Lothian Bus Geeks – Talking Buses – The Railway Man – Fundraising for Maggie’s – Edinburgh’s Hogmanay
Today two guys Chris and Neil tweeting as @LothianBusGeek are trying to ride every Lothian Buses service in Edinburgh to raise money for local charity It’s Good 2 Give. It did not start off that way. They only started up their fundraising page when a friend suggested it. Then Lynne McNicoll the charity founder tweeted to them to say that she hoped they would get on her bus (It’s Good 2 Give is Lothian Buses’ charity of the year and they have a bus embellished with photos and the charity message) and they decided to do the fund raising for It’s Good 2 Give. This fits very well with the charity’s own challenge this year to get small teams to raise £1000 each.
Help get the @LothianBusGeek boys more followers as they start their adventure riding all of @on_lothianbuses tmw! ‘our’ bus too I hope!
— Lynne McNicoll (@itsgood2give) January 8, 2014
The pair have been on the buses all day and expect to continue till just after midnight when they might have completed their goal….or not. The drama is amazing. Follow on Twitter using the hashtag #edinbusgeek….
Lynne McNicoll told The Edinburgh Reporter this afternoon:-“I am stunned at the fundraising that @lothianbusgeeks have generated from their bus adventure today which is ongoing – yesterday they hadn’t heard of It’s Good 2 Give and tonight their fundraising total is over £850. It has been fun watching them on Twitter and we really are so grateful to them for choosing to fundraise for us. This has been social media fundraising at its best!”
Here are just a couple of examples of their tweets….
Considering how well this has gone for @itsgoodtogive, we hope you’ll agree it’s right to continue.
— Chris and Neil (@LothianBusGeek) January 9, 2014
Overwhelmed by your positive tweets telling us to keep going. Two hungry, tired and sweaty blokes are feeling pretty good on the 29!
— Chris and Neil (@LothianBusGeek) January 9, 2014
One of us had never tweeted until yesterday. What fun! #edinburghbusgeek
— Chris and Neil (@LothianBusGeek) January 9, 2014
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Speaking in a debate in the UK Parliament on access to transport for disabled people, Mark Lazarowicz MP strongly backed the Talking Buses campaign for next stop audio-visual announcements, praising the lead taken by Lothian Buses here in Edinburgh.
Mark said:-“Audio-visual announcements are a vital tool to help visually and hearing impaired passengers to be more independent when using public transport but many UK bus operators have failed to introduce them.
“I congratulate Lothian Buses on the initiative they have shown in equipping many of their buses with audio-visual announcements – 54 vehicles so far and another 20 to come in the summer.
“A missed stop can affect somebody’s confidence and even endanger their safety where they are completely unfamiliar with an area. Audio-visual announcements are also appreciated by other passengers, particularly by tourists and visitors.
“Yet the UK Government refuses to make them mandatory – disabled people should have a right to expect the Government to set standards not leave them with a postcode lottery.”
Mark has strongly supported the campaign by Guide Dogs to make talking buses mandatory. UK legislation currently leaves it entirely up to bus operators and local authorities.
Edinburgh has also provides a good example when it comes to wheelchair access to buses with 100% of Lothian Buses and in future trams accessible for wheelchairs even though there can still be difficulties of course for passengers in wheelchairs if cars are parked in the wrong place for example.
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The Railway Man opens tomorrow at The Filmhouse and other cinemas across the city. The film was partly filmed at the Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway. The true story of Eric Lomax, a former POW who worked on the Death Railway and starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman is bound to be a crowd puller.
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If you are all for planning ahead then here is an idea for you. You can book tickets now for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay 2014/15… without even knowing who is headlining or what is happening!
Booking details here.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
