Charity bus plots path to hospital door

By ANGELA GREGORY

A brightly coloured charity bus will soon roam Auckland roads to raise money for the Starship Children's Hospital.

The decorative Stagecoach bus will follow established routes from different depots around the Auckland region, with passenger fares diverted to Starship fundraising appeals.

The three-year scheme is expected to raise more than $65,000 annually.

The money will benefit the Starship Heart Unit, due to open next year.

Stagecoach Auckland will also pay a core sponsorship fee which this year will buy a ventilator for Starship's paediatric intensive care unit.

Critically ill children often need a ventilator to support their breathing during complex treatment.

The Scottish-based chairman of Stagecoach Group, Brian Souter, yesterday launched the sponsorship deal in the hospital atrium.

The 48-year-old entrepreneur established the Stagecoach bus company in 1980 with his sister, Ann Gloag, using their father's redundancy payment.

The company initially had two buses but grew to become one of the world's largest public transport companies, with interests in New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, North America and Britain.

Mr Souter is reported to be the most generous charitable donor in the Sunday Times British-based Rich List.

Auckland City Council transport committee chairman Greg McKeown has meanwhile called for a different sort of health bus.

Mr McKeown wants to see clean, environmentally friendly buses in the city with no diesel fumes.

A new tender for bus services in the central business district was soon to be let by the Auckland Regional Council, he said.

Mr McKeown said the time was right to vastly improve the quality of buses running around the city.

"We are well behind the play compared to Christchurch, which has a number of low-emission hybrid electric buses," he said

"These are the buses of the future."

nzherald.co.nz/hospitals