MIX 106.3 host Nigel Johnson gets a Transport Canberra-inspired tattoo

MIX 106.3's lovable teddy bear, breakfast co-host Nigel Johnson, went the extra mile for the station - and his listeners - on Thursday by getting a Transport Canberra-inspired tattoo.

The born-and-bred Canberran promised to get the tattoo if Transport Canberra gave away a year's worth of free travel on public transport to a worthy local.

He'd been inspired by a similar scheme in Austria, where the government was offering its citizens free public transport if they tattooed the name of the national public transport system on themselves.

Rather than get Transport Canberra inked on him, Nige put the call out for suitable public transport-inspired designs, with listeners and station staff submitting a lot of light rail creations.

But in the end, Nige went for a design by MIX 106.3's campaign coordinator Ethan Kirk featuring "two of my favourite things" - a Canberra bus shelter and his pet cat Harry.

The tattoo was done on his back at Celebrity Ink in Westfield Belconnen by tattooist Mark Kovagi-Laska and Nige was very happy with the result, which included the orange windows of a classic bus shelter and Harry's yellow eyes.

He did admit one thing.

"I think this is the longest I've been in Westfield Belconnen without a shirt - and I've lived here all my life," he said.

It wasn't his first tattoo. He got a Celtic cross on his right shoulder about 20 years ago. "That was a lot of years and a lot of pies ago," he said.

Nige was happy to get the tattoo to help someone in need. And, again, he swears it didn't hurt. "It feels like someone with a sharp fingernail constantly poking me in the back, trying to get my attention," he said.

Nige and co-host Kristen Davidson will announce the winner of the free public transport on air on Friday morning.

And Harry? Harry's a cat so will hardly raise a whisker at all the fuss.