Environmental Transport Association leads agenda for Green Transport Week

From Brighton to Manchester, in towns and cities, individuals and businesses across Britain have embraced the ethos of Green Transport Week (GTW).

In the 15 years since GTW was first launched as one of the Environmental Transport Association’s (ETA) leading campaigning initiatives in 1993, there is an even greater imperative to lessen the impact of our daily lives on our environment.

“We are a motoring organisation first and foremost, providing an ethical alternative breakdown service while campaigning on environmental issues,” explains director Andrew Davis, who founded the ETA in 1990. “We created Green Transport Week to provide our members with support and information about transport and the environment. Its aim then, as it still is today, is to involve millions of people in activities that highlight our transport impact on the environment and show how it can be reduced.”

“Nottingham is a good example of a city that has positively embraced the need to make the local community a greener, safer, healthier and more pleasant place to live.” Andrew continues, “As part of a wider initiative the city runs Greenweeks running up to GTW that aims to celebrate sustainability. They are again promoting a Liftshare day this June, promoting their car share on-line database. The city claims that use of buses is higher than anywhere in the UK outside London, and has made a popular introduction of trams as an alternative.”

Today Green Transport Week encompasses individuals, cycling groups, schools, businesses and motor manufacturers. Consumers now have more green transport choices than ever before with duel fuel, hybrid and gas cars as real alternatives alongside public transport. No means of transport is omitted – even new urban ferry services have been introduced during the week.

“We need businesses to help staff to manage their journeys to work in an environmentally friendly way,” continues Andrew. “Staff need to be given incentives to change behaviour. Cycle facilities, a car share scheme, a move towards reducing unnecessary car journeys, such as flexible working and video conferencing are all working in some communities. It just needs a bit of thought and such ideas could be introduced across Britain with a dramatic effect on our carbon footprint.”

In Peterborough the local council has published a cycle route map with a Green Wheel cycle route at its heart encompassing the city. They say that cycling trips have increased by 25% since 2004, and that car trips have decreased by 13% in the same period.

Cities such as Manchester are testing duel fuel buses – an electric diesel hybrid – as an alternative to conventional engines, with much lower C02 emissions. This is part of a wider initiative to get the community motivated towards change to help preserve the local as well as global environment.

As more and more people get the message about our impact on the environment, Green Transport Week becomes a bigger and better annual platform for promoting alternative methods of transportation, thorough a range of activities. Green Transport Week is not just about global warming but all the other aspects of life that are affected by our use of transport.

“I am immensely proud of the imagination, commitment and expertise of the organisers and participants in GTW each year,” says Andrew Davis of the initiative he began 15 years ago. “It is not too late to join in. Anyone can be involved in this campaign – visit our website for more information or start something up yourself and let us know about it.”

Green Transport Week takes place around Britain from 16-24 June 2007.
For more information go to www.eta.co.uk


Some examples of GTW inspired activities

Buckinghamshire County Council are working with Chiltern Railways throughout GTW, offering commuters who park at the stations across the county free car park spaces to those car-sharing with 3 or more people.
Worcestershire County Council are giving away 500 weekly bus tickets to Worcester residents to celebrate Green Transport Week.
At Legal & General in Surrey a car sharing scheme was introduced in January 1999, which grew to an average of 170 cars per day. This alongside other initiatives including flexible working, home working, interest free season ticket loans, interest free loans to buy bicycles, discounted loans on mopeds, walk to work initiative, shared transport, train ticket discounts, and a minibus service for temporary and contract staff, plus restricting visitors, video/audio conferencing and dedicated car parking for cars sharers, the policies have been such a success that now they claim that their 600 staff each saves an average of 3,909 miles per annum.

Notes to Editors
• The ETA is the world’s only climate neutral motoring organisation
• Greet Transport Week website for schools is www.eta-schools.co.uk
• Climate neutralising projects include – restoring rainforests, providing energy-saving light bulbs and providing stoves that run on crop waste.
• Levels of CO2 have risen by a third since industrial times and are expected to double in the next hundred years
• The Kyoto Protocol signed by 141 countries and accounting for 55% of greenhouse gas emissions has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 5.2% by 2012
• The Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that we need to reduce emissions by much more – to 60% of 1990 levels
• ETA breakdown cover from £23 online is climate neutral (carbon emissions from breakdown vehicles offset)
• The aim of the ETA is to be the ethical alternative to other motoring organisations by providing high quality services to everyone concerned about the impact of transport on the environment; in so doing, funds are generated for the ETA’s campaigns