Company Structure

Ben Murray

I joined Go South Coast in 2013 and became finance director in 2016.

Originally graduating with high honours in 1999, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Information Systems at the University of Montana, I spent five years as a general manager in Alaska’s tourism industry.

I became a certified accountant during a five-year tenure in Hawaii at a highly specialised accounting practice and, as audit manager, I specialised in SMEs and not-for-profit organisations. 

After that, I moved to the UK - performing audits on large international businesses including Carnival Cruise Lines and IBM whilst at PwC in Southampton. 

Now at Go South Coast I lead the finance, IT, and HR functions, which act as partners to the wider business providing financial insight, support, and analysis to develop business strategies and ensure ongoing sustainability of our business.

David Lee-Kong

David joined Go South Coast in 2018, having gained 14 years’ experience in bus operations with another major bus group. David has a Degree in Transport Management from the University of Wales and has also had experience of working within the transport sector for the Scottish Government and Confederation of Passenger Transport, the trade body which represents the bus and coach industry.

David is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business, most notably the drivers and control teams that deliver our services.  David also heads up the business partners that support our frontline staff, and include our customer service teams in our dedicated call centre and travel shops, training and development instructors, commercial development and planning teams and marketing executives that bring bus and coach travel to the people of the south coast.

A considerable amount of time and effort is given to ensuring that our colleagues receive the very best driving and customer care training to help make your journey smooth and hassle free, a fact David is particularly proud of. In addition to the bespoke training given to our driving staff, David is also responsible for our graduate development and internal management development programmes, both of which aim to provide the next generation of bus managers and directors.   

David is passionate about providing high quality services that our customers can rely upon day in day out. When time permits, you will find David out and about sampling our bus networks in Swindon, Salisbury, Southampton, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest, Poole, Bournemouth and across the wider county of Dorset, his version of walking ‘the shop floor.’ Occasionally you may even find him behind the wheel as your driver. The feedback and observations that David and his team have all go towards further developing and improving the journeys for thousands of people in the South of England every day.

Steve Hamilton

Steve Hamilton is the Engineering Director of Go South Coast (GSC). From a young age, he knew he wanted to work in Engineering. All of his schoolwork revolved around technical subjects. On leaving school in 1978, he secured an HGV apprenticeship with a company called British Road Services (BRS), which was the Scottish branch (SRS).  Steve worked in the HGV industry until 1986, when he joined the local bus company, Fife Scottish, as bus companies underwent deregulation. He has worked in the bus industry ever since.

Following Stagecoach's acquisition of Fife Scottish, Steve spent 14 years with the company, progressing through roles as Chargehand, Depot Foreman, and Engineering Manager of the central works. He was then seconded to Stagecoach Africa, overseeing engineering operations for Stagecoach Kenya Bus and Stagecoach Malawi during a six-year international assignment. At age 33, he was promoted to Engineering Director.

Returning to the UK, Steve assisted with integrating the newly acquired Stagecoach Manchester, spending two years incorporating former GM Buses operations. He subsequently moved to Northampton as Engineering Director for Stagecoach United Counties, which expanded to include Stagecoach Cambridge (Cambus) and Viscount Bus and Coach, forming Stagecoach East.

In 2004, he relocated to London as Engineering Director for Travel London, a National Express group company entering the London bus market, later extending his role to include Travel West Midlands.

Steve joined the Go-Ahead Group in July 2007 as Engineering Director for the GSC group of companies, where he has developed an award-winning engineering team recognised throughout the industry.

Outside work, his passion for mechanical and high-speed pursuits includes jet skiing and motorcycles. He participated as part of a race team competing in the British Superbike Series Superstock class for five seasons.

Julian Barnes

A south coast native and a graduate of Aston University’s Transport Management programme, Julian has over 30 years’ experience of bus network development gained from posts at Go South Coast and Transport for London.

As Commercial Development Manager since joining Go South Coast in December 2006, Julian has been instrumental in the growth, evolution and financial success of the company’s bus services. His ability to analyse and interpret data to generate innovative and cost-efficient development solutions is a key strength and has led to the implementation of many successful changes to the commercial network.

Similarly, Julian’s work has beneficially influenced the many services provided on behalf of Go South Coast’s multiple private and local authority clients. Essential to this is Julian’s ability to work cooperatively with individuals in external organisations to produce mutually effective, timely and attractively-priced solutions to all contractual issues’.

Marc West

Marc joined Go South Coast in 2012, and has over 30 years experience of working in a transport commercial & planning environment.

Originally responsible for Southern Vectis & Bluestar, he has recently taken responsibility for morebus & Salisbury Reds as well.

Marc's main responsibility is to ensure that the timetables are robust and run to time. Also that the logistics of the operation are workable and robust from both a passenger & driver perspective.

With data provision to Traveline, Real Time Information & Next Stop Announcement systems, his responsibilities are also to supply passenger information to websites and roadside displays, and the supply of statutory statistics to Local Authorities.

Nikki Honer

I’m a passionate, enthusiastic individual (with approx. 30 years bus industry knowledge, as well as commercial experience running my own double-glazing company for 7 years.)

I like to focus on staying one step ahead in a commercial environment to exceed customer’s expectations. Understanding customer needs is one of my top priorities, by carrying out market research and committing to improving our business offering helps to increase our customer satisfaction ratings.

I thrive on the freedom to make decisions and implement new ideas.  My motivation comes from providing direction and focus to projects and people, working towards goal completion. Some would say a born organiser, who loves to juggle multiple tasks and someone who just gets the job done!

My aim is that our marketing campaigns are eye-catching and fun where possible and help to keep the messages of bus travel as simple as possible.

Richard Wade

Richard joined Go South Coast in 2015 as Operations Manager for morebus based in Poole, before being promoted to morebus General Manager in 2021. His transport career began in 1996 with a Transport & Logistics Management degree at University of Huddersfield, from which he graduated with First Class Honours.  A year of that was spent on secondment to Metrobus of Orpington, which was purchased by The Go-Ahead Group on the same day in 1999 that Richard obtained his PCV licence at the end of his year there - and he has been employed by Go-Ahead ever since.  Returning full time to Metrobus after graduating, Richard quickly became Operations Manager in 2001 and managed three different depots before heading to morebus.

Richard is passionate about delivering a reliable bus service and works with a variety of local stakeholders to ensure the best for our bus passengers.  He has developed a lot of local knowledge and uses his own buses to get to work, and regularly drives them too.  In the office, Richard will always try to see the perspective of those who work for him in a variety of roles - and can often help having covered those roles himself while building up his vast experience of what it takes to deliver excellence in bus operations.

Richard Tyldsley

I am General Manager for Go South Coast companies Bluestar, Southern Vectis and Unilink and my role is to oversee operational and commercial performance.  I have been managing bus operations for the past eleven-years, with a further 3-years before that in bus driving and operational supervisory roles.  My passions in the business are excellent customer service and having a real understanding of the work my employees do on a day-to-day basis.  I enjoy engaging with the stakeholders of my businesses and am always keen to work in partnership to achieve our joint goals.