The Inverness Driverless Bus now has a name – and let’s all be honest – it is the best out of a brilliant bunch.
Nearly 200 people entered The Press and Journal’s competition to name the vehicle and now all the votes are in we can reveal that a real tongue-twister of a name has been picked.
It’s the… Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Driverless Machiney!
‘My partner thought we won the lottery’
The all-new Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Driverless Machiney will soon be shuttling students and staff between Inverness Campus and Inverness Retail Park at 15mph as part of a pilot.
Its name was dreamed up by a new mum from Milton of Leys in Inverness.
Yteine Watters was awaiting the arrival of her first baby when she came up with the name – which may not actually fit on the side of the bus but the transport boss leading the scheme promises he will try.
Yteine says she was ‘over the moon’ when she found out her suggested name won the contest and scooped her an £800 robotic lawnmower.
She was almost pipped at the post by 45-year-old Inverness IT support worker John Mackenzie, whose name suggestion was Scoot Aboot, but he is “well-chuffed” with his robotic vacuum cleaner runner-up prize.
The name Goyoursell won the third most votes and the winner scoops a smart speaker prize.
Yteine, 24, a supermarket worker and mum to six-week-old Mason, never thought her name would win.
She said: “I was so excited when I found out my partner thought we were lottery winners – it’s so great – I think it’s the first competition I’ve ever won”.
‘We’ll try to fit that name onto the driverless bus’
The Highlands and Islands regional transport partnership (HITRANS) got EU funding of nearly £150,000 to lease the bus.
Ranald Robertson, HITRANS Director, said he was delighted at the level of engagement and quality of the entries and said “particular congratulations goes to Yteine for her excellent winning slogan, which we hope to feature on our automated vehicle”.
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