About Us

• Where we've come from;
• What we stand for;
• Our values;
• How we see the future

We have been important suppliers of bus services in the East Midlands for almost a century. Until 1986 the company was nationalised, whilst until 1989 ownership of the Barton Company remained with the Barton family. Family-run Kinchbus joined the group in 1998. All are now owned entirely by employees, retired employees, and their families. We employ some 1,000 people in various parts of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire and run from Buxton in the north to Leicester in the south. We run some 400 buses, mostly on local bus services.

Since the commercialisation of the bus industry in 1986, we have taken the opportunity to carry out substantial market research to establish customer needs and then set out to meet them. We know that top of customers' requirements is reliability and we also know that reliability is the one thing we cannot deliver without help from local authorities on today's congested roads.

trent barton has adopted an ethos of quality and value for money, which has led to one of the highest levels of investment per £ of turnover in the industry in fleet modernisation, extensive staff training and customer care and product knowledge.

Where investment and training have taken place there is evidence of customer growth and modal shift from car. We also participate in a number of bus quality partnerships with local authorities.

This market-led philosophy has created an innovative culture in which research and development play a large part.

trent barton is widely accepted to be at the leading edge of the industry and is used as a benchmark by others. We have won over a dozen bus industry and external customer service awards, and we broke all records by being in the top two of the prestigious UK Bus Operator of the Year Awards - for four years in a row, twice as outright winner!

Our Company Values

		We are committed to providing our customers with quality of service that beats the competition.
		We are committed to providing our customers with the standard of service that meets their reasonable expectations.
		We are committed to innovation.
		We must constantly increase the productivity of every resource in the organisation.
		We believe that profit is essential for our survival.
		We are committed to delivering services that meet the highest quality standards.
		In all our dealings and relationships we aim to deal with total integrity.
		We believe that our staff represent a crucial asset for our success.

How we see the future

Those of us who have experienced the supply-driven, revenue-supported industry prior to 1986, compared with the market-led culture that applies today, strongly believe that competition, or the threat of competition, has provided the stimulus to innovate and improve through customer satisfaction.

We do not believe that the bus industry should be subsidised, since inevitably much of this would be wasted and not passed on to the customer. Far better to provide subsidy for the people who use buses as appropriate, to encourage greater use of public transport.

It also seems odd that in taxation terms, the provision of (or help towards) a bus or rail season ticket for any employee is taxable as a benefit in kind, whilst a free or subsidised parking space is not.

We believe that the bus industry should run commercially as a business, taking its risks against competition and developing new markets at its own risk. Inevitably demand that grows in one area may easily die back in another, especially where there is strong competition from the private car. We have a number of services or journeys that do not pay, which nonetheless we have managed to keep going, although this is getting harder as costs of bus operation increase.

However, when losses become too great and services have to be withdrawn, there is a safety net. The local authorities have reserve powers to provide replacement services under competitive tender from public money, if they deem there to be sufficient need. We believe in giving generous notice to our partners in local authority to facilitate this process.

We strongly advocate bus quality partnerships strengthened by the stringent enforcement of quality standards, as an ideal way forward. We see future bus networks as being very high frequency, high quality services on prime radial routes, provided under quality partnership agreements and with robust and far-reaching bus priority measures to keep people on the move. Orbital services would connect into the radial network at key interchange points with seamless ticketing. Real-time information technology would provide accurate, up-to-the-minute and readily accessible information about precisely when the next bus would arrive. All public transport ticketing would be fully integrated and tailored to suit specific user groups. It would be available off-bus to facilitate credit card/Internet prepayment.

One can imagine few better places than the East Midlands in which to make ground-breaking progress. We have excellent partnerships and a highly proactive Government Office. Our region is the only one outside of London where bus use is not in decline. We believe that here we have the right thinking in place, and that to complete the picture we have to engage the political will to install the continuous route priorities that will reward bus users and make such visionary schemes as the Greater Nottingham Transport Partnership's 'The Big Wheel' a reality.

We have shown how the market can be grown, against the odds, through quality service and direct 'Flyer' type routes. Imagine the difference if we could deliver our customers' top priority of reliability! However, the Political problem is the motorist's vote. Without greater constraints on car use in the busiest places at the busiest times, buses will never develop to their full potential, no matter how good the quality of service.