Richard Harrington has been the Engineering Director of the capital’s biggest bus company, Go-Ahead London, for approximately a decade. With a market share of just over 25 per cent, he is responsible for around 2,350 buses, 16 garages and a team of about 500 staff.
Richard is a 37-year career professional and his key duties include compliance against company, Group, Transport for London and Government rules/legislation. During his tenure, he has introduced London’s first diesel-hybrid vehicles and the capital’s first pure electric buses, from the multi-award-winning Waterloo Garage. As a result, Go-Ahead London is the UK’s largest e-bus operator and it was recognised for its excellence in this area in late 2019, when it scooped the prestigious Energy Globe Award prize, beating many other entries from across the world.
Richard‘s career commenced in 1984, as a London Transport engineering apprentice. Upon completion of a four-year training programme, he was appointed as a Senior Vehicle Engineer. He held this position until 1999, when he took over the running of Go-Ahead London’s accident repair centre. He held this role until 2007, when he was promoted to Chief Engineer. Between 2004 and 2007, Richard was also Engineering Training Manager, where he revised the apprentice programme and laid the foundations of a scheme used by others in the industry. He was additionally a Garage Engineering Manager between 2005 and 2007.
Richard is a Fellow three times over – (1) Chartered Institute of Transport, (2) Institute of Road Transport Engineers and (3) Society of Operations Engineers. He comes from a family who have proudly served London’s travelling public for over a century – his father was a bus engineer and his nan a clippie.
Alix Edwards and Richard Harrington presentation synopsis
Making buses safer and greener for all
Dr Alix Edwards from TRL led the research behind TfL’s Bus Safety Standard launched in October 2018. She will present a brief overview of the scheme. Then with Richard Harrington from Go-Ahead London they will discuss several of the safety measures, covering the how the safety requirements will work to reduce casualties, and the operational implementation for a bus operator. This will link through to the work that Go-Ahead London has been doing to reduce emissions, and the reductions achieved so far in their fleet.