Building industry leadership on decarbonisation

WE ANALYSED

Stagecoach, as the UK’s largest bus operator, wanted to establish a leadership position on decarbonisation as part of its vision for the future of the sector.

The UK bus sector faced a series of challenges. It had yet to fully recover from the pandemic and had been set ambitious targets for the transition to Zero Emission Buses, but with very limited clarity over how to turn this ambition into reality.

At the same time, Labour were proposing radical reforms to bus services, with much enhanced control by local authorities, if they won power.

We advised Stagecoach on an opportunity to take ownership of this agenda – with a vision that was crafted to appeal to both the then Conservative government and Labour shadow Ministers, as well as influential media.

WE ACTED

We produced a substantive thought leadership report, with a compelling new narrative allowing Stagecoach to build cross-party networks and influence future policy decisions.

We developed a research approach that enabled Stagecoach to reinforce its relationships with stakeholders by involving them throughout the process, ensuring that the final blueprint would land positively and attract cross-party support.

We undertook qualitative and quantitative research with the public, supplementing this with input from Stagecoach’s technical experts, policymaker interviews and a roundtable with wider sector stakeholders.

These insights were woven into an impactful report which looked at the challenge of decarbonisation through the lens of the passenger, endorsed by the Department for Transport and Scottish Government Ministers. We secured national media coverage with an exclusive in The Independent.

WE ACHIEVED

We secured a step-change in Stagecoach’s relationships with tier one policymakers, particularly the Labour front bench, Department for Transport Ministers and their advisers – with the constructive and solutions-focused tone creating new opportunities for regular dialogue.

We landed exclusive national media coverage of our evidence demonstrating how investment in ZEBs would help rebuild bus passenger numbers, creating 1 million new bus users.

Stagecoach is now perceived as an expert voice on the issues facing the sector and is in a stronger position to influence future policy decisions – including on the phase-in of ZEBs and future governance and funding plans.