Lunch with Leon

In the latest episode of Lunch with Leon, Leon speaks with Ben Plowden, the new Chief Executive of the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT). This lively conversation covers various hot topics in the transport industry - the potential softening of the green agenda, rail nationalisation and rail fare debates, the importance of regional connectivity and how to address car dependency. Leon also picks Ben's brains on the anticipated Integrated National Transport Strategy, and finds out more about CBT's Better Transport Week, taking place from 16th - 22nd June.  https://www.passengertransport.co.uk/ https://bettertransport.org.uk/

Leon Daniels talks to David Astill, the new chairman of of ALBUM, the Association of Local Bus Managers (and Managing Director of Nottingham City Transport), just after their successful annual conference in Nottingham. David shares some of his highlights from the conference, as well as discussing the impact of local elections on transport policy, the importance of local ownership and management in the bus industry and ALBUM's future under his stewardship, and with Alex Perry as policy advisor. 

Ahead of the organisation's conference on 12-14th May, Leon is joined by former ALBUM chair Bill Hiron MBE to discuss his extensive career in the bus industry, from his days at Thamesway and First Group to owning Stevensons of Essex. The conversation also explores the evolution of London's bus tendering system, Bill's view on the Buses Bill, and his seven-year chairmanship of The Association of Local Bus Managers (ALBUM), that supports the UK's municipally owned and independent SME bus sector. Plus, the pair celebrate the joy of The Bus Archive in Droitwich.

Leon speaks with Sophie Bancroft, HR Director at Network Rail, about her career so far - including various previous roles at Transport for London. The discussion also explores attitudes to rail reform, Sophie's love of the Metropolitan Line and running transport during the London 2012 Olympics - including the tactical use of fake road works! Listen out for nods to several other great transport industry leaders, some fun stories from throughout Sophie and Leon's careers and a celebration of the London Transport Museum. 

On episode 102 of Lunch with Leon, Leon meets Shravan Joshi MBE, Chair of the Planning and Transportation Committee for the City of London, to discuss key transport priorities for the Square Mile, from the successful pedestrianisation of Bank Junction, to the evolution of the vibrant seven-day city ecosystem. The two transport leaders also discuss significant planned office developments in the Eastern cluster, the challenges of creating a sustainable, affordable transportation environment for a young workforce, and the importance of making London a destination of choice for SMEs to grow beyond IPO. 

For this episode we're taking to the water, as Leon catches up with Sean Collins, CEO of Thames Clippers. Twenty five years ago, Sean co-founded the now iconic riverboat service that has transformed London's river transport and carries 5.3 million passengers annually up and down the Thames. He chats with Leon about recent innovations such as the forthcoming electric ferry, Uber coming on board as a partner, future plans for expansion, celebrity passengers and much more! 

The Lunch with Leon podcast is back for 2025, and we're kicking off the year with episode 100! To mark the occasion, we have secured a suitably impressive guest: Lord Peter Hendy of Richmond Hill CBE. Currently serving as Minister of State for Rail, Lord Hendy is one of the country's foremost transport leaders and a passionate advocate for the industry, having previously served as Commissioner for Transport for London, and Chair of Network Rail throughout his fifty-year transport career. Leon catches with Lord Hendy to discuss his appointment in the Labour government, how the transport industry can provide an exciting job for life, and the future of heritage transport. 

Sharon Kindleysides, Christian Wolmar and Steve Gooding join Leon Daniels in person for their thoughts on the year

Almost four years after his first appearance on the Lunch with Leon podcast, Thomas Ableman is back! Leon catches up with Thomas - founder of transport and mobility consultancy Freewheeling - on his time at Transport for London as Director of Strategy and Innovation, and the pair take a deep dive into AI. It's poised to revolutionise the transport sector - but what do organisations need to do to adapt and handle this shift? 

It's not often that we have repeat guests on Lunch with Leon, but we've made an exception for the wonderful Emma Hignett - aka the voice of London Buses, The Elizabeth Line, Go North East and Go Yorkshire. Leon chats to Emma, a brilliant voiceover artist, about her unexpected career in transport, the impact of AI on the voiceover industry, some of the quirkier stops she's recorded in her 'bus voice' and more. Listen to the end for a bonus musical surprise!

An episode of two halves! With Leon due to assume the post of the Master of The Worshipful Company of Carmen (one of the oldest livery companies in London), he speaks to outgoing Master Carman David Pugsley about David's past year in post. Then, we revisit highlights and hot takes from some of Leon's favourite episodes of the podcast, featuring transport experts Steve Norris, Christian Wolmar, Simon Calder and Will Whitehorn.   Passenger Transport: www.passengertransport.co.uk

Leon is joined by broadcasters and transport enthusiasts Edward Adoo and Simon Lederman, who discuss when their love of buses and trains began, reminisce about the enduring appeal of the iconic London Transport roundel and contemplate the delicate balance between progress and heritage in the transport sector. 

A special episode of the show, with live speakers from the recent 120th anniversary of the Hong Kong Tramway, affectionately known by locals as the 'Ding Ding'. Leon also speaks with fellow event attendee Vicky Koo, Global chair of Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT), about the work they are undertaking to help support the careers of women in the transport and logistics industry. 

The latest guest on the Lunch with Leon podcast is David Boden, Business Development Director, Stagecoach East and Chair of the CP Bus Alliance. Leon and David discuss their shared passion for putting customer needs at the centre of transport planning, strategies for effective bus and rail integration and the headache of road works on bus services. Plus, how do we tackle the growing epidemic of ‘geographical ignorance' and its impact on public transport users today? Note - this episode was recorded before the UK General Election on 4th July 2024.   Passenger Transport: www.passengertransport.co.uk 

This week, Leon is joined by transport evangelist Paul Comfort and technology expert Simon Reed to discuss Paul's latest book, The New Future of Public Transportation. Listen now for a deep dive into the hot topics in the transit industry as well as insights from the book featuring expertise from 30 transport leaders worldwide. Passenger Transport: www.passengertransport.co.uk  Transit Unplugged podcast: https://transitunplugged.com/

UK General Election Special: With less than a month to go until polling day, Leon is joined by political consultant Stephen Bramall for a no-holds-barred conversation about how a new government could impact transport in the UK. Listen now to for a dive into the challenges of devolution, Stephen's thoughts on how a shaken-up front bench might impact governance and whether transport will feature on campaign agendas. The two also discuss the political hot potato of road pricing and how changing travel habits and technologies could impact the face of transport in five years' time.  Passenger Transport: https://www.passengertransport.co.uk/ 

Jo Field, Founder of JFG Communications and President of Women in Transport sits down with Leon to discuss the challenges women face in advancing in transport, and what can be done to close the gender diversity gap.  Passenger Transport: https://www.passengertransport.co.uk/ Women in Transport: https://www.womenintransport.com/

LibDem London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon comes to Lunch with Leon and talks about the successes of the past and the opportunities for the future...

Former Senior Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell talks over lunch with Leon Daniels about her times as the most senior regulator for freight and passenger industries, and about what she has been busy doing since.

We travel into space with Will Whitehorn the former CEO of Virgin Galactic as we discuss how huge an effect the space industry does for transport in its widest sense. Will also reflects on his time with Virgin Group and as Deputy Chairman of Stagecoach and the incredible progress transport has made with technology

In this episode the Commercial Director for Trustd.net Siofra Neary talks to Leon Daniels about what modern technology can do to make sure the right person delivers the right goods to the right person using digital technology.

Six months into his role as Director Jason talks about the work of the Urban Transport Group and his hopes for this General Election year and beyond.

Dr Nick Reed is a world leading expert on Connected and Autonomous Vehicles and the human factors involved in road safety

As President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Leon Daniels is bringing together safety experts from aviation, marine, rail and road/passenger. We have such to learn rom each other. These webcasts are seen by CILT members live in a webcast. Here now is the audio of the most recent presentation with Lilli Matson, Chief health, Safety and Environment Officer at Transport for London

Leon Daniels talks to Candice Mason, ahead of an important event at the House of Commons promoting Women in Bus & Coach as well as her experiences as running Masons Coach Hire and her own other entrepreneurial interests

Leon Daniels joins former TfL Commissioners Mike Brown, Lord Peter Hendy and other transport leaders at this event in Australia where we learn that we have so much in common; where joined-up transport infrastructure improvements are underway; and where there are huge opportunities.

Industry heavyweights Ian Forster and Ian Warr talk about their new venture. You can contact them at 07939 677530 or by email ian.foster@catlynn-transport-consultants.co.uk and ian.warr@catlynn-transport-consultants.co.uk

David Savage VP UK and Ireland for Geotab discusses with Leon Daniels the huge advantage that on-board data can bring to a transport business

This episode we meet the Chief Executive of Asset Alliance Group, a large commercial vehicle finance company. It was recorded before the Prime Minister's announcement regarding the 2030 transition to electric vehicles

Join Leon talking to Eloy's Damian Horton, a winner of the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund 150 competition which allowed this company to conduct some interesting research designed to improve the safety and convenience of some tricky motoring situations.

This week's Lunch with Leon is ITT Hub 2023 speaker and Director at BluMarbl, Andrew Luckett. Leon Daniels and Andrew pick up their conversation from the show on how a zero-emission world for coaches can be developed in this generation. 

In episode 75 of Lunch with Leon, Leon speaks to Natasha Fry, Head of Sales at Mer UK about what's new at the business, which is one of the fastest-growing European EV charging companies, and their UK Fleet Services business unit.

In this week's episode, Leon talks to Norman Baker, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Transport. Leon and Norman discuss his current role as Director of External Affairs at Campaign for Better Transport and what the organisation is doing to make transport better, greener and fairer.

Ahead of ITT Hub 2023, the UK's most important transport technology event, Leon Daniels catches up with David Hart, Director at Momentum Transport Consultancy, one of the UK's leading transport and operational consultants. 

In this epsiode, Leon catches up with Sharon Kindleysides, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT), to discuss the latest news from the institute and the big, wide world of transport and logistics. 

In this episode, Leon's guest is another friend and expert from the world of transport, Richard Dilks, Chief Executive at CoMoUK. CoMoUK is the national organisation for shared transport, a charity for promoting its social, economic and environmental benefits. Shared transport means schemes such as car clubs and bike share where people can use a mode of transport without having to own it. Leon and Richard discuss with whats happened in the shared mobility sector and trends that are being seen across the industry.

Leon Daniels catches up with Simon Calder, The Independent's Travel Correspondent and news broadcaster, in this episode of Lunch with Leon. Simon discusses his daily travel podcast, the current workforce issues in the UK travel sector and the trends and news that is seeing travel change every week.

Happy New Year, listeners - Lunch with Leon is back with the first interview of 2023. To kick off January, Leon speaks to Roger Davies, a well-respected commentator on the global commercial transport industry and former senior bus manager, and discusses the 2023 budget and upcoming sector trends. Roger first spoke on the podcast nearly two years ago in episode 31, and is back by popular demand!

In the latest instalment of Lunch with Leon, Leon speaks to the Chief Executive of Living Streets, Steve Edwards, on what the charity has been up to and the progress it has made.  Since Steve has taken his new role, the charity has seen investment in its work in Scotland double; additional funding for its walk-to-school programme in England; and changes to the Highway Code to put pedestrians at the top of a new road user hierarchy rolled out across Great Britain. 

In this episode, Leon chats with Alex Warner, Managing Director of AJW Experiences Group Ltd, former MD of Tracsis Transport Consultancy. Leon and Alex discuss his 30-year career in the bus, rail and aviation industries and the launch of his new business, AJW Experiences. 

In this special edition episode, sponsored by One.Network, Leon heads to Los Angeles Conference Centre for the ITS America Global Congress to discuss the future of transport with key leaders in the space: Joanna Pinkerton President and CEO, Central Ohio Transit Authority Tim Haile Director, Contra Costa Transportation Authority and his Chair Chris Kelley Stephen Gota Executive Officer, Program management LA Country Metropolitan Transportation Authority Ananth Prasad President, Florida Transportation Builders' Association

After the summer break, Lunch of Leon returns with a series of guests from the world of transport.  In this episode, Leon chats with Alex Hornby, CEO of Transdev Blazefield, which runs around 550 buses and employ 1,400 people at our bases in Blackburn, Burnley, Rochdale, Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford, Harrogate, Keighley, Malton and York. Leon and Alex discuss the current state of the industry, how customer behaviour is changing and their customer-first approach.

In this week's Lunch with Leon, our host is back on the road - this time at ITT Hub in Farnborough, where he enjoyed lunch and a catch up with National Grid's Duncan Burt. Taking you backstage at one of the industry's biggest national events, Leon and Duncan talk all about his role as Chief Sustainability Officer - looking at how to support the wider move to electric vehicles across large fleets, reducing company emissions, and supporting grids worldwide as they replicate the work of the UK and transition to electric energy.  If you missed ITT Hub this year, this episode offers a unique insight into how the event went and introduces us to some of the hot topics discussed both between Leon and Duncan and as part of the wider conference. 

Leon Daniels OBE has lunch with Victoria Whitehead (Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure and Transport at Lloyds Bank) and Joy Newton (Associate Director of Sustainability and ESG Finance at Lloyds Bank). As the government is urging us towards net zero, and transport is currently such a huge emissions contributor, what's the role of technology and what's the bank going to do about it? asks Leon. The answers, we discover, are absolutely fascinating.  The conversation ranges from the ‘Energy Trilemma' – finding a balance between security, affordability, and sustainability – to how we are seeing the same thing in the transport sector. Discussing which technologies are likely to make the most impact, we discover that the bank is looking at a remarkable 85 technologies that are crucial for energy transition, of which quite a lot cover transport. They also chat about building a UK hydrogen economy and what its role might be for vehicles. The packed lunch concludes by discussing the support available for SMEs to help their net-zero transition. And, we discover what the bank is doing to help SMEs who are ‘nervous' about making the first step to net-zero transition. 

Rupert Clubb from Transport for the South East (TfSE) chats with Leon Daniels OBE ahead of the region's sub-national transport body's appearance at ITT Hub on 11-12 May. There, TfSE will launch its freight strategy, reveals Rupert: “Using ITT Hub as a springboard is really exciting. Then later in the summer we will launch a consultation on our strategic investment plan.” They mull over the perception of freight and the many positives that TfSE discovered when it engaged with the sector as part of its creation of the strategy. We also discover the size of the south-east in economic terms, and why it is home to so many continental gateways. This brings challenges for freight, we learn, which often uses the region as a transit corridor to reach other parts of the UK, and why it's important that the corridor is effective so that it doesn't stifle growth in the rest of the country.

Will we run out of electricity? That's the most-often asked question of Paul Jewell, when people discover that he's System Development Manager at Western Power Distribution (WPD), covering the Midlands, South West and South Wales. His answer is simple: No, we won't. But getting it to the right places in the right quantity, involves planning and forethought. As a Distribution Network Operator (DNO), WPD runs the cable network that supplies electricity to premises. He chats with Leon Daniels OBE to explain what WPD is already doing to ensure that any domestic customer wanting a heat pump or electric vehicle (EV) charger can have an upgraded supply (if it's needed). “If you want to have it, we will make the capacity – it's a bold boast, but that's world we need to be in if people are going to decarbonise.” He talks about the experiences of WPD's Electric Nation project, seven years ago during the early EV adopter phase, and the important lessons learned. He also chats about the challenges of connecting commercial fleets to the mains, how extra capacity can be provided for motorway service areas, and why WPD is exhibiting at ITT Hub.

We've got a pretty good idea about what the post-pandemic recovery for public transport looks like in Britain, but what about the rest of the world?  Leon Daniels OBE travels to the MENA Transport Congress and Exhibition (MTCE) at the Dubai World Trade Centre to catch up with transport leaders from around the world. He discovers that the answer varies between a 25-100% recovery, on different continents for a variety of reasons, his various guests explain.  Talking to operators and suppliers, he also explores how public transport can fill the gap between what the public wants to pay (generally very little) and what the transport costs to provide. He finishes by finding out about the transformative effect of data on operations and predictions on how personal mobility is likely to change.

In the 59th episode of Lunch with Leon, Leon takes us to the Rees Jeffreys Road Fund awards ceremony - founded in the name of Rees Jeffreys who was both a great cyclist and an integral part of the Road Improvements Council. The Road Fund was established by Jeffreys (1871 – 1954), and now the charity offers financial support to education and project support - and to mark the 150 years since Jeffreys' birth, the trustees decided to host a competition. This competition is the culmination of the charity's work, inviting schools, universities, agencies, and other organisations to create and deliver innovative ideas to benefit the future. In this episode, Leon takes us to the centre of the awards ceremony as the charity asks organisations to come up with ways of making our roads and highways better for everyone over the next 50 years.  Who won? Listen to this episode to find out! 

In this episode of Lunch with Leon, our host talks all things Net Zero with Glenn Bemment, who is the Head of Sustainability for SMEs and Mid Corporates businesses at Lloyds Bank. A key focus for Glenn is how Lloyds can help their clients transition to the low carbon future we need. Throughout the episode, the discussion revolves around the latest research Lloyds commissioned across more than 1,000 SME businesses, to understand the importance of sustainability and the key hurdles businesses face when putting sustainability initiatives into action. Glenn covers both the opportunities this presents, and some key actions businesses can take to get started on their journey. You can access the research and read it for yourself here: From Now to Net Zero: A Practical Guide for SMEs | Lloyds Bank

In this week's Lunch with Leon, Leon heads to the Northeast of England to visit Beamish - and meet with various members of the museum team.   To start off, Leon learns about the development of the museum since its founding in 1970 - inspired by open air museums around the world which spotlight how life used to be and how life has changed as a result of technology and innovation. Beamish Museum is designed to tell the story of life in the Northeast throughout the years - utilising communities and residents to shroud every exhibition and story in real experiences.  Leon is also given a chance to find out about the transport used in and around the Beamish Museum - which factors old and resorted buses and public transport into the museum to really provide visitors with an immersive experience from start to finish.  An unrivalled look at Beamish Museum and all it has to offer visitors. 

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!