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A £270,000 campaign to show buses as the viable alternative to the private car should hit all the right notes when some of the region’s most promising performers stepped aboard for a concert with a difference. Musicians from the Newcastle University Jazz Orchestra swapped the concert hall for an open-top double decker to promote wider bus use across the North East to officially launch the brand new A-Z by Bus campaign. The event has been organised to kick start a six-week multi-media marketing campaign to boost the use of buses throughout the North East. Eighty per cent of public transport journeys are made by the bus and the partners behind the scheme are keen to highlight their benefits in terms of tackling congestion and easing pollution in city and town centres. Getting from A-Z by bus couldn’t be easier, they say. And, for the first time nationally, a whole region has teamed up to extol the virtues of the bus backed up by, among other tactics, a TV campaign which includes a voice over from League of Gentlemen star Steve Pemberton. And the main aim is to change some people’s outdated perception of buses and bus travel. To highlight the launch the band gave a performance of popular tunes as the bus travelled through the streets of Newcastle and Middlesbrough. On board were experts from the three largest bus operators Arriva, Go North East and Stagecoach as well as local politicians endorsing the scheme. Partners in the project are Arriva, Go North East, Nexus and Stagecoach. They are joined by Durham County Council, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Darlington Borough Council, Stockton on Tees Borough Council, Middlesbrough Borough Council, Northumberland County Council and Hartlepool Borough Council who have all contributed financially to the scheme.
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