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The Freewheeling Podcast

Thomas Ableman

The Freewheeling Podcast is all about moving forwards faster.

Each week, I’ll bring you fresh voices, new ideas and unconventional thinking.

With a bias towards transport and mobility, we also span entrepreneurship and politics.

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23 episodes
weekly
Avg 32 min
English

Episodes 23

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S8 · E104
Wednesday · 17 min
Innovation in Transport - an Interchat with Erika Lewis
Transport finds innovation hard. It is fiendishly complex, but the. Connected Places Catapult is trying to help people navigate their way through it. In this Interchat, Erika Lewis, the Catapult’s CEO, tells me how they try to connect an incredibly challenging sector - and how her career history in complex sectors has helped her do that. Oh, and she tells me precisely what a Catapult is as well! Interchats are a series of short conversations recorded on the conference floor at Interchange 26 in Manchester.
S9 · E108
October 7 · 32 min
AI with Andrew Browning
Andrew Browning is the founder and CEO of Schemeflow, an AI startup. Last week, we spoke about Combined Authorities; this week it’s AI. He created his business just weeks before the launch of ChatGPT, so has been at the heart of the AI revolution, working both in London and Silicon Valley. We discuss the willingness of the transport sector to adopt AI, what the AI tech bros are actually like from someone who knows them personally, and whether or not AI is going to create a jobs apocalypse. Spoiler on the last point: neither of us this think it will, net - but there’ll be big change.
S9 · E107
September 30 · 31 min
Making a Combined Authority work with Andrew Browning
Andrew Browning was the first Chief of Staff to the first Mayor of the West Midlands. As a result, he had the unique experience of being at ground zero for the creation of the regional government for Britain’s second city. He both witnessed and influenced the creation of West Midlands Combined Authority, and is here to share what went well, what didn’t and what lessons can be learned. Given that many more Combined Authorities are likely to be created in the next few years, this is a very timely episode of The Freewheeling Podcast.
S9 · E106
September 23 · 34 min
Violence against Women and Girls with Jocelyn Elleby
We measure fares, frequency and reliability, so why not fear? Jocelyn Elleby is just two years into her career and already an expert in the safety of women and girls on public transport. In this episode, she explains why so little of what women experience is ever reported, how AI could make CCTV useful before an incident instead of after it and the limits of relying on bystanders. We also talk about male allies, what TfL taught me and why an argument is better than silence. This is a topic that wasn’t be talked about when I started out in my career, and I’ve learned a lot in the last decade. If, like me, you’re a man still learning how our service is experienced by half our customers, I highly recommend listening to this episode.
S8 · E102
September 16 · 17 min
The Bee Network - An Interchat With Vernon Everitt
How much of the Bee Network's success is franchising, and how much is just money? In today's Interchat with Vernon Everett, Transport Commissioner for Greater Manchester and chair of Transport for Wales, we get his answer, along with the numbers behind it: reliability up from 65% to over 80%, ridership up 30% in the first franchised area, and eight commuter rail lines joining the network from the end of 2026. Vernon is candid that franchising is probably not for everybody. But if you want genuine integration across every mode, he argues, you cannot do it without control of the buses and the fare revenue. This is the first Interchat recorded by Katie English, my Freewheeling associate. Interchats are a series of short conversations recorded on the conference floor at Interchange 26 in Manchester.
S9 · E104
September 9 · 18 sec
The Climate Crisis: An Interchat with Ben Plowden
What has to change inside government before anything changes on the street? In today's Interchat with Ben Plowden, Chief Executive of Campaign for Better Transport, we discuss the machinery of government, why combined authorities should never be treated as a single category and the local transport authorities now spending 70% of their budgets on social care. We also discuss my own despair about the climate crisis - and Ben's rather more useful answer to it. Interchats are a series of short conversations recorded on the conference floor at Interchange 26 in Manchester.
S8 · E104
July 22 · 17 min
Transport as an Enabler - An Interchat With David Skaith
David Skaith, the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, joins me to discuss the transformative impact of devolution on local governance. He emphasises the critical role of transport in enabling economic growth, health, and skills of a region with distinct challenges. In our conversation, Skaith highlights the need for significant investment in bus services and active travel, noting a 50% decline in bus miles over 10 years. I always enjoy talking to this generation of Mayors, as - far more than central Government - they understand that transport is not a ‘thing’ on its own: it is an essential enabler of a healthy, prosperous society. This Interchat is a great example. Interchats are a series of short conversations recorded on the conference floor at Interchange 26 in Manchester.
S8 · E100
July 15 · 17 min
Autonomous Vehicles and Empty Roads - an Interchat With Paul Campion
What is lost when the government sells its own brain? In today's Interchat with TRL CEO Paul Campion, we discuss the privatisation of Britain's transport research laboratory and what is about to happen when autonomous vehicles arrive on London's streets. Paul is generous about the gains from privatisation: agility, commercial discipline and the freedom to change. What went was the peer relationship with the DfT, because public sector procurement is a search for a predefined answer rather than a search for a better question. We also discuss his real worry about autonomy, which is not that the vehicles will crash but the risks of zero-occupancy vehicles. Interchats are a series of short conversations recorded on the conference floor at Interchange 26 in Manchester.
S8 · E104
July 8 · 17 min
Experience Design - an Interchat With Adam Scott
Some of my favourite conversations are those that bring in the perspective of someone from outside our sector and todays is a great example. Adam Scott designs experiences for multiple sectors globally. How are we doing in transport? Where are we on his mental ranking? What do we need to learn? What are we already good at? Spoiler alert - he doesn't feel we're at the absolute top of the league table for experience design, but the great thing is that gives us an awful lot of potential to improve! Interchats are a series of short conversations recorded on the conference floor at Interchange 26 in Manchester.
S8 · E97
July 1 · 38 min
Leadership, Empowerment and the Private Sector with Katy Taylor
𝗞𝗮𝘁𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝘆𝗹𝗼𝗿, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗼𝗳 𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗪𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸, has worked in three different transport modes, but always for a private firm. In today’s episode, she gives a powerful defence of the role and value of the private sector in transport. She also describes what customer-focused leadership looks like and emphasises the importance of empowerment. Katy is clear, articulate and passionate about both the importance of customer excellence and private sector discipline in delivering it. At a time when the political climate is in the opposite direction, it’s great to hear the argument stated with such clarity.
S8 · E104
June 24 · 17 min
Financial Sustainability at TfL - an Interchat With Andy Lord
What’s it like running the biggest integrated transport authority in the world when there’s not enough money around? In today’s Interchat with Transport for London Commissioner Andy Lord, we discuss TfL’s role in economic growth and job creation - and the huge challenge of an ageing asset base. Financial sustainability is hard for any organisation but when you need to keep fares low for social purposes and need to spend £1.1bn on renewing your existing asset bases, it’s incredibly hard. In this Interchat, we discuss how TfL’s attempting to square the circle. Interchats are a series of short conversations recorded on the conference floor at Interchange 26 in Manchester.
S8 · E104
June 17 · 38 min
Getting Britain Building with Michael Hill
Michael Hill used to be a civil servant but now works on policy for the campaign group Britain Remade. In that role, he’s trying to push through policy changes to get Britain building. In today’s episode, we talk through the extraordinary degree of political centralisation in the UK and why this is a direct contributor to making it so hard to build new tram lines in the UK. He gives the current Government a mid-term review and tells me the policy asks from any future new Prime Minister.
S8 · E96
June 10 · 30 min
Indian Cities with Ruchita Bansal
My guest this week is a transport changemaker attempting to achieve change in the most populous country on earth. Ruchita Bansal is a transport and urban planner by background, and is now founder of SheCity. Her research reveals the extra costs imposed on women by the transport choices of Indian leaders, and the wider impact this has on society and the Indian economy. In today’s episode, she brings these impacts vividly to life, all set in the context of how Indian cities are designed by leaders not for citizens.
S8 · E104
June 3 · 43 min
Suburbs with Jonathan Bray
Jonathan Bray was Director of the Urban Transport Group and has spent the last year visiting suburbs all round Europe. He’s just published his findings, and it makes for a fascinating discussion. He’s clear that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to making sustainable transport work in suburbs. Instead, it’s all about the questions cities ask and the people they invite into the room when the decisions are taken. In today’s episode, he takes me on a tour of different examples of best practice in Europe but focuses primarily on getting the questions right.
S8 · E101
May 27 · 47 min
Antisocial Audio with Christian Hunt
How can we stop people playing their TikToks out loud? You can’t say we don’t address the big policy questions on this podcast! Nevertheless, it’s an issue that really gets to people. So I’m joined by behavioural science expert Christian Hunt, founder of Human Risk, to figure out what we can do about it…
S8 · E93
May 20 · 42 min
The Young Mobility Network with Anna Filby and Alessandro Zenati
During the pandemic, Anna Filby was a young transport professional struggling to connect with other young transport professionals. So she created the Young Mobility Network. Roll forward six years, it’s been such a success that it’s now her full-time job. She joins me to discuss the challenges facing young people in our sector, what’s changed since I was starting out in my career and what it was like creating the YMN while holding down a full time job. We’re also joined by Alessandro Zenati, who runs the London Hub of the Young Mobility Network as a volunteer.
S8 · E99
May 13 · 37 min
Customer Experience with John Sills
John Sills is an expert in Customer Experience. He’s written a book and runs The Foundation, a leading Customer Experience consultancy. He’s worked in transport just enough to understand our world, but not enough not to be able to look in as an outsider. Today’s episode is all about what an organisation needs to do to deliver an outstanding customer experience. We talk quite a lot about LNER (as you’d expect!) and get into the detail of what it means for leadership and management. With GBR coming into existence in the next few years, there isn’t a better time to be having this conversation.
S8 · E97
May 6 · 1 hr 8 min
GBR Customer Experience with Linda Moir and Others
Last month, I hosted a special webinar for Transport Focus on Customer Experience in GBR. Specifically, what will it look like if GBR is a customer experience disaster - and how do we stop that happening? The specific goal was to avoid that happening by having the difficult conversations we need to have now, so we don’t need to have them then. As I was hosting it, I thought my Freewheeling Podcast listeners would love it, so here it is. I start with an interview with Linda Moir, who led customer experience at both Virgin Atlantic and London 2012. Then we have a really crunchy panel discussion with Vernon Everitt (now Commissioner of Transport for Greater Manchester) about his time at TfL, Nick Haller (who looks after Customer Experience for Europe’s best railway, Swiss Federal Railways SBB), Marie Daly (who’s already leading an integrated public sector railway at Transport for Wales), Jacqueline Starr (the rail industry’s longtime customer champion at Rail Delivery Group) and Natasha Grice (director of Transport Focus). It’s a really insightful conversation, which I wholeheartedly recommend!
S8 · E96
April 29 · 53 min
Making a Metro Happen with Mark Barry
There aren’t many people who’ve personally made a Metro happen. Big infrastructure products normally start with a regional or national Government drawing lines on a map. The South Wales Metro started with Mark Barry coming back from Milan and saying “we should have one of those” - and then refusing to shut up about it. Today’s episode is a fascinating account of how to make transport change happen in the real world, with powerful lessons for anyone whose role is transport change - or who just wants transport change. This is one of those episodes I particularly hope you’ll listen to.
S8 · E95
April 22 · 38 min
Change with Anne Marie Purcell
It’s said that “success has many fathers but failure is an orphan”. Well, given the sucess of the Bee Network, Anne Marie Purcell has a very strong claim to parentage. She was Chief Transformation Officer at Transport for Greater Manchester throughout the period the Bee Network was mobilised. In this episode, we talk about the Bee Network (of course we do!) but we also talk about the templates for succesful change across all organisations. The Bee Network was Anne Marie’s first role in transport: she’s a change person first, and a transport person second. That makes for a fascinating conversation.

Showing 1–20 of 23 episodes