How did a Wexford bus end up in the Himalayas?
WEXFORD Bus has been expanding its routes of late but the appearance of one of its distinctive orange, white and blue vehicles in a remote part of the Himalayas last week had everyone scratching their heads in amusement.
The photo of a Wexford Bus parked in a dusty location in the small town of Jomson in the Mustang District of Nepal, about 5,000 miles as the crow flies from the company’s depot on the Coolballow Road in Wexford was posted on Instagram by Monageer woman Olivia Murphy.
Olivia who works in advertising in Dublin is on a threemonth trip around South East Asia with her boyfriend Ivan Eustace. The couple were hiking on the Annapurna Circuit when Olivia was amazed to see the familiar-looking bus and captioned her picture: ‘Proof that the Irish really are everywhere’ and added ‘Nice to Know I can always rely on Wexford Bus’.
The Instagram photo circulated widely after being picked up by the Irish Mirror and other online media outlets, providing Wexford Bus with extensive publicity.
‘It was hilarious. I saw it in the bus station from a bit away. I recognised the branding and ran over to have a look. I just couldn’t stop laughing. I went over to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me,’ said Olivia who works in advertising in Dublin and is a regular user of Wexford Bus.
The Commercial Director of Wexford Bus Lorene Crowley confessed to being ‘complete- ly stumped’ by the Nepalese vehicle.
‘At first I thought it might have been photo-shopped but I’ve spoken to people who are experts in this area and they said it’s not possible. I’ve since had an email from Olivia with extra photos attached and it looks like it is the real McCoy,’ said Lorene. She confirmed that the bus is not one of the Wexford company’s actual vehicles. ‘It’s certainly not one of ours. We would never sell on anything with our livery and branding on it. It’s different from anything in our fleet.’
Lorene said the only conclusion the company can come up with is that someone googled bus designs and saw the Wexford Bus brand and liked it, perhaps not realising that Wexford was a place.
‘There’s a name of a company on the bus but we haven’t been able to establish anything yet in relation to that.’
‘It’s a howl. It’s very funny. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. We’re treating it as a bit of fun. We won’t be sending any ‘cease and desist’ letters,’ said Lorene.
‘My nephew texted me asking me what the return fare would be from Wexford to Nepal.’