Content area
Full Text
After setting up automotive design studio Capoco in the 1970s, Alan Ponsford found his niche in bus design. Three decades later, demand for his experience is greater than ever. John Stones catches up with a seasoned veteran
Take a bus in the UK and chances are it was designed by Capoco Design, the specialist consultancy led by Alan Ponsford. Since starting Capoco on a shoe string in 1977, Ponsford has quietly carried on designing and engineering buses. Bestsellers, such as the Dennis Dart, means that Capoco is responsible for almost two-thirds of the buses in the UK, and buses designed by his Wiltshire-based consultancy are trundling the streets in 17 countries around the world.
While vehicle design and manufacture - be it cars, trucks or trains - has all drifted away from the UK, bus design has remained in this country, largely due to Ponsford and his small team of five full-time staff (and a stable of ten or so experienced contractors). It's a niche, he volunteers, that's 'not particularly glamorous'. But, in the past few years, public transport has soared up...