Engaging with the community
We provide an essential service to the community and are in day-to-day contact with community members through the operation of our buses. We engage with the community on development of our services, as partners in promoting sustainable travel and as an employer. However our community involvement extends beyond these routine activities to encompass partnerships, charitable donations and sponsorships.
Community partnerships
A number of our bus operating companies have long-running anti-vandalism campaigns. Some involve local bus drivers with direct experience of vandalism on their buses talking to local school children. In Aberdeen and Glasgow our anti-vandalism buses tour local schools providing an educational resource for young people.
We sponsor sporting events and local football teams in a number of our operating companies. For example, First Football tournaments take place throughout the winter months. These are targeted specifically at Social Inclusion Partnership areas where vandalism and crime tend to be high. During the last year over 1,500 children benefited from First Football.
We also support a number of educational initiatives. In Bristol we have developed a teachers’ resource pack on sustainable travel which includes a competition to design a new form of sustainable transport. The prizes are two mountain bikes and £250 of craft materials. We have a long-term relationship with the Aberdeen Education Environmental Centre and in Portsmouth and Southampton we partner local sports clubs to establish community learning buses.
Patrolling the Glasgow NiteZone
In Glasgow we partner Glasgow City Council and Strathclyde Police in the NiteZone project, which aims to reduce antisocial behaviour in the city centre at night. We have assisted by putting bus stops at strategic locations close to popular nightspots and by providing frequent services. We also provide staff to police the area and encourage people to move to waiting buses. These staff are in direct contact with Strathclyde Police and the control room. The first project has run since 2005 and has helped lead to a drop in assaults of up to 30%. Due to its success the concept is now being extended to other parts of the city.
Working with young offenders to reduce vandalism
In Hampshire and Dorset we have teamed up with Wessex Youth Offending Team to work with young offenders producing a video and posters. The work is directed at reducing vandalism and antisocial behaviour on buses by helping young people to understand the impacts of such behaviour.
They visit a First depot and speak to staff responsible for repairing damage and cleaning the vehicles.
The posters can be seen on First buses in Southampton.
First Factor Schools Challenge
We worked with the Determined to Succeed team at Aberdeen City Council to develop the schools’ project, First Factor Challenge. Pupils were asked to write, perform and record a rap song on key bus issues such as bus vandalism, good bus behaviour and concern for the environment.
This year’s winner was a 60-strong team from Hazlehead Primary who won a recording session at a local studio.
The team’s rap was also played on the local radio station.
Volunteering
Volunteering is a key element in our community programme. Through our relationship with Business in the Community we operate an ongoing programme of community challenges as part of our supervisory training NVQ, First into Management. The programme involves participants in community projects to put their training into action.
Charitable giving
Many of our employees are involved in events to raise funds for charity. We give our employees opportunities throughout the year to take part in fundraising activities either through our local operating companies or through national partnership with Save the Children.
We also support many charities in kind by providing free travel and buses. Through our membership of the London Benchmarking Group we are developing systems that will allow us to quantify these contributions in the future.