The first YBMN get together of 2013 took place on Tuesday and Wednesday 4 and 5 June in Bristol, with another fascinating programme, complete with site visit and networking opportunities. The event took place at the Marriott Bristol City Centre Hotel in Lower Castle Street, near Old Market.

The event kicked off with drinks and dinner on the evening of 4 June, including the return of our popular pub quiz, with Alex Hornby doing the honours with the question setting and TEG's Chris Cheek acting as question master.

It was early start on Wednesday morning, for a tour of the infrastructure put in place as part of the Greater Bristol Bus Network, which set off at 0700. This £79m project has been designed to transform 10 key bus routes serving the city and surrounding areas.  The investment has seen a raft of improvements, including refurbishment of nearly 1,000 bus stops, real-time information displays, signal priorities, new bus lanes and widening at key traffic hotspots.  There was plenty to see, and impress!

The working sessions, led by YBMN patron Roger French, got under way with a fascinating hour on the hazards and opportunities of running your own bus company, given by YBMN's very own David Fricker, proprietor of North Somerset Coaches since 2007.  David described the hazards, rewards and challenges of buying a business, forging it in your own image and then taking it forward - all without it taking over your entire life! 

Next, we were delighted to welcome Jeroen Weimar, part of a new leadership team of First UK Bus. As the Chief Operating Officer, Jeroen is leading the charge in the transformation of one of Britain's biggest bus companies. In a frank exposition of the tasks the team at FirstGroup faces in order to turn the business round, Jason gave the audience a fascinating insight to the challeneges they face. Enthusiastic and passionate about his role, this presentation was be both insightful and inspirational, and it was followed by a lively question and answer session.

The third speaker of the morning was Paul Jenkins, the MD of award-winning municipal bus company Thamesdown Transport - UK Bus Operator of the Year in 2011.   Paul highlighted Thamesdown's focus on the customer: part of a long tradition at the business, which stretches back to the first tramway services 109 years ago. The challenges of running a small business in centred on one town were brought into sharp relief when Paul explained what a difficult time Swindon has had during the recession and how this had impacted on the business, reversing years of growth with a sudden and sharp contraction.

After a barbecue lunch to take advantage of the fabulous Bristol weather, the last speaker of the morning session was another YBMN member - and award winner, John Bickerton who is Technical Standards manager at First UK bus. UK Bus Awards Engineer of the Year in 2011, John is a passionate advocate of engineering innovation and excellence in the industry - and gave a really fascinating presentation about the future challenges for engineering in the bus industry - both managerial and technological. Aside from a fascinating presentation and a really good Q&A session, John's talk will be long-remembered for its challenge: how to could Charlie get the gold back to England from the deseparate situation, in an old coach, perched on the top of a cliff at the end of the classic 1969 film comedy The Italian Job.

Lastly, the now traditional workshop session provided a sharp focus on the lessons learned and what the members would take home from this event, led by Cynthia Ogbonna, managing director at Cardiff Bus.