Hampshire Now - your County Council magazine

Celebrate World Book Day with Eclipse Bus Rapid Transit

Monday, 04 March 2013

Inspired by World Book Day (7 March) Hampshire County Council and bus operator First are encouraging passengers on the Eclipse Bus Rapid Transit service to read while they travel.

In tune with the World Book Day ethos - to get those who are not avid readers to 'try reading' and to inspire regular readers to 'try reading something new' - First is offering Eclipse passengers the chance to win one of five Amazon Kindle Fires or one of 40 Amazon book vouchers simply by travelling on the bus.

To enter the competition, Eclipse customers just need to keep the ticket they receive for travelling on 7 March (World Book Day) and then, the following day, log onto the Eclipse website and type in the code that they will find on their bus ticket. Then five lucky winners and 40 runners up will be chosen at random from all those who travelled - each receiving a prize. All the information, together with the terms and conditions will be posted online on the same web page.

Season ticket holders will also be able to enter the competition by emailing the details of their passes to sarah.wallbridge@firstgroup.com with the subject heading of 'Eclipse world book day'. Their details will then be added into the draw with the lucky winners picked from all the entries received.

Councillor Mel Kendal, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Environment and Transport, commented: "Travelling by bus, especially on a service that is frequent, reliable and by-passes traffic congestion, is a more relaxing way to travel and gives passengers the freedom to make better use of their travel time. I would strongly encourage those who have not tried the Eclipse service yet to do so on World Book Day and experience the benefits for themselves. Even those who would not consider themselves to be a bookworm might enjoy the chance to read a newspaper or magazine while they travel."

Talking about the prize draw, Marc Reddy, Regional Commercial and Business Growth Director for First in the South West and Wales says: "Travelling by bus is a great way to get about: it's great for the environment but more than that the time spent on the bus can be used for other activities too - making reading a book, surfing the internet or making telephone calls. Whether people use their journeys to read the local paper or a classic novel is up to them but the opportunity is there and we wanted to highlight this and help mark World Book Day by running this prize draw. Entering couldn't be easier: all you need to do is travel by bus on 7 March, keep the ticket, entering the details found on it, on the website the next day. From the entries received we'll pick five winners and they'll each get Kindles so that they are able to do even more reading on the bus in future."

Having free Wi-Fi on the buses means that people can use the opportunity to access internet services while they travel, including those for Hampshire libraries. Library members can reserve books online, renew books they are reading currently but need more time to finish and tap into a number of e-resources including e-books, newspapers and magazines and research and advice links.

The Eclipse Bus Rapid Transit service was launched in April 2012, when 14 specially designed Eclipse buses were put into service operating on Services E1 and E2 between Fareham and Gosport. The buses are fast, frequent and reliable and offer customers access to free on board Wi-Fi and individual leather seats. The buses also have wood effect flooring, on-board 'infotainment' screens - which offer real time bus information, local train and ferry departures - and both audible and visual 'next stop' bus announcements.

The Eclipse bus rapid transit service operates seven days a week with buses running every 7 - 8 minutes along combined sections of the route. The Eclipse BRT service also connects with rail and ferry links, as well as other bus services in the area, and also offer regular travel opportunities for those wishing to get to and from the thriving shopping areas in each town.

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