Go-Ahead Group joins Future Cities Forum
We are delighted that Gavin Bostock, Head of Public Affairs, Go-Ahead Group, will join our first panel discussion around future transport on 26 June, with the Infrastructure Project Authority's Director of Delivery Stephen Dance, Milton Keynes Council's Head of Transport Steve Hayes, Arup's Lead Designer Ricky Sandhu and Transport for London's Principal Planner Rosanna Sterry.
Gavin has been with Go-Ahead since 2012, and led stakeholder engagement and partnership building as part of the team that won the UK’s biggest ever rail franchise, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). He covered the Head of Public Affairs role at GTR during the critical delivery phase of the Thameslink Programme, and a long running industrial dispute. He then returned to Go-Ahead in 2017 to lead Group-wide public affairs, and this has included campaigns and activity on bus strategy, tackling loneliness and improving air quality.
Before joining Go-Ahead, Gavin worked at HS2 Ltd on managing highly sensitive relationships during one of the UK’s biggest ever public consultations, and has undertaken a variety of issues-led communications roles in transport, infrastructure and planning.
Go-Ahead takes care of over one billion journeys on our rail and bus services each year. The group operates two major rail franchises, several regional bus companies and a quarter of London’s buses for TfL. Internationally it also has operating contracts in Singapore, Germany, Ireland and Norway. Go-Ahead is the largest operator of electric buses in the UK, and has been trialling the UK’s only air filtering bus in Southampton, which cleans the air around it as it travels.
Gavin commented: 'We want everyone in our communities to thrive, and to provide services that work for all sections of society. Attractive bus services can help tackle social exclusion, address loneliness and improve air quality, particularly as we transition to low and zero emission vehicles. Developing for the future of transport is a one of our strategic pillars; we are operating the UK’s largest demand responsive bus services (in Oxford) and developing new initiatives in ‘Mobility as a Service’ and in encouraging active travel for the first and last mile.'