Women in Bus and Coach (WiBC) held its fourth annual summit at lead sponsor BT’s Snowhill conference facilities in Birmingham on Tuesday 6th October, bringing together industry leaders, stakeholders, front line operators and advocates to explore how the bus, coach and community transport sector can build and retain the workforce of tomorrow.
With this year’s theme, Workforce of Tomorrow, the summit focused on the opportunities and challenges facing the sector as it looks to attract new talent, retain existing skills and create an industry that is welcoming and accessible to the next generation.
The event was expertly compered by actress, historian, author and presenter of UKTV’s Secrets of the London Underground, Siddy Holloway, who guided delegates through a packed programme of speakers, discussions and celebrations.
The summit marked the first in the role of WiBC Chair for Laura Hadzik, who used the occasion to announce the launch of a new Attraction & Retention Special Interest Group.
The new group will play a key role in WiBC’s work over the next 12 months, bringing together industry colleagues to explore practical ways to attract new people into bus, coach and community transport, while ensuring organisations are equipped to retain and develop the talent they already have.
The summit also saw Liz Dean and Emma Hignett announced as the latest Women in Bus and Coach Ambassadors, recognising their contribution to the sector and their commitment to supporting the organisation’s aims.
The organisation also announced its latest Mentee Director, Justine May of National Express. Justine will follow in the footsteps of previous Mentee Directors Nalisha Fernandes and Kerry Turner, continuing WiBC’s commitment to providing emerging female leaders with experience, visibility and an opportunity to contribute at board level. The celebrations continued with the third Women in Bus and Coach Awards, recognising women, allies, teams, organisations and depots making a positive contribution across the bus, coach and community transport sector.
This year’s awards also introduced a new category, the Louise Cheeseman Better Together Award, created in honour of Women in Bus and Coach founder Louise Cheeseman OBE. The new award recognises the importance of collaboration and the collective contribution of people working together to create positive change across the industry.
A key part of the Workforce of Tomorrow programme was hearing directly from young people. Sixth-form students from St John Lawes School shared their perceptions of the bus, coach and community transport sector, both before and after spending a week with Transport for London. Their experiences provided valuable insight into how the industry is perceived by younger people and offered fresh thinking on what can be done to make careers within the sector more attractive to the next generation.
The session reinforced the importance of listening to young people themselves and understanding what they want from their future careers, while challenging the industry to consider how it communicates the breadth of opportunities available across bus, coach and community transport.
The summit featured an impressive line-up of speakers, including Emma Thompson, Chief Executive of the Society of Operations Engineers; Anne Marie Purcell, C-Suite Strategic Advisor at Purcell Advisory; Katie Frost, CEO of Metroline; and Dr Nicola Millard, Principal Innovation Partner at BT. Together, they explored the changing world of work, leadership, innovation, attraction and retention, and the importance of creating an industry that can continue to evolve to meet the needs of its future workforce.
Laura Hadzik, Chair of Women in Bus and Coach, said:
“Our Workforce of Tomorrow theme reflects one of the most important challenges facing our sector. If we want to build a resilient, sustainable and future-proof industry, we need to build a resilient and future-proof
workforce. That means we need to think differently about how we attract people, how we retain them and, importantly, how we show the next generation that bus, coach and community transport is an industry where they can build a rewarding and successful career. Because the workforce of tomorrow isn’t something that simply arrives tomorrow. We are building it today.”
The winners were:
Best Woman in Bus Award – Sponsored by Metroline
Mary Carruthers, Huyton Travel
Best Woman in Coach Award – sponsored by CPT UK
Justine May, National Express
Best Woman in Community Transport Award – Sponsored by London Hire
Laurie Robson, Community Transport
The Peter, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill Allyship Award – Sponsored by The Go-Ahead Group
Samantha Gallagher, Rural Community Network
Rising Star award – Sponsored by Albatross Travel
Lily Farrow Tillett, Brighton & Hove Buses
Louise Cheeseman Better Together Award- sponsored by Arriva UK Bus
Hannah Man, Go-head London
Woman of the Year Award (selected from the three category winners by an independent panel) – Sponsored by MCV Group
Mary Carruthers, Huyton Travel
(Pictures: Women in Bus and Coach – main picture shows WiBC 2026 award winners (left to right)
Laurie Robson, Justine May, Mary Carruthers, Hannah Man and Lily Farrow Tillett)
