I’m joined by Brian O’Rourke, CEO and co-founder of CitySwift, to explore one of the only AI companies I can think of to literally start in a bus garage.

We talk about joining messy, siloed data to improve reliability and efficiency, why “black box” tools fail schedulers, what COVID changed and what it’s like attempting to scale technology into a sector like transport.

If you want to know what happens when two 12-year-old best friends from rural Ireland (one playing with computers, one playing with buses) team up in later life, now’s your chance to find out.

Today’s podcast is all about change, but it’s not primarily the sexy kind of technological change that we often think of when we think about change.

It’s about culture, community and people - but it’s the stuff that makes the difference between success and failure in the transport sector.

Jane Cole, MD of Blackpool Transport, describes the changes she’s made happen and how empowerment, community focus and investment have transformed the transport service in one of the most deprived towns in Europe.

Jarrett Walker has been designing bus networks for thirty years. Eventually he’d done so much thinking on this topic that he wrote it all down in his book Human Transit.

In our conversation, he talks me through why it’s important to understand whether a transport network is seeking to optimise for coverage or patronage and how ‘access analysis’ can provide everyone with their own personal measure of public transport freedom.

As the Government publishes its decarbonisation plan, lets talk to Patrick Warner (Head of Innovation at Brighton & Hove and Bus Decarbonisation lead at Liverpool City Region) about the virtues of hydrogen

Giles Fearnley on entrepreneurship in transport, what generates growth and the future role of the big bus groups.

Lilian Greenwood is one of the few politicians to have made transport a speciality. We talk about her time both as Shadow Minister and Chair of the Select Committee

James Palmer on the Cambridge Autonomous Metro and funding it through farmland

Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney on alternative uses of the tax system such as property uplift and road pricing

After a momentous week for the bus industry, I get together with Leon Daniels to talk over what on earth happened

"Just like the bus driver wants to be on the winning team, so a user wants to be a winner" - how to grow the bus business by someone who actually knows.

Hack Partners founder talks frankly about why innovation in transport is hard - and what needs to change

Lecturer in film and literature on transport in films, from the 19th century to the present day

Alex Hornby on his learnings, regrets and the need for confidence

The Travel Editor of the Independent talks openly on politicians and where we’re heading