The current boss of Lothian Buses has been nominated to run the new integrated transport company for Edinburgh, Edinburgh Transport Holdings Ltd, which will be formed by amalgamating Edinburgh Trams and Lothian Buses as one entity.

The Managing Director of Lothian Buses, Sarah Boyd, will become Chief Executive of the new company from October 2025. Her salary (which will be set by the board) will be set without any bonus structure, but has not yet been disclosed. Lea Harrison, the managing director of Edinburgh Trams will be leaving his position, as he has already said he would for some time.

This has been the council’s intention for several years now, but the legal arrangements are now in place as amendments to articles of association have been progressed and also negotiations with trade unions have been conducted and agreed. The two separate companies will merge and with that it is expected that any inefficiencies from having two companies (and previously three when the over-arching company, Transport for Edinburgh, was still in existence) will be eliminated.

The Transport Convener, Cllr Stephen Jenkinson, explained that Lea Harrison will stay on until the companies are integrated and following a period of transition. Cllr Jenkinson said: “Lea will be absolutely key to making this a success going forward in the short term”.

The new arms length company will be chaired by Susan Deacon, CBE, current Chair of Lothian Buses. Ms Deacon is a former MSP and Minister, and who is also the lead non-executive director at the Scotland Office after an appointment announced in April 2025.

The Edinburgh Trams board will hold a final meeting in November 2025 and will then stand down and one single new board will oversee the new company.

Cllr Jenkinson, said that he has had “commitment from both bus and tram that they want this to benefit everybody going forward. This is a really positive move and has been many years in the making.” Earlier this year integrated ticketing was introduced to allow customers to use their contactless forms of payment to use tram or bus. This is just one of the things that the Transport Convener hopes will be easier to introduce in future.

Cllr Stephen Jenkinson said that Ms Boyd had “really turned Lothian around”. He said: “I am genuinely really pleased that Sarah is taking over this substantial role. Susan Deacon has been instrumental in getting this over the line from a corporate governance point of view, and it is really good to have that kind of continuity going forward.

“Once the boards have merged the companies will be brought much closer together and will work on that basis in the future, regarding marketing, HR and IT.”

The Transport Convener said it will probably take around two years for the integration process to be completed and that is where we will get “real benefits of efficiency, economy of scale and there will be two companies bus and tram working collaboratively”.

The nomination will be “rubber stamped” by councillors on the Transport Committee when it meets next week.

Lea Harrison Managing Director of Edinburgh Trams and Sarah Boyd of Lothian at the announcement of Tap on Tap Off

Sarah Boyd of Lothian with Lea Harrison Managing Director of Edinburgh Trams and Martha

Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.

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