Spreading holiday cheer has been taken to a whole new level in Brisbane, with the city’s buses being decked out in festive gear.
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00:00Well, it really is the most wonderful time of the year.
00:11Dozens of buses just like this one have received a big sleigh makeover and it's snow joke here
00:17in Brisbane.
00:18From Christmas lights to tinsel and even holly jolliness, just in time for the big man in
00:24red.
00:29And it's all part of a 30 year tradition.
00:31To tell me more, I'm joined by councillor Ryan Murphy.
00:35Councillor, tell me, how exactly did this all begin?
00:37Well, 30 years ago in 1994, one of the depots wanted to decorate one of the buses for Christmas
00:44and it came out of their social club.
00:46They actually pooled their money together and decorated one bus.
00:49One of the other depots went, actually, we'd like to do that too.
00:51And before long, we had seven depots engaged in the process.
00:55And now it's become a fierce competition, almost like the NRL.
00:58Bit of a state of origin rivalry going on, isn't it?
01:01And judging this bus, tell me what goes into it, the process.
01:05Is it how much tinsel is used?
01:06How many Christmas lights are used?
01:08Well, we look for a couple of things.
01:09The first thing is we look for originality.
01:11You know, it's very easy to have a Christmas theme, much harder to come up with something
01:15original each and every year, particularly for 30 years.
01:18So we look for originality.
01:20We also look for practicality.
01:22In the end, these buses enter service.
01:24So if you're going to dress them up but people can't sit on the seats or things break, that's
01:29not good either.
01:30So it's got to be a robust design.
01:32And then finally, we look for the quality of the submission.
01:35So have they covered every surface?
01:38Have they looked at every different part that can be, have things attached to it?
01:41So this was the bus that won this year and Willawong are so proud of their submission.
01:47And tell me a bit about what's behind the design here at Willawong's Bus.
01:51So as you can see, pretty much every part is covered in tinsel or toys.
01:56What we liked really about this one was the fact that there's so many different toys on
02:00the bus.
02:01There's something for every child.
02:02And in the end, the magic and joy of Christmas is about putting smiles on kids' faces.
02:06So that's why we really like this one.
02:08The other thing is that there's little bits of attention to detail.
02:11So if you look at these seat covers, one of our drivers actually hand made these at home,
02:19all of them, for the entire bus, and they're reusable and sustainable.
02:22So they'll be able to be used next year.
02:24That's what put Willawong over the top.
02:26Thank you so much for your time, Councillor.
02:28And of course, these buses will be running all the way through to December 31st, encouraging
02:32city goers to make sure they catch public transport for a glimpse of Christmas cheer.