A yellow, rainbow-emblazoned bus had pride of place at Wearside’s LGBT festival and march, as Go North East (GNE) showed its support for the annual event.
GNE is “committed to championing diversity in the communities it serves” and has recently invested £2m in upgrading its fleet, including the Sunderland Pride bus.
It is one of 64 to undergo a facelift, which includes repainting and renewing floors and seats, fitting USB sockets and accent lighting, plus adding free customer Wi-Fi and next stop audio-visual announcements.
The investment has also improved mechanical systems, which will make the buses more environmentally-friendly thanks to lowered emissions and better fuel efficiency.
The bus, which took part in the seventh annual march, bears the words ‘love, proud, carefree, unity and bold’ and the banner ‘Pride in transport, building communities together, celebrating diversity’.
