The Freewheeling Podcast is all about moving forwards faster.
Each week, I’ll bring you fresh voices, new ideas and unconventional thinking.
With a bias towar...
Birmingham was the first city I lived in as a proper ‘grown-up’ and it was metamorphosing before my eyes.Previously famous as Britain’s ‘car city’, it ripped up its inner ring road the year I arrived.Today, the city centre is unrecognisable: spacious, walkable and with a brand new tram route snaking past brand new buildings.Anne Shaw has been involved in this transformation since she first moved to Birmingham in 1991 to take up a job as a drainage engineer.Today she’s Executive Director of Transport for the West Midlands, and she tells me just how this extraordinary change has been achieved.
--------
34:05
Grace Wyld on Government and Governance
Politics tends to focus on what is to be done, but none of it matters if it doesn't actually happen. We've been living through a crisis of governance recently. Government has become centralised, micro-managing and subject to constant, wild oscillations of policy. Is this as good as it gets? The Future Governance Forum was set up to make sure it isn't.Grace Wyld is Head of Policy and Programmes and she joins me to talk about Missions, Devolution and how good Government needs to mean a transformation in how Government works.
--------
30:28
Karen Vancluysen on policies, politics and populism
Karen Vancluysen has an infectious passion for sustainable transport and urban mobility. As Secretary General of POLIS, she runs a network of over 100 European cities and regions, all innovating to accelerate the transition to more sustainable mobility.In today’s episode, we chat about the places that are leading the charge, and the challenges of the growth of populism. She gives advice to political leaders aspiring to make change happen and is inspirational on what has been done - and what more needs to happen.We end with her recommended mobility ‘grand tour’ of Europe, to see what’s already been achieved on the ground.It’s a great start to Season 3! Welcome back to The Freewheeling Podcast, everyone.
--------
46:20
Maria Hofberg on Growth and Customer satisfaction in Rail
Maria Hofberg’s rail company doesn’t just have satisfied customers: it has the most satisfied customers in Sweden. Not just the most satisfied rail customers: the most satisfied customers of any transport firm in the Swedish Quality Index, beating buses, airlines and ferry firms.The company in question is VR Snabbtåg and Maria is Chief Commercial Officer.She joins me on The Freewheeling Podcast to talk about customers, quality, the importance of getting the basics right and the necessity for direct, personal conversations with users.Oh, and they’re already at 160% of pre-Covid income, so all this focus on quality is working.
--------
35:34
Laura Wright on The Best Railways in the World
A few months ago, I did a light-hearted LinkedIn post, giving out “Olympic” medals to my favourite European railways.Transport Strategy Consultant Laura Wright was immediately on my case, challenging my (somewhat subjective) rankings.So I thought we should debate it in your presence. In this episode we discuss our best (and most memorable - not always the same thing!) international train journeys and then have an informal chat on which national railways are the best.
The Freewheeling Podcast is all about moving forwards faster.
Each week, I’ll bring you fresh voices, new ideas and unconventional thinking.
With a bias towards transport and mobility, we also span entrepreneurship and politics.
Ireland