Employees have won Reading Buses two Golds at the prestigious UK Bus Awards – often referred to as the “Bus Oscars.”
Maks Pruszewicz was voted Top National Bus Driver and, equally fantastically for Reading Buses, Head of Operations Dan Bassett has won Young Manager of the Year.
Both successes are a ‘first’ for Reading Buses who were shortlisted for four UK Bus Awards.
These wins come alongside a Silver Award for the New Horizons Award for the digital technology strategy, including smartphone app, and a finalist’s place for the Putting Passengers First Award for Royal Blue and Orange buses being reinvented.
Maks, 56, of Calcot, said afterwards: “I am overwhelmed and so very honoured. This award is not for myself, but for Team Reading Buses.”
The judges recognised that Maks has found a job and a company he loves. This shines through every day in his work, helping him to become the Reading Buses Driver of the Year as well as taking the coveted Star of the Year accolade.
He is well liked by customers and has accumulated a huge pile of customer compliments. He is also well liked by his work colleagues.
With excellent mystery traveller reports, zero accidents in three years and zero sickness in five years, the judges commented that Maks seemed to have all the requirements needed to be a Gold winning bus driver.
And Dan, 30, of Purley-on-Thames, was equally as delighted. “I am absolutely thrilled and this award truly reflects the whole operation at Reading Buses – I couldn’t be sat here as a winner today without the support of a fantastic operations team and great set of drivers, especially given that we now have the UK ’s best bus driver in Maks!”
The UK Bus Awards judges said Dan impressed them as a well-rounded manager with a big emphasis on the importance of people, both staff and customers, in the organisation.
His focus in his current role as Head of Operations was on reliability and punctuality in bringing benefits to customers.
Said Martijn Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer of Reading Buses: “At Reading Buses, whether it’s our customers or employees, we really care about people.
“We are immensely proud of both Maks and Dan’s superb achievements. These award wins come hot on the heels of our recent Pride of Reading ‘Business in Action’ award win which recognised, amongst other things, the fantastic charitable work of our team and, earlier in the year, our win at both the regional and national Venus Awards for our work to encourage and support more women in the bus industry.
“I am deeply passionate about our people and, along with the rest of the management team, put a lot of focus into continuing to improve the support and engagement of our workforce. I am immensely proud to lead such a great team of people and these awards wins truly make 2017 the year of our people!
“As well as recognising people’s great work, these awards are really important in raising the profile of our company to new and existing customers by clearly setting out that Reading has some of the UK’s best bus services. They also help us benchmark against other high quality bus operators and identify best practice that works.”
Councillor Tony Page, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Member for Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport, said: “Reading Buses track record in the national UK Bus Awards is second to none. The achievement this year focuses on individual awards and my congratulations to everyone involved for showing such high levels of customer service and as a major employer in Reading . The Council will continue to work alongside colleagues at Reading Buses to deliver a bus service the town can continue to be proud of.”