BTA In Conversation: First Travel Solutions

BTA In Conversation: First Travel Solutions Ground transport rarely gets top billing in business travel conversations, but this episode might just change your mind. Host Clive Wratten sits down with Nic Ryder, Head of Business Development at First Travel Solutions (FTS), the specialist ground transport division of First Bus, for a conversation thatreveals just how much lives behind the scenes of "getting people to work." Nic pulls back the curtain on a business moving around 2 million passengers a year — from daily workforce transport for corporates in hard-to-reach locations, to theextraordinary logistics behind major events. Recorded as FTS delivers transport for the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Nic shares an inside look at coordinating athlete travel across the first fully-integratedPara and able-bodied games, backed by decades of major-event experience dating back to London 2012. Along the way, Clive and Nic dig into the numbers that matter: a 29% reduction in staff turnover linked to workforce transport benefits, the growing role of EV fleets and green infrastructure, and where technology — from real-time driver apps to rail-replacement data integration — is finally starting to catch up with the industry's ambitions. It's a candid, energetic conversation about partnership, untapped opportunity, and why TMCs should be paying a lot more attention to what happens after the train stops running. 🎧 Listen now to discover why ground transport might be business travel's most underrated opportunity.