Welcome to the July edition of Surbon Signal (Read time: 4 mins). This month: why climate adaptation — shade, cooling, keeping the service running at 38°C — is quietly becoming a tender requirement, plus interesting reading and what's coming up. 1) No ribbon-cuttings for shade Climate adaptation measures do not get ribbon cuttings or shiny new electric fleets. But after this summer—and with climate risk now explicitly written into ISO standards and creeping into tenders—it’s the half of the...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Oslo Tram Welcome to the latest edition of Surbon Signal covering sustainability in bids, further reading and upcoming events. 1) How to include sustainability in tenders effectively Sustainability in tenders has gone from the paragraph nobody scored to a criterion that can decide who wins. Here’s what makes it work — and what just makes noise. When I started out in sustainability, it was politely (and not so politely) dismissed as “green nonsense or “green shit.” Back in 2012 it barely...
3 months ago • 3 min read
1) The AI question your bid team can’t avoid much longer Procurement law doesn't ban AI in bids. It expects you to know what you're doing with it. Here's where the rules sit, where they're heading, and what I'm actually finding useful. Every bid I've worked on this year has had the same conversation in some form. Sometimes in the kick-off, sometimes a quiet aside from a reviewer, sometimes a panicked Friday-afternoon message: are we using AI on this bid, and if we are, what do we say about...
4 months ago • 6 min read
Welcome to the April edition of Surbon Signal (read time: 5 mins). This month, reflections from the first UIC Passenger Week in Paris, a round-up of useful reading, and what's coming up. As promised last week, a few reflections — this time from UIC Passenger Week, the first edition of what UIC hopes will become a regular fixture in the international rail calendar. The final numbers were a useful signal in themselves: over 200 participants from 35 countries and 93 companies UIC, which speaks...
5 months ago • 5 min read
Image courtesy of Nano Banana hence the personalised signage Welcome to the March edition of Surbon Signal (Read time: 4 mins). This month, we're sharing a short snapshot from the Passenger Terminal Expo, interesting links and upcoming events. Airports and public transport Last week I attended the Passenger Terminal Expo at ExCeL London in Docklands. It was my second time at this event. PTE brings together airport operators, terminal designers, commercial teams and technology providers from...
6 months ago • 4 min read
If January felt like a warm-up, February has made it clear that 2026 is not hanging around. The pace has picked up considerably and from conversations across the sector, it seems many of you are experiencing the same. What is striking about early 2026 is the number of moving parts. Procurement cycles are tightening, sustainability commitments are being tested against delivery, and the global economic (and political!) backdrop is creating both pressure and opportunity. One of the things I like...
7 months ago • 3 min read
Welcome to the January edition of Surbon Signal. This month, I'm sharing a short overview from the World Future Energy Summit (WFES), with a particular focus on the circular economy, which emerged as a key discussion theme. 1. Circular Economy at WFES – From Strategy to Execution Having first attended WFES in 2018, it was striking to see how far sustainability has progressed. This year, the circular economy felt like it had firmly moved from strategy into execution. The phrase itself is...
8 months ago • 3 min read
At this time of year, it’s hard to avoid end-of-year summaries. From Spotify and Accor to LinkedIn, many of us are being presented with statistics telling us what we listened to, where we travelled and how our networks grew. In this edition, I focus on three sustainability and social value trends shaping public transport procurement, alongside practical recommendations for action. With 2026 now only four years from 2030, a milestone year for a range of government commitments, including...
9 months ago • 2 min read
Welcome to the November edition of the Surbon Signal. This month, I am covering Transport-Oriented Development (TOD) which has been the subject of some recent presentations, share a curated mobility reading list, and highlight upcoming events. 1. Transport-Oriented Development: What It Is, What Good Looks Like, and Three Practical Steps to Embed It Transport-Oriented Development (TOD), or Transit-Oriented Development in North America, is emerging as a central organising principle for future...
10 months ago • 3 min read