work from. You could feel the energy and momentum in the room and it feels like a pivotal moment in building inclusivity and accessibility in our sector. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone who attended and to First Bus for supporting this ground-breaking event to shape the future of bus cab design.”
Gareth Hind, Director of Colleague Experience and Relations, First Bus said: “We are delighted to have played host to such an innovative event and help to stimulate conversation around such an important topic. At First Bus, as one of the UK’s largest bus operators, it is our collective responsibility to inspire a more inclusive environment and to create a workplace that is accepting of everyone so they can be their true selves and succeed.
“The bus industry offers many exciting career opportunities and so it is important that we offer those to as many people as possible. By creating a gold standard of inclusive cab design, we can improve the driving experience further for our current and future drivers across the country.”
The event closed with a pledge to ‘keep the conversation going’, and First Bus’ Chief Operating Officer Andrew Jarvis was the first to pledge, with all 70 guests following suit. There are already plans being made to start influencing design, and preparation will soon be underway for the next summit in early October which will take place at Chapman Seatings’ West Bromwich site.
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