The National Express Master Driver programme was created across the Group to encourage and recognise excellence in driving. It provides a framework to measure the performance of drivers and identify those with an impeccable safety record and outstanding driving skills. But it goes beyond just driving skills to recognise those drivers who are ambassadors for customer service, who impress customers each and every day through consistent and exceptional demonstration of National Express’ customer service standards.

The programme is being followed throughout the Group’s businesses, but ALSA has made particularly good progress in introducing it. The programme is based on an ongoing assessment of the results from each driver. Depending on their score they are classified into three categories – Professional Driver, Advanced Driver and Master Driver. Drivers are incentivised to work on improving their scores, enabling them to reach higher levels. 

National Express is the first US school bus company to have achieved the benchmark American National Standards Institute recognition for its safety.

All senior safety managers in North America are certified by the Institute of Health and Safety Management.

Safety professionals that earn their Certified Safety and Health Management Credentials (CSHM) credentials possess a working knowledge of a broad range of safety principles such as risk assessment and mitigation, behavioural sciences, ethics and law, safety management systems, health and wellness and emergency preparedness.

This development reflects the division's determination to develop and maintain an industry leading driver and special needs training programme.

The Institute for Safety and Health Management was founded by the National Safety Management Society. It is the only safety management designation that is fully accredited by the Council of Engineering and Scientific Speciality Board.  The certification programme aims to promote the advancement of safety management and the integration of safety into all activities of an organisation.

We have recently invested over $12m in a state of the art safety system that helps our drivers to check their vehicles every day and to report safety and mechanical issues.

In Department of Transportation random roadside checks the National Express pass rate is one of the highest in the industry.

Our ALSA business in Marrakech operates a busy urban bus network served by 200 vehicles. Driving conditions are sometimes challenging and drivers have to be particularly vigilant to the actions of other road users.

Considerable focus is placed on continuous driver training, and if incidents do occur they are analysed in detail to identify the cause.

Every morning as drivers report for work they receive a team safety briefing. This outlines any important issues, such as route changes, and allows drivers to raise any concerns they have.

This is supplemented by a more intensive training update session which drivers attend once a month.

Our Marrakech depot is one of two in Morocco which have a bus driving simulator. This enables drivers to tackle a range of driving conditions and respond to them in a safe and controlled manner. They then put their classroom learning into practice by going onto the road in training vehicles whilst receiving coaching from our driver trainers.

Both of these activities have already helped us to reduce our accidents by three quarters over the past four years. People now recognise our business as the only transit company in Morocco with a proper training program for drivers.

In UK bus, we have developed our key partnership by getting all 27 elected members of Transport for West Midlands to adopt a bus route local to them.

The councillors regularly travel on the routes and see for themselves the issues which customers raise. Another initiative to get closer to passengers is the launch of our first customer panel in Coventry. The panel comprises eight customers who have a cross-section of user experiences, and will be used to discuss concerns and provide feedback on new products and services.

We are committed to providing affordable transport that is accessible to all and as part of this are proud to be on track to be fully wheelchair accessible six years ahead of compulsory legislation.

For many years we've led the way with accessible transport and our pioneering wheelchair lift was introduced to our coaches back in 2002.

The introduction of these lifts transformed the coach industry, opening doors and expanding horizons for many people for whom coach travel would previously have been inaccessible.

The lift provides step-free access to the coach and allows people to board direct from the kerbside and positions people into a forward-facing area designated for their wheelchair at the front of the coach. The lift carries a vast range of wheelchairs providing they meet the standard dimensions set by the current vehicle access regulations.

It was with pleasure we welcomed the then Minister for Disabled People Maria Miller MP and Paralympic Gold-medallist Josie Pearson to mark the ten year anniversary of this important transport industry milestone.

There is still some way to go before all our coaches are accessible but we continue to work hard and are on track to achieve this goal.

National Express was the first UK private transport group to become an accredited Living Wage Foundation employer. The pledge has benefitted hundreds of workers across our UK Bus and Coach businesses. Outside of the UK we guarantee to pay rates of 10% above national minimum wage pay.

Our UK bus business led the way and was the first to be an accredited Living Wage employer in January 2016. The rest the UK Group businesses, including National Express UK Coach, achieved accreditation in 2018

The company’s pledge to ensure that all members of staff earn a real Living Wage was welcomed by senior politicians.

Tess Lanning, Director of the Living Wage Foundation, said:“We’re delighted that National Express is extending its Living Wage commitment to include all of the UK Group businesses, including National Express UK Coach. Responsible businesses know that the government minimum is not enough to live on. Employers, like National Express, that pay the real Living Wage enable their workers to live a life of dignity, supporting them to pay off debts and meet the pressures of rising bills.”

Find out how the Living Wage is helping our employees in these short videos:

The level of employee engagement, compliance with our policies and people management standards are monitored at divisional level through employee and customer feedback and internal human resource management systems.

The views of our employees matter. To gauge engagement in the business, we conduct separate employee surveys. The examine employee opinion on a variety of aspects of our business including issues such as safety, employee morale, working environment and manager relations.

A purpose built Health Bus, complete with a trained health adviser and consultation rooms, visits National Express garages and office locations offering free health advice and support to all employees.

The award winning bus, which was also an industry-first, was created following comments in our annual employee survey which praised our employee safety awareness but asked for similar support in health and wellbeing. The Health Bus was designed and constructed by our own engineers and fitters who adapted a redundant bus into a modern, mobile health facility offering two consultation areas and a waiting room. Confidential advice is offered during each 20-minute appointment with the health adviser who also performs checks on blood pressure, eyesight and cholesterol.

The Health Bus, which covers both day and night workers, has been visited by thousands of employees. Some of them, just like bus driver Roy Spriggs, tell us that visiting the bus has identified previously unknown health issues. "My doctor told me that my Health Bus visit saved my life," said Roy. 

The bus has really delivered and helped support our employee's health and wellbeing and has already secured three national awards including:

• Nursing in the Community at the 2016 Nursing Times Awards
• Wellness Award at the 2015 Employee Engagement Awards
• Best Healthcare and Wellbeing Strategy of the Year at the 2015 Workplace Savings and Benefits Awards