'I would love to see more female bus drivers'

Hema Russell is the only female operations manager for Stagecoach in the Eastern region

The new operations manager for a bus company said she wanted to encourage more women into the industry.

Hema Russell, who is based in Peterborough, is the only female operations manager in the Eastern region for Stagecoach.

She is passionate about seeing greater gender diversity and would like to see more women coming through.

"I'd like to get rid of the myth - women can drive buses," she said.

She started driving buses in 2007 in her 30s, in what was then a particularly male-dominated industry.

"Some of the passengers used to ask if I was old enough to drive," she said.

"I loved the freedom. It is not difficult to drive a bus, you just need to gauge the size of what you're driving."

Ms Russell came to Peterborough after being global ambassador for the Go-Ahead London bus company.

She was also in charge of the only fully electric fleet of buses outside of China at the Waterloo bus depot.

In Peterborough there are nine or ten women drivers out of a cohort of 140, she said.

"I would like to think I could be a role model. I'd also like to see more women in the control team co-ordinating the buses, and more female engineers.

"Some people soften when they see the bus driver is a woman, and you go through training to help defuse situations."

Hema Russell says the company's campaign to use buses to help women in danger reinforces what the bus drivers already strive to do

Ms Russell fully supports the 'Buses against Abuse' campaign backed by Stagecoach which aims to help women in a vulnerable situation get to a safe space.

She says drivers are the "eyes and ears" to what happens on the streets.

"By publicising it in this campaign, it lets people know that we are there for them," she added.

Ross Barton, operations director of Stagecoach East, added: “Hema is an impressive leader who has the skills and experience to take the local bus network in a very positive direction."

On her new role in Peterborough, Ms Russell said her management style was "assertive not aggressive".

She wants to grow the business in what is a "growing city" and praised the friendliness she has experienced in Peterborough.

"People respect other people's diversity, everyone welcomes different people. I really like that."