OXFORD BUS COMPANY LAUNCH BRAND THE BUS COMPETITION WINNING DOUBLE-DECKER

The Oxford Bus company have launched the latest edition to its eye-catching fleet of buses backing good-causes, with the winner of the Brand the Bus competition.

A double-decker bus has been transformed into the bright GirlGuiding Oxfordshire colours to brighten up Oxford’s streets and help raise awareness of another good cause. The GirlGuiding Oxfordshire bus will be used across various City services, to help spread the message as widely as possible. Oxford Bus Company has previously backed Oxford Pride and Oxfordshire Prostate Cancer Support Group with new liveries for buses.

GirlGuiding Oxfordshire scooped Oxford Bus Company’s hotly contested Brand the Bus Competition to win the unique opportunity to have a bus decked out in its own branding. It was selected by a judging panel from a top ten group of good causes which had earned the most public votes from 37 original entries. GirlGuiding Oxfordshire worked with Oxford Bus Company to design the dazzling bus wrap.

Phil Southall, Oxford Bus Company Managing Director, said: “The bus looks fantastic and we’re proud to support such a worthwhile good cause in our community. GirlGuiding Oxfordshire share similar values to Oxford Bus Company and we’re delighted to help spread its message around the county.”

Angela Peel, County Commissioner of GirlGuiding Oxfordshire, said: “We’re so grateful to Oxford Bus Company for this amazing opportunity to raise the profile of Girlguiding in Oxfordshire, and we can't wait for people to see the wonderful bus design.”

Ros Letellier, who submitted the entry for Girlguiding Oxfordshire said: “Girlguiding offers all girls aged 5 to 18 a safe environment to learn skills, make friends and have fun. We pride ourselves on offering our members 'mountain top moments' - those moments of accomplishment which they will remember forever - and seeing this bus come to fruition is one of those moments for us as leaders. We hope that the bus will encourage more girls to come and try Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers, and perhaps more adults to put themselves forward as volunteers.”

Helen & Douglas House, Sobell House and Chron’s and Colitis UK were highly commended by the judging panel, which included an external partner. Almost 6,000 members of the public voted for the good causes that entered and Oxford Bus Company announced it will run the competition annually. Following the overwhelming public response to the competition Oxford Bus Company have committed to making it a regular event.

Mr Southall added: “The Brand the Bus competition really highlighted the fact there are so many good causes in Oxfordshire. This coupled with the prenominal public response meant we’ve decided to make it an annual event to help more good causes raise their profile.”

The good causes that were voted into the Brand the Bus top ten were Helen & Douglas House, Chron’s and Colitis UK, Blue Skye Thinking, SeeSaw, Girlguiding Oxford, Maggie’s Oxford, Shine Cancer Support, Sobell House, OASIS and Cyclox.