President 2019

Andrew Wickham, Managing Director of Go South Coast, is to be our 2019 President. Go South Coast is one of the South’s largest bus operators. It is the name behind a number of award-winning local bus brands, including morebus, Salisbury Reds, Swindon’s Bus Company and Bluestar, serving the Dorset, Wiltshire, Swindon and Southampton areas, with Southern Vectis on the Isle of Wight.

With a fleet of more than 800 vehicles and workforce in excess of 1,900 colleagues, Go South Coast also provides services for the University of Southampton - Unilink, and Bournemouth University – UNIBUS. It has coaching operations running under the brands of Excelsior, Damory and Tourist Coaches and operates several National Express contracted services.

In addition to running buses, the company also operates a large vehicle refurbishment factory based in Eastleigh, which attracts clients from London and beyond. 

Andrew re-joined Go South Coast as Managing Director in 2011. Before that, he was Managing Director at Plymouth Citybus. Prior to Plymouth, he was Operations Director at Go South Coast, a role he started in 2003. He has also held bus industry management roles in London and Sussex, where he started his career after graduating with a degree in Transport Operations & Planning from Aston University. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport.

Andrew works closely with local authority officers and members across the area. He has led year-on-year passenger journey growth across the business, significant investment in new vehicles and high levels of customer satisfaction.

His leadership skills and positive contribution to the business have been validated by Go South Coast winning several prestigious awards, including Employer of the Year and Bus Operator of the Year at this year’s National Transport Awards and UK Bus Operator of the Year at the 2017 UK Bus Awards.  They were also crowned as Large Bus Operator (operating over 200 vehicles) of the Year at the routeone Awards 2017, where Andrew personally won of the Manager of the Year (Large Operator) Award.

Andrew is actively involved in several local and transport partnerships, strategically and tirelessly working toward more efficient and reliable transport infrastructure and supporting other initiatives and projects that aim to facilitate local economic growth, funding and prosperity.

Andrew's Presidential Weekend took place in Southampton over the weekend of 27th-30th September 2019.