Markets and strategy

The vision of DB Arriva is to become Europe’s mobility part­­ner of choice. This is underpinned by four strategy pillars; a strong foundation, delivering growth through tenders and M&A, the best employees and being the preferred choice for customers.

• Economic dimension: Sustained profitable growth is only possible if we provide high-quality services that our customers can afford and that they enjoy using. To achieve this, we are continuously investing in new vehicles, developing new mobility solutions to complement traditional passenger transport modes, and improving our passenger information systems. Profitable growth is the basis for guaranteeing a stable and sustainably successful business. We achieve this primarily by taking part in tenders for transport contracts and through acquisitions.
  • In the UK Bus business we aim to optimize existing business and expand the services offered to customers. For example, we expanded our on-demand minibus service – ArrivaClick. With a focus on making travel by bus more convenient for passengers, UK Bus made an investment to introduce contactless payment on its buses.
  • In the case of UK Trains, the Night Overground service operated by Arriva Rail London (ARL), on behalf of Transport for London (TfL), has been successfully helping to keep London moving 24/7. This project also saw ARL shortlisted for the Outstanding Teamwork Award at the National Rail Awards 2018.
  • In Mainland Europe, we are also growing through retained and new transport contracts.
• Social dimension: Engaged employees are an essential component of our success. Our attractiveness as an employer enables us to recruit and retain talented em­­ployees. As part of this commitment, we launched our new People Solution, which consists of Workday and Avature – two leading people management systems that will deliver greater simplicity, efficiency and visibility of our people processes across the DB Arriva businesses. The new People Solution went live in Great Britain during the year under review, and will be rolled out across Europe during 2019.
• Environmental dimension: The journey of DB Arriva to Destination Green is an integral part of our corporate culture. Central to this is reducing fuel consumption, improving air quality and reducing carbon emissions. As part of our Destination Green strategy, DB Arriva signed a contract with SSE Business Energy  to switch supply of electricity of nearly all of its UKsites to 100% renewable energy sources.