Challenger Cities EP68: The Bus Deserves Better with Ray Stenning

What if the problem with buses isn’t frequency, funding or technology ... but attitude?

In this episode, we're in person with Ray Stenning, founder of Best Impressions and arguably the most prolific bus livery designer in the world. For more than 40 years, Ray has been quietly reshaping how buses look, feel and function across the UK — from iconic interurban routes like the X43 and the 36 to countless urban fleets most people ride without ever knowing who shaped them.

But this isn’t a conversation about paint schemes.

It’s a conversation about dignity.

Ray argues that every rattling panel, every hard plastic bench, every grey-on-grey interior sends a message about who the passenger is assumed to be. When we design buses like cattle trucks, people behave accordingly. When we design them like shared public rooms, behaviour shifts.

We explore:

• Why anxiety — not speed — is the real barrier to bus use
• The psychology of reassurance in public transport
• How small design details change passenger behaviour
• Why manufacturers optimise spreadsheets instead of humans
• The hidden importance of noise, seat spacing and eye-lines
• Why drivers are always “on stage”
• The missed opportunity of electric buses that still feel like diesel punishment
• And why a bus is closer to a café than a car

Ray makes a simple but uncomfortable point: buses have been treated as the lowest common denominator because the people who use them are assumed to be the lowest common denominator.

If we want more people on public transport, we don’t just need better timetables. We need better environments. Better hospitality. Better ambition.

Because public transport isn’t just about moving bodies. It’s about how we choose to treat one another in shared space.