Community
Approach
Our rail and bus services have a key role to play in the communities they serve, taking people to work and other destinations. Providing successful bus and rail services is good for the community as public transport helps to tackle social exclusion.
Our staff interacts daily with our passengers and other stakeholders:
- We work closely with local authorities to deliver improvements to our services, and
- We actively support community partnerships to improve the neighbourhoods we serve.
Our companies have continued to support charities and community groups, with over £250,000 spent in support of a wide range of local initiatives. They include:
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Metrobus and Go North East working with local schools to improve pupil behaviour. The 'It’s Your Choice' workshops in Newcastle aim to tackle anti-social behaviour by encouraging children to perform a play on the subject.
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Plymouth Citybus’‘Dennis Dart’ project gives primary school children opportunities to explore a bus in their own school playground and make bus travel both fun and safe.
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Brighton and Hove
celebrated its 75th anniversary with a bus rally in the heart of Brighton. The rally was attended by people from all over the city and money raised from the sale of souvenirs marking the anniversary was donated to the Martlets Hospice and Argus Appeal;
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Go-Ahead London helped evacuate local residents following two fires, transporting one group to a local leisure centre and, on the second occasion, making residents feel welcome in the company’s Camberwell depot canteen;
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Oxford Bus has worked with the Oxford Preservation Trust on Open Doors, Open Minds; a scheme which offers a behind the scenes glance at some of Oxford’s lesser known places. The company has strengthened its ties with the Ashmolean museum, supporting its successful relaunch and new gallery openings by providing complementary advertising space with a value of £19,300;
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Go South Coast’s three businesses – Wilts and Dorset, Southern Vectis and Bluestar – all support local charities; Southern Vectis provides free buses for the Walk the Wight event which raises funds for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice;
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Southeastern’s chosen charity this year is Help for Heroes, the charity for soldiers wounded in Britain’s current conflicts;
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Southern’s new Station Partnership Scheme got underway and resulted in some novel new methods of community engagement, including a converted milk float being used as a fruit and vegetable stall at one South London station; and
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London Midland has supported the Chernobyl Children Lifeline providing free rail travel for ten children from Belarus staying with families in Worcestershire.