OXFORD BUS COMPANY HOST CAMPAIGN TO ENCOURAGE MORE WOMEN INTO THE BUS INDUSTRY

Oxford Bus Company hosted a ‘Women in Bus’ event in the city as part of a campaign to increase female representation in the industry.

The initiative launched by Oxford Bus Company’s parent company The Go-Ahead Group is designed to address the long-standing lack of gender diversity in public transport. The Go-Ahead Group has set a company wide target to increase female representation in its workforce from 11% to 20% by 2025.

Oxford Bus Company held the first regional ‘Women in Bus’ employee network event at Jurys Inn, Oxford, to support and empower female colleagues. Phil Southall, Oxford Bus Company Managing Director gave an opening speech and was joined by Claire Mann, Director of Bus Operations at Transport for London who also gave an address. Five female members of the Oxford Bus Company team then talked about their roles in the organisation.

Go-Ahead’s Women in Bus network provides visible role models to colleagues, and creates a forum for women to raise issues, share experiences and support each other. The network is a forum for discussion on relevant policies and brings women together to share learning and work experiences. It is open to both women and men across the business.

Mr Southall said: “We proud are to be part of the first company in the bus sector to create a female colleague-led networking spanning across the whole business. The event in Oxford was the first to be held in the regions and was a great success. One of our core values is embracing diversity and we want our workforce to fully reflect the great diversity of our passengers and the communities that we serve. There are great opportunities for people to work in our industry and we are committed to working to attract more females into the bus business.”

David Brown, Go-Ahead CEO, said: “We want to encourage change within our industry, attracting more women to the profession and equipping our female colleagues to progress their careers. We are committed to removing the obstacles that block women from reaching their full potential and to having a workforce as diverse as the public we serve."