“Bussy Galore?” Really?
Back in 2019, yes 2019, MP Travel renamed one of its recently purchased buses “Bussy Galore.” The company renamed the bus as a pun on Pussy Galore, a character from the James Bond film Goldfinger. Despite that announcement being two years old now, social media users are only recently reacting to it.
According to MyLondon, the name change went relatively unnoticed at its time. But the forty-one-foot-long and 49 seat coach bus got the attention of Twitter users this month.
One Twitter user, named @tramfrau, brought the bus to the internet’s attention.
“Periodic reminder that there’s a 69 reg megabus named ‘Bussy Galore,’” wrote the Twitter user.
https://twitter.com/tramfrau/status/1418857463646932997?s=20
@tramfrau also noted the irony of the bus, which is used for Stagecoach-run services, given the fact that Stagecoach services have a homophobic past.
Stagecoach’s co-founder, Brian Souter, was an open supporter of the, now-repealed, Section 28 law. The homophobic law banned the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. Souter even donated £1 million to fight the repeal of the law.
To defend his stance, Souter said, “[I support] the traditional marriage-based family, and I’m afraid that stance gets interpreted as being homophobic.”
Souter also claimed that society would “implode” if “traditional marriage” were to fail.
https://twitter.com/tramfrau/status/1418888081554513923?s=20
That said, the Bussy Galore doesn’t just run Stagecoach services. While the bus is used for those runs, it is officially owned by the less homophobic company MP Travel. Through that, it runs on Megabus M11 and M11A routes between London and Glasgow via Manchester, Preston, and Lancaster. But possibly the bus’s greatest service was giving Twitter users a good laugh.
Omg…what if someone rear ended the 69 Bussy Galore? https://t.co/2y7RUGeJrp
— Raving Bacchae (@ravingbacchante) July 25, 2021
who wants to come on the bussy galore for a first date with me then ? https://t.co/6MB8wUgZyJ
— jacob (@jacobmc_18) July 25, 2021
there she is pic.twitter.com/UR1cUohATw
— lestat (@SAlNTSORROWS) July 26, 2021
But as funny, or not funny depending on who you ask, the Bussy Galore is, it’s not the first “bussy” vehicle. As PinkNews points out, there have been a few other vehicles that have used the word “bussy” in their title. This includes the eBussy that was revealed by ElectricBrands last year.
eBussy is why companies need marketing gays at the helm https://t.co/QxPEIFZFek
— Lana Del Gay (@McClellandShane) July 28, 2020