A BUS company has been praised for using social media to keep travellers informed of changes to all Glasgow's 118 bus routes during Saturday's Orange Order parades.
First Glasgow's dedicated Twitter Team took to the online forum to issue 50 separate messages about when services could be delayed due to road closures and diversions for the 8000 marchers in 46 separate parades.
Messages from the transport company can be viewed on computers, tablets and smart phones, meaning people were able to access information directly from the firm during their journeys.
Rosie Stewart, First Glasgow's service provision and reliability manager, supervised the online team.
She said: "We were able to advise our customers, in real time, of almost every service that was diverted.
"On average we issue one or two tweets (messages) per day advising customers of diversions due to road works or sometimes bad weather, such as flooding. But on Saturday the parades meant many of our services were affected and our Twitter feed was on overdrive."
The transport company, which is the largest in Scotland with more than 1000 vehicles, sent staff out to spot traffic problems, and they then issued warnings or sent information back to a central control centre.
First Glasgow staff then made use of Twitter's innovative hash tag and trending facilities to alert customers of delays, road closures and issue details of redirected routes.
Ms Stewart added: "The feedback was great. Customers seemed very grateful for our efforts."
As roads started to clear and services returned to normal the firm's Twitter page, @Firstinglasgow, was swamped with positive messages from passengers.
Ronnie Park, the company's managing director, said: "Saturday was a challenge, but our drivers, supervisors, network planners and service provision & reliability team did a fantastic job."
chris.taylor@heraldandtimes.co.uk