New buses boss ready to step into driving seat

Published on Wednesday 13 April 2011 17:29

THE new chairman of Lothian Buses has vowed to spend more time in Edinburgh after coming under fire for being a "backseat driver" in London.

&#149 Chris Walton is former finance chief of easyJet

Chris Walton, a former finance director at easyJet, was appointed to the board of the council-owned bus company last month amid controversy that he will pick up 24,000 a year for attending just seven board meetings.

But speaking for the first time since his appointment, the 53-year-old, who lives in London, said he was prepared to spend "as much time as it (the job] needs" in Edinburgh.

Mr Walton steps into the role after the dramatic departure of former chairman David Mackay, who chaired Lothian Buses, tram firm TIE and Transport Edinburgh Limited.

Mr Mackay, who picked up more than 90,000 for the combined post, quit after describing the tram project as "hell on wheels".

When asked about how much time he expects to spend in Edinburgh, Mr Walton said: "The trite answer is as much time as it needs.

"Officially, my contract says seven days a year, but there's no hope you can do the job in that little time.

"I have already spent three-and-a-half days in Edinburgh in the last two weeks."

There are fears that the future of Lothian Buses could be jeopardised by the tram project, which is expected to be subsidised by the city's buses in its first few years of operation.

It is also unclear whether the trams will be included in the concessionary travel scheme, which allows pensioners to travel free on buses. Should the trams not be included, the project's business case would be severely undermined.

But Mr Walton said it was too early to answer questions about whether Lothian Buses would need to bail out the trams. He said: "Who knows what the future holds because you have a (tram] project that's some time from completion."

On Lothian Buses Mr Walton said: "It's a company running really well, delivering services, but also making money.

"The challenges going forward over the next three to five years will be the trams coming and the whole way they operate and their integration."

Mr Walton, who was formerly in the Australian Army Reserve, reckons he's on the move around one third of the time - he's also a director of oil firm Rockhopper Exploration, based in Wiltshire.

He met his wife, Sally Martin, a fellow former airline executive, in her native New Zealand, when his favourite Sunday morning activity was aerial acrobatics. "That was my relaxation - turning upside down in mid-air," he said.