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Running buses is a people business, so the appointment of HR specialist Jane Reakes Davies as MD First Cymru, shouldn\\u2019t come as a surprise.\\xa0
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Yet it\\u2019s still often the case that the traditional career route to becoming a bus MD, tends to be through engineering or operations.
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Over lunch with Leon Daniels, she chats about the different perspectives of the role of a bus MD, and what it really means, along with her career transition into the MD role
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First Cymru\\u2019s HQ is in the university city of Swansea and the 2009 introduction of the \\u2018ftr\\u2019 project saw a great deal of (largely since removed) bus priority.
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Jane talks about relationships with local authorities and the business\\u2019 \\u2018social conscience' - providing a service to customers with a commercial head, as the conversation turns to what role buses really play - retail, utility or \\u2018other\\u2019.
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With a varied network - serving a city and deeply rural areas with two distinct customer groups - how to serve them, meet their aspirations and expectations, are chewed over.
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Jane has enlightening views on the expectations of its teenage customers of what they want from an operator - and the answer isn\\u2019t what you might expect - and she expands of why now, is a really exciting time to be in the industry.
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She also reveals who her \\u2018business hero\\u2019 is. At first blush it\\u2019s an unlikely choice, not only due to the industry they are in, but also as a person widely perceived as a \\u2018Marmite\\u2019 character.
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This leads to a fascinating conclusion to lunch, with a revealing opinion about ways of engaging people and bringing in leadership skills from a very different sector.
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