Maidenhead: Transport2 continues expansion with new executive appointment

Maidenhead-based Transport2, the market-leading provider of transport management services behind the CoachHire.com platform, has made a new appointment to its board following a period of rapid growth.

With more than 25 years’ experience in the transport industry, Richard Woods has been appointed as chief operating officer (COO). Having held senior-level roles at major transport companies, such as Arriva and Stagecoach. Woods brings with him a wealth of expertise from some of the sector’s foremost businesses.

Woods’ appointment comes during a period of major growth for Transport2 as it looks to establish itself as a major player in the mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) market, with the business having doubled in size over the past year. Following the recent acquisition of Momentum Hub, the business now has a headcount of more than 70. Transport2 has also received a seven-figure investment from Souter Investments, headed by Stagecoach founder Sir Brian Souter.

Woods will also be tasked with ensuring the highest standards are maintained across the business and helping Transport2 to meet ambitious expansion targets over the coming months. Specifically, he will spearhead the continued expansion of the business’s current home-to-school service, which is currently the largest in the UK, from 25 schools to 40 within the next year.

An integral part of Transport2’s offering to schools is Kura – the UK’s leading provider of safe, reliable, green home-to-school services. Kura manages a virtual fleet of 30,000 vehicles and tracks over 300 routes daily, providing safe home to school services for over 7,000 pupils every day.

Commenting on his appointment, Woods said: “Having spent my career driving excellence at some of the UK’s largest transport businesses, I had my eye on Transport2 for a while before officially joining the team. The company is using technology in some extremely exciting ways to solve problems that, for too long, have just been accepted as an unfortunate by-product of group transport, so I’m extremely excited to be in a position to drive its growth forward.”

Mathew Hassell, founder and CEO at Transport2, said: “Richard’s extensive market experience and first-class people management skills made him the perfect choice to spearhead our ongoing growth. We want to be known as the best in our field and that means bringing the best talent on board as we continue to expand – of which Richard is a perfect example. We’ve got some extremely exciting plans for the months ahead as we continue to provide a best-in-class service for our customers across the education, leisure and corporate transport sectors – watch this space.”