Yellows in retail therapy

Mandy Payne (front) with Fiona Harwood immediately behind and bus passengers.

Yellow Buses to provide transport to bring retailers and IT gurus together in a ‘digital meets retail’ day. Pictured: Mandy Payne (front) with Fiona Harwood immediately behind and bus passengers.

Yellow Buses provided transport on Poole’s digital super-highway to bring retailers and IT gurus together in a ‘Digital meets Retail’ day.

Mandy Payne, Borough of Poole’s Economic Development Officer, realised that shopkeepers rarely had time to visit IT experts.

So she asked if Yellow Buses could provide free transport for a day so that the experts could visit the retailers.

A full timetable was developed and a bus with WiFi and USB charging points delivered the digital business people.

Mandy said: “We became aware that retailers really wanted support in cyber security, on social media, setting up e-shops and various other IT issues.

“But because of the nature of the work – particularly with sole traders – it was difficult  for them to get out and meet the people who could help.

“So we decided to take the digital experts to the retailers and asked Yellow Buses if they could help.

“And they provided us with a bus and a timetable and it enabled us to put businesses together.

“It was a hugely successful day for both the digital experts and the retailers.

“In Poole we have a wealth of expertise in the creative sector and these people love to use different spaces and they enjoyed the day.”

Fiona Harwood from the Yellows said: “We were pleased to offer a bus and a driver for the day.

“We always try and support local businesses and initiatives and this was a great idea and there was a lot of interest.

“The bus was busy through the day and we hope that the creatives who used it will become regular passengers.

“We have WiFi on the buses and charging points and it allows people to work while they travel.”

 

 

 

Note to Editors:

For more information, please contact: Andrew Diprose, Director, Deep South Media Ltd, PR consultants to Yellow Buses, on 01202 534487. Or Ed Baker on 01202 534487 or 07788392965.

About Yellow Buses:

Yellow Buses operates a fleet of 137 buses and 18 coaches with a staff of 450. It carries more than 15m passengers a year with its vehicles operating nearly five million miles across the Bournemouth, Poole, Christchurch and East Dorset area. The Yellows are part of RATP Group, the world’s fifth largest public transport provider. www.bybus.co.uk

 

About RATP Dev:

RATP Dev is the RATP Group subsidiary established in 2002 to export the group’s operation and maintenance know-how outside the historic network operated by RATP in the Paris region. RATP Dev now operates in 14 countries on four continents (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the USA, Brazil, India, China, South Korea and the Philippines). In 2015, RATP Dev is scheduled to generate revenue exceeding €1 billion.

About RATP Group:

With nearly 14 million daily passengers worldwide, RATP Group is the fifth largest urban transport operator in the world. With its 14 metro lines (including two driverless lines), two regional express rail lines, seven tramway lines and 350 bus lines, the multimodal network operated by RATP in the Paris region is the largest in the world to be managed by a single company.

RATP Group can devise, design and implement infrastructure development projects, operate and maintain networks irrespective of the mode of transport (metro, regional train, tramway and bus) and develop innovative services to promote mobility (including passenger information, remote ticketing, pricing and customer marketing). The automation of Paris metro line 1, which was completed at the end of 2012 as a world first, once again demonstrated the ability of RATP Group to implement particularly complex projects.

RATP Group exports its know-how all over the world; in engineering through Systra, its subsidiary jointly owned with SNCF, in operations and maintenance via its RATP Dev subsidiary and in innovative services to promote mobility through its IXXI subsidiary.

RATP Group has a workforce of nearly 60,000 employees worldwide and in 2013 generated revenue of €5.14 billion.