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trentbarton’s scheduler Richard wins national award

trentbarton’s scheduler Richard wins national award

The man who plays a key role in planning how trentbarton’s services run has won a new national award for the bus industry.

Richard Sherratt was revealed as the first winner of the Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year Award in an online ceremony on [November 19].

trentbarton’s scheduler for the past 29 years was one of five finalists for the award which was inspired by the career of Joe Wood, a bus scheduler who died in 2019.

As well as helping plan future services, Richard is responsible for scheduling the rotas of hundreds of drivers and the deployment of hundreds of buses.

Richard, 59, who lives in Hilton, said:

“Winning was a big surprise. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’s nice to be recognised as the industry does not always appreciate the work that goes into getting the services ready and the bus to the bus stop.”

He joined the company 41 years ago from school to work in its traffic office, and after working elsewhere he returned almost three decades ago. Richard, who is based at trentbarton in Heanor, said:

“I’ve seen a fair few changes over the years.

“This year, with the coronavirus pandemic, has been very different. We had to cope with changes seemingly every week early in the first lockdown. But it’s just one of those challenges; the work has to be done.

“The art of being a good scheduler is to go unnoticed. Like any job the trick is making the hard things look easy.”

trentbarton managing director Jeff Counsell said:

“Scheduling is fundamental to what we do as a bus company. Richard makes it possible for our network to do what it does every day.

“It’s great to see all the finalists celebrated and the challenging role of scheduler get this national recognition. And in a clearly talented field I’m delighted that Richard deservedly won this award. We’re very pleased to have him on our team.”

Joe Wood’s employer CitySwift established the award in his memory with the industry trade magazine Passenger Transport. Robert Jack, managing editor of Passenger Transport, said:

“Has there ever been a year when the work of these schedulers has been more important?

“These unsung heroes of the bus business have moved mountains over the past seven months to redesign timetables and reallocate resources. They have worked to ensure this is sufficient capacity and safe capacity available for those who depend on public transport, including many key workers.”

Andrew Garnett, deputy editor of Passenger Transport, said:

“The standard of the entries to this inaugural award was incredibly high and that made choosing a winner incredibly difficult.”


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