A bus company’s rethink of recruitment strategy has led to a fourfold increase in female controllers – rising from 5% to 20% – by targeting candidates with strong communication skills rather than traditional bus industry experience, reflecting wider industry efforts supported by the organisation Women in Bus and Coach.

Arriva’s Purley Way control centre Route Performance Manager Annette Pratten-Lane, who has worked in the sector for more than 30 years, has told this week’s Highways Voices podcast the change came from recognising that the role had changed.

“In the past, to be a controller, you had to be a bus driver,” Annette explains, “But we don’t do that anymore… I can train you to be a controller.  The controller’s role is customer service based – it’s all about delivering your message in a way that’s appropriate for your audience.”

Therefore, she widened the talent pool to include candidates from hospitality, emergency services and customer-facing roles, sectors where women are more strongly represented.  “What I’m looking for is people with a customer service background. They’re very good at dealing with people,” she continued.  This approach aligns with wider industry thinking promoted by Women in Bus and Coach, which encourages operators to focus on transferable skills and broaden traditional recruitment pipelines.

Ms Pratten-Lane, who joined the industry in the 90s as a 19-year-old driver, added that this was not framed as a gender-targeted campaign, but rather as a skills-based approach that naturally widened the gender balance: “It was more to do with target this area of people, and that area just happened to be more heavily balanced with females.”

A key driver for change came from analysing complaints, where she identified that issues were rarely about decisions themselves, but how they were communicated:

“A lot of those complaints were just about tone – it was the delivery that we were letting ourselves down on,” and observed that female controllers often excelled in this area: “They’re a lot calmer, they can calm situations a lot quicker and they’ve really settled in well.”

She believes the industry now needs to evolve its mindset to reflect changing expectations: “Widen your search, change your mindset… the future is all about communication.”

You can hear the full interview with Annette Pratten-Lane, thanks to Women in Bus and Coach, on Wednesday 21 April.

(Picture – Women in Bus and Coach)