Press releases
Step forward the Arriva bus driver idol 2004
19 April 2004
Following a search across the UK, the first ever Arriva Bus Driver Idol has finally been chosen.
Keith Henderson has been selected from over 200 votes from appreciative passengers who called the Bus Driver Idol hotline earlier this month. Keith, who is based at the Ashington depot, was voted for many reasons, including his 'helpful and generous manner, for being 'pleasant and polite' and for always having a smile to greet passengers. There were also a considerable number of nominations for many other bus drivers across the North East.
Bus Driver Idol was commissioned following the results from recent independent research undertaken by NOP. From a survey of over 15,000 respondents, 91 per cent of those questioned rated the bus driver highly when scoring the various factors affecting the enjoyment of their journey.
Steve Noble, managing director of Arriva North East/Northumbria said:
Bus drivers are obviously an integral part of our business, and our search for the Bus Driver Idol is spurred on by the results from the NOP survey. Looking at the number of votes we've received on our dedicated hotline, Bus Driver Idol has been extremely successful, and proves just how popular our drivers are with our customers.
We'd like to congratulate Keith on winning this national contest and also to thank our customers who voted for all of our drivers across the North East.
To help people make more of their local bus services, including finding their own Bus Driver Idol, timetable information and discount vouchers are being delivered to households throughout the region. These door drops form part of Arriva's 'Going your way' campaign. They will provide specific information about local bus routes, including times of first and last buses, how often they run through the day, how to get to key destinations and details of bargain, multi-journey tickets.
Note to editors
Arriva's award-winning 'Going your way' campaign aims to encourage people to review the journeys they make, considering whether more could be better made by bus.
