NCT’s Mark Fowles to retire
Nottingham City Transport’s (NCT’s) Managing Director, Mark Fowles, is to retire in April 2021, after 27 years of service.
Mark Fowles joined the bus industry in 1984, on the National Bus Company’s senior management training scheme where he held various management roles. He left in June 1994 to become deputy MD at NCT, appointed to represent NCT in the consortium to win the contract to operate Line One of the Tram.
In 2001 Mark took over as MD of Nottingham City Transport and following the successful bid, also assumed the role of the Chairman of the Arrow Consortium which re-introduced trams to Nottingham in 2004.
Mark Fowles said: “I have really enjoyed my time at NCT, joining initially to see the tram through to breaking ground and staying on to change both the culture and performance of NCT. It should be the ambition of any leader that during their stewardship, they move the organisation forward, I would like to think that I have done so with NCT. I believe that for the future, NCT will need to adapt its style of management to accommodate the changing exterior environment and this is a long-term process that should be managed from start to finish by a new cohesive team. I have every confidence that those members of the senior management team who remain, after my departure, are more than capable of managing, adapting and taking NCT forward to even greater success.”
Nottingham has the highest customer satisfaction level of any city in the UK including London, according to the annual Transport Focus survey. In 2019, this survey saw an overall score for NCT at 95% for customer satisfaction. In addition, the operator achieved a 10 year high on all its customer satisfaction scores across all 17 service features in its own passenger research. Bus use per head of population in Nottingham was the UK’s 2nd highest at 145 trips per head of population per annum, and 29% of customers choose to use NCT over their car.
NCT has embraced Nottingham Clean Air requirements, working with the local authorities to upgrade the entire fleet to the highest Euro VI standard within 3 years. With record levels of investment on its fleet and infrastructure, NCT spent £42m on 130 brand new buses and exhaust treatment systems were fitted to 180 diesel buses.
Today, NCT boasts the largest fleet of biogas double decks in the world and one of the youngest fleets in the country, with an average bus age of five years.
NCT Chairman, Cllr Graham Chapman, said: “Mark Fowles is a unique and very well respected figure within the bus industry nationally. However his main achievements are local. He has helped turn Nottingham City Transport into the best bus company in the UK and made us the envy of many other cities. The city owes him a large debt of gratitude for what he has achieved. I have personally enjoyed working with him to deliver the City Council’s transport plan. I am also grateful that he has left behind him a strong senior management team in place, who will be capable of taking the company forward. Nevertheless he will he sadly missed.”
- More information about the new NCT Board structure is due to be announced in the coming months.