Neil Renilson

Neil Renilson (born 1955 in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a businessman who works in the travel and tourism industry. He has held high-ranking positions at a number of large bus companies including Stagecoach Group and Lothian Buses, and is currently a director of Jacobite Cruises.

Early life

Renilson was born in Edinburgh in 1955, and showed an early interest in public transport: he states that the second word he spoke was "tram". After leaving school he spent two years as a trainee at what was then Edinburgh Corporation Transport, before taking a degree in transport management and planning at Loughborough University. While there he shared a flat with runner Sebastian Coe.

Renilson joined National Bus Company's graduate training programme in 1977, holding posts at companies including United Automobile Services, Yorkshire Traction, City of Oxford Motor Services, United Counties Omnibus, Trent Motor Traction and Northern General Transport Company.

Strathtay and Stagecoach

Renilson returned to Scotland in 1987 to become the managing director of recently-formed Dundee based Scottish Bus Group subsidiary Strathtay Scottish. He stayed at the company for two years before joining Stagecoach Group in 1989.

His move to Stagecoach saw Renilson take over as chairman of the group's operations in Scotland and Kenya. A string of improvements in performance culminated in the Stagecoach Bluebird subsidiary coming first at the Bus Industry Awards 1996. He left Stagecoach in 1998 following a management shake-up in which Stagecoach founders Brian Souter and Ann Gloag gave up overall control of the group's bus division.

Lothian Buses

In 1998 it was announced that Renilson would be moving to council-owned Lothian Buses to take over as its chief executive. He took charge in February 1999. He chose his own management team, bringing in a number of his former team from Stagecoach.

Renilson's time at Lothian saw a number of notable successes. A flat fare system was introduced to reduce complexity, two of the company's three garages were improved and updated, and the majority of the fleet was replaced. Passenger numbers increased from 82 million to 114 million per year between 1998 and 2008, and the company was named the best in the UK four times. Following Lothian's victory at the 2007 UK Bus Operator of the Year Awards, Renilson himself was runner-up at the Passenger Transport Professional Awards in 2008.

Despite these successes, Renilson was not popular with many Lothian staff members, with one group of drivers setting up a website to anonymously criticise the company. In 2005 a prolonged period of strike action was only ended following a massively improved pay deal.

For eight years Renilson was also the managing director of Lothian, but was replaced in this capacity by Ian Craig in June 2006 so he could concentrate on his role as chief executive of the council-owned transport initiatives department Transport Edinburgh. This included responsibility for the new Edinburgh Trams development intended to begin operation in 2011. Renilson would later state that following Craig's appointment he had spent about 80% of his time working on the project.

In October 2008, following ten years at the company, Renilson announced his intention to take early retirement aged 52. This followed a difficult financial year in which rising fuel prices, combined with tram works in Edinburgh city centre leading to a drop in passenger numbers, had seen profitability fall. He stated that he had intended to retire aged 55, but had moved aside early to allow the company time to adjust to his departure before the trams commenced operation.

The day after Renilson announced his retirement, Lothian revealed that the position of chief executive would not be filled immediately, with control instead passing to Craig. This was part of an effort to reduce costs as revenue fell.

Renilson was paid £324,000 on leaving the company. The level of the payment received some criticism following Lothian's announcement in August 2009 that it had made an operating loss for the first time in its history, but was strongly defended by the company, with then-chairman Pilmar Smith stating to the press: "During Neil's ten-year tenure at the helm of Lothian Buses he orchestrated constant passenger and revenue growth."

Post-Lothian

In announcing his retirement Renilson also stated that he did not want to continue in bus industry management. Despite this, there were several rumours that Renilson intended to take another job in the industry, with some suggesting that he would be Stagecoach's next UK Bus managing director. All proved to be unfounded.

Renilson joined Inverness-based tourist cruise firm Jacobite Cruises as a director in May 2010, working for the firm on a part-time basis. He had previously worked in the area with Stagecoach Bluebird and was pleased to be able to return, stating that he was "thrilled with the new position".