Promoting The Benefits Of Public Transport
As a public transport operator we also make a significant contribution to reducing the impacts of climate change by supporting modal shift away from use of the private car. On average buses emit 30% lower emissions per passenger kilometre than cars and the contribution to emission reductions increases significantly with increases in passenger numbers.
Typically the operation of our bus services saves 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. This is an estimate of the additional amount our passengers would emit if they took the same journeys by car.
The more passengers we can attract to our services, the more we can support emission reductions from the sector. For example during the past 12 months passenger growth in our Manchester operations has been around 10%. This growth has helped to reduce the carbon footprint per passenger journey by 82 grammes, equating to an annual saving of around 8,000 tonnes of carbon.
Similarly, growth in our services in Devon and Cornwall has reduced the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger journey by 173 grammes. This equates to annual emissions savings of around 2,500 tonnes.
School bus travel also offers significant opportunity to reduce emissions associated with travel. According to the National Travel Survey, the number of children travelling to school by car has doubled over the past 20 years. Each year 745 Million journeys are made, resulting in 40 deaths, 900 serious injuries and two million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
We currently carry over 8,000 students per day on our yellow school buses in the UK, replacing about three million car journeys per year and contributing to savings in carbon dioxde of around 500 tonnes. The figures assume that these pupils would otherwise travel by car and assumes the school run is not part of an existing journey.
The above examples all illustrate the role we must play in supporting carbon dioxide emissions reduction by attracting people away from their cars. This year we launched the Car Quit Kit, as part of this process. This is a national initiative aimed at car users to encourage them to think about leaving the car at home and using public transport for some journeys. It provides useful tips on how to learn to leave the car at home and takes you through the process of quitting step by step. A car replacement patch - 'a free trial of the bus for a whole day' - is also provided.
Over the coming year we will be developing further initiatives to raise the profile of the benefits of public transport to the environment and the role our customers play in supporting this.