Operations Director
Ben Gilligan - UK Bus Performance Director
I joined the Bus Graduate Training Scheme in September 2002 after doing a History degree at the University of York.
I spent my first 9-month placement at Eastern Counties and did all the Head Office functions and then spent some time at Norwich, Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn depots learning about operations. I was then posted to South Yorkshire for 6 months. I worked in their Commercial Department for about 3 months before filling, on a temporary basis, the position of Assistant Manager Operations in Sheffield for a further 3 months. After that, I went to Colchester to be the Acting Operations Manager for 4 months and was then offered my first permanent job in Huddersfield. I really enjoy the Operations side of the job because it is different every day, and you spend most of your time dealing with people whether it be drivers, the trade union or local stakeholders. You also have a real opportunity to manage your own budget through driver costs and working with Schedules to ensure that we are operating in the most efficient way. This gives you a real understanding of the job and how everything fits together. I then built on this experience by spending 2 ½ years as Operations Director in Aberdeen, which meant that, at the time, I was the youngest director of a UK Bus subsidiary. This was a great opportunity make the transition to a more strategic role, whilst still keeping in touch with the day-to-day running of an operation.
I am now UK Bus Performance Director.
I am now part of the Chief Operating Officer's team and am focusing on punctuality and reliability improvements across all of UK Bus. This new role has allowed me to work at a different level and provide support to operating companies to improve their performance and help them to make a real difference to how they serve their customers.