Climate change
As a public transport operator we can make a 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.
We estimate that our UK bus operations saved in the region of 290,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the past 12 months. This is an estimate of the additional emissions our passengers would emit if they travelled by car.
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. 745 million journeys are made annually emitting 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, causing 40 deaths and 900 serious injuries each year.
We currently carry over 10,000 students per day on our yellow school buses in the UK which replace in the region of 3 million car journeys per year and contribute to savings in carbon dioxide of around 500 tonnes. This assumes that these pupils would otherwise travel by car and assumes that the school run is not part of an existing journey.
We continue to develop ways to communicate these benefits to our customers and promote the use of public transport. Across our operating companies we participate in local initiatives to encourage more sustainable living and promote this through our Small Change Big Difference campaign. We have carbon calculators on both our UK Bus and Rail websites that allow our customers to calculate the carbon savings associated with travelling by train or bus on selected journeys. Small change
Small Change Big Difference
Our YouGov poll indicates that many people would be willing to change some of their journeys and use public transport. Through this campaign we are seeking to highlight the carbon savings people can make by making even small changes in behaviour. We are promoting this on our buses through our website and where opportunities arise such as public awareness days focusing on sustainability.
Our Climate Change Strategy
Although we recognise the contribution public transport can make to reducing carbon emissions from the transport sector, we also accept responsibility for reducing our own emissions and have addressed this in our Climate Change Strategy - PDF - (1.39 MB). The strategy challenges us to achieve a 25% reduction in our carbon dioxide emissions from the UK Bus division by 2020.
We believe it is important not only to demonstrate a commitment to environmental improvement but also to ensure that bus travel remains competitive with other transport modes in relation to the emissions per passenger journey.
The key elements of our strategy are to:
- improve the fuel efficiency of our existing vehicles;
- ensure we purchase the most fuel-efficient vehicles;
- use alternative fuels as they become commercially available;
- improve the energy efficiency of our properties;
- reduce our business travel and develop green travel plans; and
- promote the use of public transport to combat climate change.