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Invercargill city councillor, broadcaster, and public transport enthusiast Marcus Lush took his 35,000 Twitter followers on a tour of Dunedin, yesterday, by bus.
Wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan ‘‘Eat, Pray, Bus’’ and touting the same as a hashtag on the social media site, Cr Lush posted photos of route maps, landmarks, and myriad other scenes throughout the day.
His first bus in Andersons Bay Rd was supposed to arrive at 6.06am, but it was late.
‘‘It’s here — driver is a fill-in — other driver didn’t show #eatpraybus,’’ he wrote shortly afterwards.
Cr Lush said he hoped one day to ride every bus in New Zealand.
But because of Auckland’s size, he would save Auckland Transport for last.
He had been on every bus in Invercargill already, ‘‘nearly knocked off’’ Christchurch, and knocking off Dunedin was ‘‘something to do’’ on the last day of a holiday, he said.
He was passionate about public transport and there were more and more like him these days.
‘‘I think it’s about time people celebrated it (public transport), and took pride in it, and talked about it more,’’ Cr Lush said. ‘‘It’s obviously the way it’s going to go, we’re all being steered towards it, and that’s fine.
‘‘Let’s get on board with it and think, ‘Let’s give it a go.’
‘‘I truly believe in it.
‘‘There’s no shame in buses anymore; we’re saving the planet.’’
Cr Lush said he was impressed by Dunedin’s city-wide service, but he reserved his highest praise for the ‘‘visionary’’ bus hub in Great King St.
‘‘That interchange — I think it’s just fantastic.’’
‘‘I don’t know if there’s one in the country that’s as good.
‘‘I think that as we pivot more towards public transport and we celebrate it more it’s going to be the place to be.’’