The Women in Bus and Coach “Spotlight On” initiative shines a light on the incredible contributions of women in all roles across the bus, coach, and community transport sector. From professional drivers and engineers to human resources experts and CEO’s, ‘Spotlight On’ will highlight the diverse talents and achievements of women in this dynamic industry.
For Community Transport Week we are focussing on and find out about:
Alison Harley
Programme Manager
Climate Action Strathaven, a fab Scottish Charity
How did you get to where you are today?
By being myself, I believe in keeping it real and I love being part of a varied team. Every member of a team has strengths and weaknesses. Focusing on everyone’s strengths will and does give great resilience.
Did you experience any challenges getting to where you are today?
Coming from the public sector to the third sector was a bit of an eye opener. Decisions in the third sector can be made and acted on instantly and if it doesn’t work out the first time that’s ok as it will the second time. I love the pace of how we can work and make such a change in our community.
If so, how did you overcome then?
When I joined the charity I observed how things were working and I asked lots of questions. I also got nosey on what was in and around our community in a way I hadn’t before. I previously lived in the same place as the charity runs but worked previously miles away and therefor didn’t know what the heart of our community was like. It was a great learning journey for me.
What do you like about the sector?
Getting the opportunity to network with like-minded communities and organisations. Doing things that changed people’s life’s is so rewarding. Our community transport project is one of the most rewarding things I have done, and it has changed so many people’s lives for various reasons, and the reward is now unmeasurable. I am so proud of each, and every member involved in our charity and in the community, I live in. We have a strong bond!
What does a typical day look like?
Oh wow….. that’s a question. I could be meeting the board, serving customers in our Eco Hub, onboard our buses helping clean them or in my office presenting to other organisation with a passion on Climate Action or Community Transport. All aspects of Human Resource also take up a lot of my time. The wellbeing of the team is high up in my priority as a manager. As we have grown in the bus world so has our accounting needs and I spend several hours a week making sure everything with our finances is present and correct.
What advice would you give to women thinking about a career in the bus, coach and community transport sector?
Don’t be put off by being female. It is definitely a more male dominant world but that’s not a negative thing. I have asked several what I thought was a ‘daft question’ since I helped launch our bus company in 2022 and had many a ‘that’s a good questions’ as a response. In our world everyone is happy to help and advice if they can. I found reaching out to local bus holiday companies helped me. They don’t feel threatened by community transport, and they were happy to share their many years of experience in the bus world with me. I learnt about what makes a good driver, what good bus customers service means and where the good bus mechanics were in Scotland by just reaching out and asking! The internet can’t do that!
What has been your bus, coach or community transport sector career highlight?
Where to start. We were voted the most climate conscious charity in Scotland for launching a bus service in our community and the award night was amazing. However, if I was to pick one it would be the student onboard our bus 4 months after we launched that was tearful in telling me what the bus meant to him and how going to university was possible using our bus service and travelling for free. This masculine figure looking at me with such gratitude and in return I was looking at him saying without you there would be no bus – so thank you for being our passenger!
What three things could the Bus, Coach or Community Transport sector do to improve the industry for Women?
I am a great believer in influencing by images. We do not see enough women behind a bus wheel when looking at marketing material for CT. Hence, I think it sends the wrong message out.
Maybe launch a Women behind the Wheel campaign, talk to training providers to do the same. Offering a female instructor for sitting your minibus driving training test – give people the options to choose who learns them.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
I see myself having built a great community transport foundation for the charity to continue to build upon. You never know I also may have taken that minibus training test and be driving round my community in our minibus helping people to move about our community and surrounding communities with ease having cut car usage by 50% in and around the Avondale area.
Anything else you would like to share?
In the community transport world, we all want the same goals working and learning from one and other is one of the most powerful things we can do. Thanks to CTA we are joint up like never before and its great to see this grow and grow. We are not looking to reinvent the wheel we are just looking at keeping the wheels turning and being the best, we can!
Thank you for sharing Alison, your story truly makes a difference.
To find out more about who Alison works for, and career opportunities visit: https://castrathaven.org/about-us
