On track all his life to see in trams

You might call it the anorak gene. Certainly the second word ever uttered by the man responsible for running Edinburgh's buses – and who will also run the trams when the time comes – was "tam". His father's name was John.

"My first word was something related to mummy like most babies, but my second was definitely trams," he laughs. "According to my mother I would be hanging out of the pram in Morningside as they rattled past, saying 'tam, tam'.

"It's a faulty chromosome. There was never any family connection – my old man didn't even drive a car."

Without a doubt Renilson, now 52, has been a public transport aficionado from the start. Growing up just a stone's throw from the South Suburban Railway Line also helped, as he would often be put out in the garden to watch the trains. His daily school trip to George Heriot's on the top deck of the number 23 bus also afforded him a great view of the old Tollcross bus depot.

No surprise then that on leaving school he got a traineeship with the City and Royal Burgh of Edinburgh Corporation Transport Department, learning about engineering, finance, scheduling and timetable operations, before going to Loughborough University to take a degree in public transport – and share a flat with would-be Olympian Sebastian Coe. "I barely saw him though," he says. "He was always out training . . . and I was doing more studenty things – and that didn't include bus spotting."

He laughs again. These loud bursts of jollity come as something of a surprise. He's like Santa in a sports jacket who's elves have persuaded him to have a go at the Grecian 2000. But his reputation is as a hard-nosed chief executive of Lothian Buses and Transport Edinburgh Ltd. He has even been known to threaten getting "on the buses" himself and driving whenever there's been a suggestion of strike action.

Maybe it's that "faulty chromosome" again. It certainly ensures that he is completely in the driving seat when it comes to running a bus company effectively and efficiently – which will undoubtedly come in useful when the trams arrive in 2011. It could also be why he now gets paid 250,000 a year.

Does he feel he's worth that? "Well that's not for me to say. It's for others to judge. I think the public appreciate what we do. I believe Edinburgh stands comparison with the best. Not that we can rest on our laurels. There's always more to be done and challenges to face. But I can't be accused of presiding over a failure."

Certainly Lothian Buses is one of the most successful bus companies in the UK – and in fact has been named as the best company four times in the last eight years.

Since Renilson took over in 1998 (he previously worked for Stagecoach) he has seen trips on Lothian Buses rise from 82 million to 114 million, while more than 100 million has been spent on new buses.

Yet turning Lothian Buses into the nation's best company has not come easily. He is not well-liked by his drivers, who have even set up their own website scumbus.com where they anonymously vent their spleen about stress, bullying, intimidation and salaries. So what does he think of his drivers?

He hesitates slightly. "They're the best paid drivers in Scotland, and the best paid in the UK outside of London," he says.

"They've had a five per cent pay award which certainly stands comparison with other companies. We have 1700 drivers, 2600 staff and we invest a lot in them. Not just in pay, but in facilities which are long gone in other bus companies. There are staff canteens at the depots, and there are sports facilities and we offer subsided gym memberships to encourage a bit of physical activity. Being a bus driver is not the most physically-active job.

"And awards are good news for staff. They're a real morale boost, they give a feel-good factor and encourage people to go out and maintain the levels of standards and improve upon them."

Less mundane have been the difficulties faced by Lothian Buses over rising fuel costs – which has pushed fares up to 1.10 and seen the axing of several unprofitable routes – while the number of roadworks has added so much time to journeys that passenger numbers have fallen by five per cent.

"Of course the roadworks are not all the fault of the tram," he says. "There are works everywhere, but people think that as soon as a road is dug up it's because of the tram.

"There are more now though than at any time I can remember, and they have caused us major problems. Spending half an hour going nowhere is not good for passengers – either those on the bus or those waiting for the bus to arrive. We've had to employ extra drivers and get extra buses out to try and retain reliability.

"Of course it's affected passenger numbers. The credit crunch could also mean fewer people using the bus to come into town, but that might be evened out by those leaving their cars given petrol costs.

"These things are not unique to Edinburgh, but elsewhere companies are reporting passenger numbers rising by three to five per cent, while we're seeing a decrease. The roadworks are the unique factor here and they are having more impact than we expected."

Not that it's put him off the tram at all. "At the moment all people are seeing is the negative side, all the disruption. They're not seeing the positives, but I am sure the vast majority of public transport users in Edinburgh will be delighted with the end product."

A stressful time then, so what does a man who earns a quarter of a million a year do to relax? "Well I have to get out of Edinburgh," he says. "I can't relax when I'm here as I can't get away from the buses. I have a flat in Tollcross where I stay Monday to Friday, but home is in Coldingham and that's where I can relax, mow the lawn, potter in the garden. That's about it really. Mind you the bus service there is pretty sparse."

THE AXING OF BUS ROUTES

NEIL RENILSON ON...

"For the last three years Lothian Buses has used the profits from good routes to subsidise the loss-making routes. But clearly we can't spend what we don't have and the rise in fuel costs has eaten into our profits. That's the situation we're in and we've advised the council we are unable to operate the biggest loss-making routes. It's up to the council now how they want to go forward with those routes."

FARES INCREASES

"Normally we increase our fares once a year, and we last increased them in April and we are not looking at any further increase this year."

THE PRAM v WHEELCHAIR ROW

"The rules on prams have never changed. If a buggy is collapsible then it must be folded and put away if a wheelchair user wants to board. If the buggy or pram is not collapsible, if it's a Silver Cross rigid pram, then it's not permitted. The legal requirement is that we have space available for a wheelchair. At the end of the day it's down to the driver's discretion and common sense. What might be acceptable on a quiet bus, might not be when the bus is busy."

THE IMPACT OF THE TRAM

"It will take 19 buses off the road, which will mean the loss of 40 drivers, but there will be no redundancies as those job losses will be absorbed through normal staff turnover. The tram will only replace one bus route, there will still be 48 other bus routes in Edinburgh, serving 75 per cent of the city and those services won't change."

THE SOUTH SUB LINE

"I'm old enough to have travelled on it, and I'd say it's never too late. The track is there and is maintained to the correct standards and therefore it would be relatively cheap in terms of capital expenditure to have it running again."