And understandably so, as it is a hugely complex service used by millions of us every year. Since privatisation it is also an industry that has been in massive flux, with franchises coming up for grabs, mergers, and massive government and private investment. So it's no surprise that transport companies are reintroducing apprenticeships and graduate trainee schemes, and recruiting expertise from outside the industry to find the future architects public transport who can bring together the pieces of this multi-billion pound Rubik's cube.It can be profoundly satisfying work. "You're creating something, making something happen the way you want it to happen," says Terry Pierce, schedules manager for bus company London Central, London General. "It's a mathematical game, but one where people's lives are at stake so you have to take it seriously." Pierce, 59, links duty schedules to bus time tables, making sure that the best use is made of drivers and buses, matching routes and garages."It's a series of problems and puzzles that have to be solved around different garages and contractual agreements," he says. "The duty schedule doesn't fit the time schedules, and it doesn't follow one bus That's the complicated bit, the interesting bit. You're looking to move work round to make the best schedule."Pierce's interest in schedules dates back to boyhood "I've always been a schedules enthusiast,
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" he says. "As a lad I was an engine spotter and wanted to know more about it." He has spent the 40-odd years since leaving school working on bus schedules "I always compare it to chess," he says."You need the same flexibility of mind and dedication to detail."Not all transport management is as rarefied as this. For Howard Collins, 46, one of the best parts of the job has been a chance to get his hands dirty. His first two years training as a school leaver and management training in his mid-20s gave him a chance to try out all the different front-line roles on offer on the Tube, from fighting fires to training drivers."You won't find yourself doing the photocopying or making the tea," he says. "And it's very useful, you learn more from working on the front line than from any paper or analysis."That, however, didn't stop him studying, and London Transport has supported him on day-release programmes to do a range of business qualifications, most recently an MBA at Westminster University. He is now one of the three service directors that run the Tube, responsible for a third of the network, including the Metropolitan, District, and Circle lines."You're holding together an antiquated railway so you've got to be prepared for the unexpected," he says. "There's never a dull day, as you can see from the Evening Standard headlines."For Collins, transport management is less like chess than rugby.
"You could see the teamwork in action after the July bombings," he says. "And sometimes you can feel as embattled as on a rugby field. But it feels good to be there."To make sure the team is in place and moving on, you need experts like Pierce and Collins. But if the fleets aren't there, you don't even have a ball to play with. And one of the most important roles in public transport is that of engineers such as John Hawkings.
