A Life on the Buses

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A Life on the Buses

Both Chris Cheek and Philip Ayers started their careers with the former National Bus Company in the early seventies, and both have remained active in the bus industry ever since – so that now Philip is Managing Director of the Cuckmere Buses and Chris is one of the industry’s leading authors, analysts and consultants.

Amongst Chris’s books are an acclaimed beginners’ guide to the industry, Understanding Buses and an acclaimed analysis of the market, The Bus Demand Jigsaw. He writes regularly for the trade press and has also written and published five novels with LGBT+ themes. He will take you on a nostalgic journey through his 50-year career ‘on the buses’ with some observations about the industry today.

Philip led the management and employee buyout of Southdown Motor Services from the Government in October 1987 before being taken over by the rapidly expanding Stagecoach Group two years later. He later joined Cuckmere where he is now Managing Director.

Philip will talk about the importance of community buses to rural life with a particular focus on the work done by the team of volunteers at Cuckmere over the last 45 years. 

Both will join in a discussion about the future of the bus and its role in the third decade of the 21st century.