'Mr Yellow Buses' emblazoned on new bus
A PENSIONER dubbed ‘Mr Transdev Yellow Buses’ has had an image of himself emblazoned on the side of a bus as a ‘thank you’ for being a loyal passenger.
Rarely a week goes by without a letter from Harry Payne arriving at TYB’s Bournemouth head office with his observations, mostly complimentary, on the company’s services.
So regular are his letters that in 2006 bus chiefs presented Mr Payne with a typewriter after they had difficulty deciphering some of his missives. They also named him ‘Mr Transdev Yellow Buses.’
Now the 88-year-old has joined ten other ‘real-life’ passengers by being featured on the livery of TYB’s new £1.3 million luxury fleet of Optare Versas.
The 11 buses, complete with leather seats and wood effect floors, were launched in October and run on
service 1 between Somerford
and Bournemouth.
“Absolutely brilliant. This is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me,” said Mr Payne as he saw his larger-than-life bus image for the first time.
TYB decided to use ‘real’ people, instead of models, on side and rear panels of the new fleet in order to emphasis the theme ‘My Bus, My Town, My Choice.’ Many were chosen in the first instance from the company’s Passenger Forum.
Jenni Wilkinson, Head of Marketing, said “Each of the passengers used have been allocated their own bus. It’s fair to say that they are thrilled with the results.”
Apart from Mr Payne others featured on the new liveries include mother and daughter pair, Caron and Vicky Rogers.
Mrs Rogers: “It’s a great idea and has been a huge amount of fun to take part in.
“We’re getting lots of jokes about having faces suitable for the back, and side, of buses which, for once, really is the case here.”
Picture captions: Photo 1: Absolutely brilliant: Harry Payne, 88, gets up close with his image on one of the new Versa fleet.
Photo 2 and Photo 3: Great idea: Caron and Vicky Rogers see their larger than life bus images for the first time.
Uploaded 14th October 2008
