At the helm of Go-Ahead, ex-driver is raring to start
Managing director of Go-Ahead Singapore Nigel Wood said that his journey through the firm is similar to a ‘long apprenticeship’, as he has effectively assumed every post in the company. This, he added, gives him a distinct advantage in his job. PHOTO: NURIA LING
SINGAPORE — About two decades after starting out as a bus driver plying routes in south London, Mr Nigel Wood, 54, is now steering a much bigger set of wheels — as the managing director of Go-Ahead Singapore, the country’s fourth public bus operator with about 870 employees.
And Mr Wood, a Briton, is hoping to draw on his own experience to improve the prospects of bus drivers here, whose profession is often seen in Singapore as a dead-end job with long hours and low wages.
Sharing his plans with TODAY in a recent interview — ahead of Go-Ahead Singapore starting operations on Sunday — Mr Wood said the United Kingdom-based company will introduce a “pre-promotion course” for the company’s bus captains here, so that they understand the skillsets needed to assume bigger roles, such as service controllers, operations supervisors and accounts clerks.
Mr Wood said the course — to be set up “in due course” — will equip bus captains with skills such as writing a curriculum vitae and cover letter, and give them an idea of the positions available. This is to better prepare them for internal interviews when being considered for these posts, he added.
A similar six-week course is conducted in the UK by Go-Ahead London, for two hours each week, with employees sitting for an exam at its end.
The top two scorers are then seconded to a role of their choice for a period to see if “it’s what they want to do”. Typically, at least two to three employees receive promotions after each course.
He quipped, however, that “there’s only one MD’s position (and) I intend to hold on to it for a little while”.
Go-Ahead netted a contract last November to run 25 bus services in Changi, Pasir Ris and Punggol, and will begin operating 13 of them on Sunday.
The recent rollout of the bus contracting model — under which bus companies earn a fee for running services, while the Government retains fare revenues — has seen operators vying for local bus drivers.
In recent months, Go-Ahead and two other operators — SBS Transit and Tower Transit — announced pay hikes for their bus captains, in a sign of the growing competition for drivers.
Recounting his time as a bus driver himself, Mr Wood said that it was a “boyhood dream” come true when he got behind the wheel of an iconic London bus.
He started his career with Go-Ahead in 1995, landing his first promotion as a traffic controller a year later. He then rose through the ranks, assuming roles in bus depot and road management.
Go-Ahead’s area general manager for east London before assuming his post here, the father of five views his journey through the firm as a “long apprenticeship”, where he has effectively “done every … post there is in the company”.
Mr Wood, who makes it a point to mingle and eat with his bus captains at the Loyang Bus Depot’s canteen, said interacting with them would help him glean an understanding of the situation on the roads and make improvements.
He commutes by public transport from his Upper East Coast Road home to the depot every day, and bus drivers who recognise him would wave and stop him for a chat.
On what would set Go-Ahead Singapore apart from its rivals, Mr Wood said: “When you walk to the bus stop, a bus will come at the time you expect it to. The driver … would be smart, presentable, the journey will be without incident and you’ll arrive promptly at your destination for a seamless onward travel … That’s going to be our edge.”
