Community Projects Signal Success for First in Aberdeen

ABERDEEN bus operator First landed a glittering prize for it’s community work at the Scottish Transport Awards last night.

The company lifted the award for Best Transport Team/Partnership of the Year for a whole raft of community initiatives involving Granite City groups.

The event, now in its fifth year, brings together transport operators from across Scotland to celebrate industry achievements and excellence. The awards ceremony took place in Glasgow’s Hilton Hotel.

First in Aberdeen’s Managing Director George Mair said: “We are thrilled to have won this particular award and it is fantastic for the whole team in Aberdeen to be rewarded for the excellent and hard work that they have put into many community initiatives.

“It’s a great feeling to be bringing the silverware home to Aberdeen yet again and will be a real boost, not just to First, but also to all those people involved in the many partnerships with schools, environmental groups, the emergency services and others with whom we work throughout the year.”

First in Aberdeen has become well known in the industry for its pioneering work to tackle vandalism and to educate youngsters about the importance of looking after their buses and on the environmental benefits of bus travel.

Initiatives include:-

• First Football – Now going into its fourth year, First Aberdeen provides transport free of charge for a 14 week football tournament, supporting marketing materials and trophies. More than 1000 youngsters have taken part and during the scheme, Grampian Police have reported a significant decline in the numbers of youth related incidents occurring. First Aberdeen provides transport free of charge for all participating teams to and from the venue for the 14 week scheme. The 2008 tournament kicks off on January 12.
• First Aberdeen has worked closely on a number of school projects with Allan Paterson and his team at the AEEC - Aberdeen Environmental Education Centre. These projects include the Good Bus Users Guide - where primary school children were asked to develop a booklet on how to use and behave on the buses. In another project - Poems on the Bus - we invited primary school children to express their knowledge and feelings about the environment through compositions of poetry and drawings. Many poems were displayed across the fleet in Aberdeen and a booklet produced containing a selection of poems and drawings.
• Grampian Safe Team - the emergency services hold a special fortnight annually to demonstrate to young people how to stay safe from fire, electrocution, accidents on the street and how to behave on buses. For many years First Aberdeen has transported all the participating school children to the event free of charge. The Company has also taken a 'set' at the event where we have specifically focused on bus vandalism and its consequences.
• Bus Vandalism Talks are now in their third year.  Staff from First, often in partnership with Grampian Police, deliver a presentation to S1/2 pupils in most of Aberdeen’s secondary schools focusing on the effects of bus vandalism.  
• First Class is an anti-vandalism bus project launched May 2006.  A bus has been completely transformed at a cost of £35,000. Inside it has four computers on the lower deck featuring a dedicated computer game on board that teaches children about bus vandalism. On the upper deck is a mini cinema – complete with a 42inch plasma screen. Used as a mobile classroom, First uses the bus to deliver presentations on vandalism, but it is also available free of charge for use by schools and community groups.
• The First Factor Challenge was a scheme in which we worked with Aberdeen City Council's Determined to Succeed team in their educational curriculum support unit. The First Factor Challenge invited primary and secondary pupils to write and perform a rap song based on a number of key criteria. A concert was held and the overall winning team went on to record their rap on CD and hear it played on Northsound Two radio station.

 The annual Scottish Transport Awards is supported by the Scottish Executive, Scottish Transport Studies Group, Transport Scotland and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

 The event was hugely successful for FirstGroup with First ScotRail named ‘Public Transport Operator of the Year’ and one of its employees named Transport Employee of the Year.