Of the hundreds and thousands of people who pass through London’s Liverpool
Street station on a typical day, probably only a handful would recognise the
grey-haired, bespectacled man standing on platform 8.
Richard Bowker could pass for many of the commuters around him, dressed in his
navy blue herringbone suit and light blue shirt. And yet the influence of
the Lancashire-born pianist turned transport executive touches more people’s
daily lives than most.
He created and handed out the franchise to run most of the trains running into
and out of the station. Now, as chief executive of National Express, he runs
those trains. Many of the passengers continuing their journey by local bus
will be stepping on to another of his vehicles. He also played a key role in
bringing in new, faster trains while at Virgin.
Every sign would seem to suggest that the keen walker and football fan is a
railway man at heart, but the new head of the UK’s largest coach company is
clear: that’s not the case. “I’m very passionate about transport generally,”
he says. “I’ve just tended to spend more time in rail than anything else.”
His arrival comes at a crucial time for National Express, which is preparing
to hand back a string of rail franchises, including Midland Mainline,
Central Trains and Silverlink, as their terms expire. It could also lose the
Gatwick Express route.
The group is bidding to operate the new East Midlands franchise, running
trains between London and South Yorkshire, and the new Cross Country
franchise, an altered version of the Penzance to Newcastle and Scotland
service run by Virgin. It has also prequalified to replace GNER as operator
of the East Coast Main Line services which, coincidentally, run through what
he describes as some of the most dramatic views in England.
Mr Bowker has spent the vast bulk of his career in the rail industry, after a
brief stint playing the piano. He pushed through Private Finance Initiative
work at London Underground, helped to develop the West Coast Main Line at
Virgin and then handed out franchises and defined industry strategy as
chairman of the now-defunct Strategic Rail Authority.
When he joined London Underground as a finance trainee in 1989, National
Express was a big coach operator barely a year out of state control. Some
two decades on, and less than a year into the job, he was on Friday found
doing the rounds of City investors with a clear message: do not discount the
potential of coach travel. While rail brings in more revenues, coaches
deliver similar profits.
It has been a busy inauguration for Mr Bowker. As well as working to get the
company shortlisted on what will prove to be three of the most significant
rail franchises in the UK, he has been conducting a review of the business.
His conclusion: the bits work together better than apart, so expect more of
the same. That means a few more acquisitions and a push for organic growth.
He wants National Express to focus more on the product and put more focus on
selling the product, rather than just delivering it.
For coaches, that means targeting the product to the audience, and using yield
management — or selling cheap tickets off-peak and more full-price tickets
at peak times — to maximise sales.
He also wants to introduce a first-class passenger service, an idea borrowed
from Spain, where National Express in 2005 bought Alsa, a Madrid-based coach
operator. Spanish executives are accustomed to luxurious coaches, with
leather seats, plenty of legroom, and onboard food and drink. “This is like
being on a business-class plane, only better,” he says.
The UK remains heavily congested though, and the demands on infrastructure
look set to intensify. If luxury coaches are to succeed there has to be a
way for buses to bypass congestion.
Mr Bowker is a fan of high occupancy lanes that would clear the way for
coaches. He is not convinced about road pricing: “I don’t see any real point
in pricing people out of cars simply to give them no alternative. A way to
give them an alternative is [for] buses and coaches to have priority on
roads,” he says. In return, passengers should expect more investment in
vehicles and service.
The big thing, he believes, could be integration, making all forms of public
transport work together seamlessly, making connection services connect at
similar times and in convenient places.
But the individual parts of the system are not perfect. Overcrowding on
commuter trains is rising up the political agenda: “Somebody will have to
take a big decision on capacity enhancement because it’s getting busier,” Mr
Bowker says.
He was disappointed that the recent report by Sir Rod Eddington, the
Government’s transport adviser, did not push for more high-speed rail
projects, an indication perhaps of how he would like the East Coast Main
Line to develop. “At the moment you get to Edinburgh [from London] in four
hours 15 minutes. I really think you would need to get that down to three
and a half hours [to hit domestic airline traffic head-on]. To do that you
are looking at high-speed rail and you’re looking at some new
infrastructure.”
“When [Eurostar’s new high-speed] line opens into St Pancras this year I think
that is going to transform people’s views. When you get on the train at St
Pancras and it runs high speed to Paris, I think people will go, ‘Yeah, we
get it now’.”
Meanwhile, the local bus industry faces more calls for reregulation. That
could have a significant impact on the group, which operates the bulk of
local bus services in the West Midlands.
“This idea that local authorities specify services and we have contracts is
seriously flawed and in my view foolish,” Mr Bowker says, arguing that
London’s regulated bus market works only because of high contributions from
taxpayers and the rigid enforcement of bus lanes and transport schemes by
Transport for London.
Mr Bowker said last week, reporting higher full-year profits on the back of
the Alsa deal, that he was “actively seeking” acquisitions. He's open to
ideas, but he’s sticking to what the company knows, and another deal like
Alsa, or a new buses business in North America would be very welcome.
Mr Bowker is clear that Network Rail is an improvement on the way railways
used to be run. “People look back with dewy-eyed nostalgia, rose-tinted
specs. The idea that [British Rail] was one big company is rubbish,” he
says. “The operations department probably met the engineering department
once a year at the Christmas party. The rest of the year it was like trench
warfare.
“Was it a great privatisation model? No. Were there some really silly
complexities brought in? Absolutely.”
The man on platform 8 played a key role in helping to iron out many of those
complexities. Now he is clear that the rail industry needs to look forward,
not back.
CV: Richard Bowker
Name: Richard Bowker
Age: 40
Family: Married, one son, second child on the way
Education: Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School; University of Leicester,
BA (Hons) Economics
Lives: near Birmingham
Hobbies: Blackburn Rovers, hill walking, canal boating, wine, reading
Career: Mr Bowker joined National Express as chief executive in 2006,
having spent much of his career in the rail industry. His first job in the
industry was with London Underground, where he rose to head its PFI unit.
After a stint at Babcock & Brown, the investment and advisory group, he
joined Quasar Associates, the rail consultant. He joined Virgin Rail as
co-chairman in 2000, also becoming commercial director of Virgin Group. He
left in 2001 to chair the now-defunct Strategic Rail Authority. He headed
Partnerships for Schools, a government schools body, from 2005 to 2006. He
is also a board member of British Waterways. He was awarded a CBE in 2005.
The leader questioned
If you could change one thing in the financial and commercial environment,
what would it be?
To get people to focus on delivery, not process.
Who is or was your mentor?
My father, for instilling in me that personal ambition and commercial success
must never be at the expense of integrity.
Which is more important: what you know or whom you know?
It’s neither — it’s what you believe. What you know is knowledge. Who you know
is just networking. You’ve got to start with what you believe and then what
you know and who you know helps.
Does money motivate you?
A little bit, but it’s not the dominant factor. We’ve got a billion customers
a year and I want them all to say "that was a good experience".
What is the most important business event, good or bad, to happen during
your working life?
The most defining one was the Hatfield train crash, just because I saw how not
to react to something.
What gadget can’t you do without?
Sadly I’d be dead without my BlackBerry. But the one I would be really really
upset about if I ever lost would be my iPod.
How do you relax?
I used to say watching Blackburn Rovers, but I’ve discovered that isn’t
actually very relaxing. But I’m a big, big football fan. Blackburn Rovers is
the finest football team that’s ever graced a field, as Arsenal discovered
the other night. I love walking and I love canals. I just find them so
peaceful and relaxing, although I sold my [narrow] boat not that long ago.
What does leadership mean to you?
Having the ability to make decisions and the courage to be accountable for
them.
Which businessman or woman do you most admire?
Sir Terry Leahy, for proving that being obsessed with delivering for customers
is the best route to creating value.
I admire much of what Mr Bowker has achieved and agree with much of what he is doing - but not with his views on reregulation. What are local authorities there for, if not to specify services to meet the needs of their residents and either run them themselves or, more likely these days, have them run by private contractors? And why should bus services be an exception? As regards the "high contributions from taxpayers" in London, I seem to recall in the late 1990s an un-trumpeted news item to the effect that, the franchising regime having driven down costs and improved efficiency, London Transport (as it then was) had finally broken even on its bus operations. That, of course, was before the mayor and assembly had even been agreed in principle.
Barry, Wallington, UK