A bespoke service to enhance experiences

Behind the sandstone exterior of the Culzean Building on Glasgow’s Renfield Street, in a bright modern fifth floor office, Abellio’s Nadia Hutcheson invites me to learn more about a new service that’s plugging a gap across the UK for event transport. She is clearly excited as she outlines the vision: “It’s very exciting. It’s more than just transport; it’s an end to end solution,” she said.

When I go to visit her I’m impressed by the modern guest sign-in system; a few taps on an iPad and your host knows you’ve arrived and what you look like. Event Connect feels like a start-up, but with the backing of a big company.

Parent group Abellio has transport experience, expertise and capacity, and prides itself on taking travellers ‘beyond a –to-b’. It also has a UK network of road transport partners, with vehicles ranging from coaches to luxury minibuses and executive cars. This in turn is supported by Abellio’s 24-hour regional control rooms where staff have in-depth knowledge of suppliers and local geography.

“The company offers transport solutions throughout the UK and Europe, operating a number of both bus and rail services for passengers,” said Hutcheson. “Various members of the UK team have worked in the events sector. Through discussion and research, they saw a gap in the UK market for a full-service approach to event transport.”

Their new offer, ‘Event Connect – Part of the Abellio Group’, seems like a natural extension of the group’s philosophy of considering the passenger journey beyond a-to-b.

“When you choose Event Connect as your transport partner, you get a UK-based team that works as an extension of your own. We get to know all your transportation needs, and then we design a tailored service around them,” she said.

We’re part of the Abellio Group; a multi-million-pound, multinational company, responsible for moving more than a million people every single day. So our transport credentials are hard to beat.”

Under Hutcheson’s stewardship, Event Connect has put together a team of events specialists – from within Abellio as well as new hires – to develop a product that brings something new to the events and festivals industry.

“We want to be a valued and trusted transport partner for our clients, so that they can focus on all the other aspects of planning their event,” said Hutcheson, who joined the group in November last year and is now UK Manager of Event Connect.

“We provide a complete service, from an initial meeting to determine a client’s needs, taking charge of all the scheduling to ensure everything runs smoothly, providing the right transport and ensuring that everything runs to plan through our on the day, on the ground coordination service.”

“As someone who’s been working in events for a long time, I know how important it is to have trusted partners you can rely on and who will take care of every little detail so that there’s one less thing to worry about”.

Hutcheson draws on a wealth of experience in the events industry, including time at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Glasgow Life, CSM Sport & Entertainment, where she worked on the Invictus games, Glasgow 2014 Ltd., the SSE Hydro, SECC and Clyde Auditorium. Among her team there is experience gleaned from the 2012 London Olympics, the 2014 Rugby World Cup and Commonwealth Games, major conferences, festivals and the Ryder Cup.

“When it comes to events, our team knows its stuff. We understand the challenges of juggling the different elements that make an occasion a success, and use this bigger-picture perspective to integrate your transport plan seamlessly into your event,” said Hutcheson.

a-uk-network-ranging-from-coaches-to-executive-cars

The Abellio Group lists efficiency, accountability, progressiveness, ambition and authenticity amongst its values. As a supplier, Hutcheson wants Event Connect to add to those; to be ‘straightforward’, making its service simple from the client’s perspective, and ‘dependable’, being there when the client needs them through the entire period of an event.

“For events organisers, spending time on transport is one of the big inefficiencies,” said Hutcheson. “We can take that off their shoulders. It’s a really strong offer and cost effective solution. We want to add value to an event planner’s daily work and overall objectives.

“Busy event planners don’t want a service that is complicated, particularly during the event, and they do want people they know they can rely on for support when they need them.

“One of the key differences is that we will work closely with our clients to offer a tailored approach, and become a valued partner, so that they can focus on planning their event. We use our knowledge, insights and resources to offer a tailored transport service that will make our clients’ experience that much better.

“Whatever type of event you’re planning, we’ve got project planners with the experience to match. We’ll assign you a project team with all the right skills, so you can be sure they’ll get your transport plan spot on.”

About Abellio

Every day 20,000 Abellio people provide safe, easy and reliable public transport for more than a million passengers on its buses, trains and trams. Its operations span three countries across bus, tram and train services. In the UK it operates buses through Abellio London & Surrey, as well as train services for ScotRail, Scotland’s national railway, Abellio Greater Anglia, and Merseyrail in a joint venture with Serco. In Germany it operates Abellio Deutschland, serving communities in North Rhine Westphalia, Saxony, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. And in the Netherlands, Qbuzz and HTM run bus services in Fryslan, Groningen, Drenthe, Utrecht and tram services in the municipality of The Hague.

Event Connect – Part of the Abellio Group

abellioeventconnect.co.uk