Lush’s big day out on the buses

Marcus Lush is on a mission – and has the hashtag and T-shirt to prove it.

The Bluff-based broadcaster and Invercargill councillor was in Dunedin for a unique challenge of his own making – riding every city bus route over an 18-hour period.

Lush, with the help of a map and a timetable, calculated that he would need just over 10 hours of travelling to ride all of the city’s 16 bus journeys.

This wasn’t the only bit of planning that went into his mission yesterday. He also had a T-shirt printed with his own hashtag, #eatpraybus. It began trending on Twitter several hours after Lush began his first journey at 6.05am.

That trip – and the hashtag – would end in the coastal community of Brighton, about 17 kilometres south of Dunedin, about 12.30am today.

‘‘It is quite a good challenge,’’ Lush said.

Dunedin was the perfect-sized city to achieve the challenge, made easier by the central city bus hub that opened in 2019. ‘‘Dunedin has its act together with buses,’’ he said.

Lush said Dunedin had done everything to encourage people towards public transport and away from their cars.

‘‘I love public transport.’’

He enjoyed hearing the different radio stations drivers chose to play, ranging from classic hits to one playing heavy metal band Slipknot.

Lush, known for his love of trains due to his Off the Rails television series, conceded that he was always more into buses largely due to the low number of trains in New Zealand.

His attraction to buses was partly based on them offering a different perspective of a city. In Dunedin, this included glimpses of the harbour from the hill suburbs.

Lush said he liked how people from all walks of life could have a shared experience and a conversation on board a bus. ‘‘I find it quite relaxing.’’

It wasn’t all plain sailing, with Lush documenting his one-time desperation for a toilet stop. ‘‘I was desperate for a leak, so I jumped the fence at Ashburn Clinic. I figured they would be more understanding about obsession than most!’’, he tweeted.