From Monday-19july Straits Times(From website)
British buses to be Comfortingly
familiar
By Neo Hui Min
LONDON - Soon a Singaporean boarding a bus in London may wonder if
the driver took a wrong turn and ended up in the British capital by
mistake.
That is because it will not be long before bus drivers here start
wearing uniforms with a brand that is more familiar back home -
ComfortDelgro.
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Even the name of the London black cab booking service Comcab has a
familiar ring to it. It, too, is part of the ComfortDelgro
group.
One of Singapore's main transport companies is now among the top
five players in London's competitive public transport environment.
Known here as Metroline, ComfortDelgro's London bus operations have
captured 12 per cent of the market share. It services 84 routes,
mostly in the capital's north-western areas.
It also handles booking services for about 3,800 cabs in London,
Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
ComfortDelgro acquired the business in 2000, after bus services
here were privatised.
The British subsidiary contributes about $500 million to the group,
just under a third of total group turnover. Last year, the total
group turnover was $1.8 billion.
Metroline managing director Steve McAleavy said the company has
since been actively branding its group's name in its
communications.
Industry players who realise the bus company is now
Singaporean-owned are always curious to find out what it means to
be working for a company so far from home.
'People are used to the idea of working for European companies, but
Singapore is over 6,000 miles away and seven or eight hours ahead,'
said Mr McAleavy.
'Some people can't get their heads round to the idea of Singapore,
it just stretches the imagination because it is so far away.'
Despite the distance, changes have come swiftly since the takeover,
he said. The bus fleets have been renewed and buses are getting
better engineering.
The Singaporean group has also invested heavily in technology, even
fitting buses with a satellite positioning system that tells
drivers where the next buses in front and behind them are in
relation to their current location.
'If you lived in London you would have experienced waiting ages for
a bus, and then all of a sudden, three or four of them would arrive
at once,' Mr McAleavy said. 'This new GPRS system helps drivers to
gauge the distances between each other.'
About 280 of its 1,000 or so buses now boast the system, and it
will soon be fitted to the rest.
The modernisation of the operations is a significant change to a
sector which has not always been known for technological
innovation.
The company is now trying to increase its market share against 31
other bus companies in London. It is also awaiting the coming
privatisation of a quarter of Dublin's state-owned bus services,
with intentions to buy some of the routes.
Finance director Steve Ellis said: 'We have big
ambitions.'