Anna Fenton - FirstGroup Operations

After completing my Geography degree at Lancaster I continued my studies at Leeds University completing a Masters in Transport Planning. I gained a place on FirstGroup graduate scheme, learning how to be an Operations Manager for bus and train. FirstGroup was awarded a contract to deliver park and ride services to and from Excel, North Greenwich Arena, Olympic Park, Weymouth, Eton Dorney, Slough and Windsor amongst other places. This all has to be organised from somewhere and this is where I came in. Five graduates and I spent the duration of the Olympics in Transport for London’s Transport Co-ordination Centre. We oversaw the operations and liaised with other transport agencies to ensure all went smoothly and information flowed between the agencies.  This was a 24 hour operation and the scale of the task was massive!

The experience was a fantastic insight into what can happen when transport providers, operators and government combine for a common goal. There was minimal coverage about the transport during the Games and some even good headlines-quite rare for transport to get praise! Therefore, I think we did a good job in all. 

It was a brilliant experience to be working behind the scenes on making the Games tick over smoothly and most people won't have even realised what we were doing!