Your ticket to ride at Lothian Buses’ doors open day

Lothian Buses is set to reveal the industry secrets and impressive history behind the award-winning company as it opens its doors to the public once again on Saturday 22 September as part of the Cockburn Association’s Doors Open Day.

As part of the 2012 event, the new £1m Control Room will also be unveiled to lucky competition winners who will receive an exclusive tour of the state of the art room containing access to more than 220 CCTV cameras in the city, as well as the team who keep Edinburgh’s bus service running.

Building on the success of the 2011 event that attracted 2,000 visitors, Lothian Buses’ have made this year’s event even bigger and are expecting crowds of over 2,500. New for this year, the event will have the engineers on hand to explain how they maintain the company vehicles, there will be a bus recovery demonstration, the Scottish Cup Parade bus will be on display and the kids zone will feature a play bus. Lothian Buses RIDACARD Ambassador Grant Stott will also be there to welcome guests.

New developments will sit alongside favourites from previous years: a line up of Edinburgh buses old and new, a training bus for children to enjoy, tours of the depot on open-top buses, trips through the giant bus wash and the chance to meet Lothian Buses’ dedicated staff.

Dr Steve Johnson, event organiser, said: “The Cockburn Association’s Doors Open Day is a great opportunity for us to welcome the general public along and to learn more about what we do. The event will be great fun for all the family, especially those who get a chance to see inside our new Control Room. We are delighted to be able to open its doors for the first time as part of this year’s Doors Open Day.

“Favourite activities from last year will be available including the tour of Central Depot on a tour bus, a chance to try our brake simulator in action and of course, we have our annual colouring competition to design your very own livery for the chance to win a Family Tour ticket onboard one of the Tour Buses.”

Doors Open Days run throughout September across Scotland, giving millions of people free access to locations normally kept under lock and key. Lothian Buses was one of the first of the 500 plus Scottish buildings to sign up for the 2012 event.

Central Depot will be open from 11.45am until 16.00 on Saturday 22 September only. Depot tours will run regularly throughout the day using open top double-decker buses.

For details of how you can be in with a chance to enjoy a tour of the Control Room, and for more information on the event, please visit: www.lothianbuses.com/news/2-general-news/1215-doors-open-day-2012.html