Roy Wicks Receives Top Honours From the Queen

  • Roy Wicks, former Director General of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), received his OBE yesterday from the Queen.
     
    Roy, who retired from SYPTE in March, travelled to Buckingham Place with his family to receive the honour.  It was awarded to him for his services to public transport.
     
    Roy said: “It was an amazing experience to meet the Queen and be presented with an OBE, it is something I will never forget.  There was lots of people who received awards at the same time for some fantastic things and it was a privilege to share the honour with them." 
     
    Speaking about the achievement David Brown the new Director General of South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE), said: "This is a great honour and as an organisation we are delighted that Roy's achievements have been recognised at this level."
     
    Roy worked in the public sector for 40 years and over the last decade transformed SYPTE into a dynamic, innovative, forward thinking organisation.
     
    Some of the projects SYPTE has achieved under Roy’s leadership include: 
  • Improving public transport infrastructure through projects such as the refurbishment of the award winning Sheffield Station, the opening of the state-of-the-art Barnsley Interchange – one of the most modern interchanges in the country - and the opening of Doncaster Frenchgate Interchange – the first public transport PFI-financed project in the UK. 
  • Developing the public transport network by proactively looking at innovative ways to improve bus services, many of which have not been tried or tested by any other PTA or Council in the UK. These include Voluntary Partnerships, Statutory Quality Partnerships and Quality Contracts.   
  • Making public transport easier to understand and use through the introduction of Travel South Yorkshire.
  • Delivering Customer Services through the introduction of the Transport Academy, which offers all public transport workers access to a wide range of training, both vocational and leisure based.  Also, through the development of a public transport educational programme which is delivered in both secondary and junior schools. This programme has been used as best practice in other areas of the country.
  • Providing efficient and attractive ticketing through the introduction of a range of integrated TravelMaster tickets which can be used on buses, trains and trams and the introduction next year of the Yorcard smartcard ticket
  • Improving South Yorkshire’s tram and rail network.