Essex

Shoppers Bus Turns Green

First increases bus size to better match service demand

A vital shoppers bus for Pitsea and Basildon is becoming greener from March 1.

First Essex have vowed to cut carbon emissions on the number 5 route, which runs from Pitsea Tesco to Basildon bus station, via Felmores Shopping Centre.

Spring cleaning on the route has First matching buses to their demand. By running larger vehicles with a small reduction in frequency their capacity remains unchanged.

From Monday to Saturday, the larger buses will be running every 10 minutes, with no change to service on Sundays.

MD for First in Essex, Bob Dorr, said: "By running a bigger bus, we can still maintain the same number of seats per hour, but we are using less fuel and labour.

"Its fantastic that we are able to make even the smallest of differences here " these changes mean that as well as reducing our carbon footprint, we are eliminating waste.

"We are dedicated to providing a quality, reliable and a safe local bus service to our customers. We are also aware of the commitment to providing a bus service which recognises the impacts on the environment.'

First hopes also to minimise the burden on fare-paying passengers of increasing business costs, and provide a more punctual service.

First Essex is committed to achieving the environmental ISO 14001 accreditation by April 2009 across all of its depots.

Clacton and Colchester depots both received their ISO 14001 accreditations in an award ceremony on Thursday.

As well as on the buses, First is increasing recycling facilities across the region. Capacity has been increased " as well as plastic cups, cans and paper; tools are now in place to recycle mobile phones, PDAs, inkjet cartridges and even toner cartridges.

ISO 14001 specifies the requirements for the companys environmental management system and applies to those environmental aspects over which it has control and can be expected to have an influence.