The Journey to Emissions Free Urban Buses – Technical, Operational and Contractual Challenges Ahead!

Biography

Neil Smith’s career in transport began as a trainee manager with the Busways Group in western Sydney in 1972, after obtaining a BA at the University of Sydney.

In 1974 he formed a partnership that purchased Manly Bus Service in Sydney and 1975 he established Urban Transport Systems (UTS), offering consulting services in the areas of bus route design, bus and driver scheduling and public transport marketing.

Mr Smith was actively involved in the purchasing and operating of bus services on the Central Coast of NSW north of Sydney, including Somersby Bus Lines (1978), Central Coast Transit (renamed Peninsula Bus Lines) (1981), Davis Coach Lines (1987) and Roberts Brisbane Water Coaches (1990). He had an extensive involvement with the Bus & Coach Association (NSW), serving on the Executive Committee from 1983 to 1991.

He was also involved with the establishment of the Certificate of Transport Management at the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Sydney, and lectured in service design, marketing and Government relations. Between 1991 and 1994 Mr Smith moved away from operating services to complete a Masters of Transport Management at the University of Sydney. He then worked both as a consultant and as a lecturer at the University, and studied overseas.

Mr Smith re-entered the bus operations industry  with a successful tender for the Midland Bus Service in Perth, Western Australia, in 1995. This business grew with additional bus contract wins in Perth, Adelaide (from 2000), Sydney (from 2013), Darwin (2014) and Melbourne (2019), becoming the largest privately owned bus operator in Australia. In 2005 Transit Systems acquired a passenger ferry business in South East Queensland, and in 2011 commenced ferry and barge operations in Gladstone Queensland in support of the Curtis Island Liquified Natural Gas Plant construction under contract to Bechtel Oil & Gas. The marine business was sold to SeaLink Travel Group in 2015.

Concurrently with this growth in Australia, Mr. Smith moved to London in October 2012 and led the buyout of part of First Group’s London bus operation. This was completed in June 2013. Trading as Tower Transit Operations Limited, this company operates 375 buses from two depots under contract to Transport for London. Tower Transit was an associated company of Transit Systems. In 2016 Tower Transit was awarded the first competitively tendered urban bus contract in Singapore. Together these two groups operated 2,900 buses with 5,900 staff and carried over 340 million passengers annually. Mr Smith was an Executive Director of both groups throughout this period and from 2013 Chairman of both Transit Systems and Tower Transit.

These two groups were sold to SeaLink Travel Group (SLK) in January 2020. Mr Smith is currently a non-executive Director of SLK and a major shareholder. SLK is the largest passenger carrier in Australia, carrying 360 million passengers annually and operating 3,400 buses, 80 vessels and 24 light rail vehicles (through a joint venture). Annual turnover is in excess of AUD 1.1 billion. It is one of the few listed passenger transport companies in the world that has delivered substantial share price growth over the 12 months to August 2020 (15%).

SLK is an international leader in the transition from diesel to electric and hydrogen power trains for urban buses. SLK currently operates the only hydrogen buses in London, electric buses in Singapore and Sydney, and is part of a major consortium bidding for Federal funding to develop hydrogen propulsion for transport in Australia.

Mr Smith has continued his interest in training and education. He has been a guest lecturer at the University of South Australia in the Masters program. In March 2009, he was appointed by the Minister for Transport and Disability Services Western Australia as a member of the Independent Panel for Public Transport for Perth, the body responsible for the preparation of the 2031 Transport Plan. He has a long relationship with the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Sydney, through study (Masters of Transport Management); lecturing and collaboration in the “Thredbo” series of international conferences. In 2010 he was appointed to the Independent Review Panel investigating school bus services in Western Australia and as a “BRT Advocate” at the “Bus Rapid Transit Centre of Excellence” at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.

From February 2018 Mr Smith has regularly delivered seminars for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in both Boston and Singapore.

In May 2018 the Institute of Transport Studies at the University of Sydney awarded Mr Smith with the first “Distinguished Alumni Award”, in recognition of his building on his relationship with the Institute as a student and lecturer in the development of the Transit Systems business.

Mr Smith also has a strong personal interest in the development of leadership training in countries facing economic and political challenges. Through the establishment of the Relay Trust in the UK, he has facilitated the construction and operation of colleges in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Tanzania, and is investing in the application of technology to aid the delivery and assessment of training in remote areas. Mr. Smith has travelled extensively in central and western Africa in support of these projects.

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