Southern Vectis is urging the Island’s motorists to consider a minor change in their travel habits to make a major difference to the planet this Earth Day – Saturday 22nd April.
On Earth Day people across the world from all backgrounds come together to advance sustainability and highlight the need to protect the climate and environment.
Motorists typically make around 600 car journeys annually. Switching just one in every 25 of these journeys to a bus – equivalent to a couple of trips a month – would reduce the UK’s carbon emissions by 2 million tonnes per year.
Southern Vectis managing director, Andrew Wickham, has said:
“For our part, we want to encourage those living within our community to help ease congestion and improve air quality here on the Island – by choosing to leave their vehicles at home just twice a month for the rest of the year and switch their journey to bus, rail or bicycle.
“Our bus fleet is among the newest and cleanest on the south coast. Over recent years, we have introduced brand new buses to operate our services across the Isle of Wight – with more to follow this year. Many of these sport the very latest Euro 6 engine – releasing fewer emissions than the average new diesel car.
“Earth Day ties in perfectly with what we are trying to achieve. Buses provide the perfect and affordable solution to reducing air pollution – with just one double decker having the potential to remove up to 75 cars from our roads. With this in mind, we’re proud to have invested millions of pounds in improving the comfort and reliability of our services here.
“This is also an excellent time to remind our customers that they can travel on any single journey on our buses for £2 or less, as part of the government’s fare cap scheme, which has been extended until the end of June.”
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‘to help ease congestion’
People who have lived and worked on the mainland would probably have to agree that we don’t really have a massive problem with traffic congestion here. Yes, it might get busy on the dual carriageway sometimes or around Coppins Bridge, but that’s negligible compared with driving on the mainland. The main cause of hold-ups on the roads on the Island seems to be down to the inordinate number of temporary traffic lights blighting the roads, and catching a bus won’t do anything to solve that problem.
Well said Catherine. Things like the never ending farce along Ryde Esplanade, the never ending WF’s where everything takes forever, the appalling road surfaces that cause even more fuel to be used, things like the bridge in Lake.
The matters that we need on the Island include a period when no road works are in place (I am not saying ‘in work’) and when something like the Ryde Fiasco is even considered then very heavy penality clauses are put in place from the very start. Then we might be able to claim the be earth friendly, or even green.
What planet do you live on there are to many cars over here and to many lazy people who have to park where ever they want because they can’t be bothered to walk and the only way to sort this problem is cheap public transport.idiot
If the government really wanted to reduce emissions and help the working person, they would make the busses and trains free. We pay enough tax to support that. But instead they would rather give a member of the 2nd house 100’s of millions for fake PPE.
I am not interested in the green loonies and their moronic agenda and Southern Vectis can shove their buses where the sun doesn’t shine. My car is comfortable and convenient and cheaper to run than using any bus, and I will continue using it as and when I like. The green idiots can do what they like if they think (wrongly) that any of their stupid ideas will save the planet. Overpopulation has already doomed it.
The over population of the planet is indeed a serious issue, one that the recent, and ongoing, vaccine programme is attempting to redress. But it would really help if self centred Neanderthals such as yourself could ‘chip in’ once and a while and try walking for a portion of your weekly commute, Ta very much.
So long as I have the right to choose how I travel Steve, I will do so. At least “self centered neanderthals” like me are intelligent enough to see through all the green nonsense and can see what the real issues of the planet are, unlike people like you who are only capable of slagging people off with your pathetic invective.
I’d say that environment is only a motivation for some.
Overall we should all walk and cycle more for health. Obesity charts in UK are through the roof compared to less car-dependant countries in Europe.
And health is money: If NHS doesn’t have to treat you, it means savings on taxes!
”The health benefits correspond to more than 3% of the Dutch gross domestic product.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_in_the_Netherlands
(We spend 2.3% on military :D)
Go Green!!!Dont Drive or use the Buses!!!Walk or Cycle!!!
All southern Vectis care about are profits £££££££££££££££££££££££
Name a business,( by definition that’s what they are) that doesn’t O wise one.
When Whitehall bureaucrats stop importing over a million people a year and then give them priority for taxpayer funded housing, health, education and benefits they have not and never will contribute towards, then maybe the beleaguered public will have more stomach to listen to this attempt at socially engineering us out of our privately owned vehicles, then again maybe not
No electric buses though. Diesel instead.
Maybe if we had the chance of having a bus SERVICE here in Havenstreet we could help Earth Day.One of very few villages on the Island without public transport.The number 37 route could be extended even if it was 4 times a day.Being on the rat run Ryde to Newport and 1 in 3 vehicles speeding through the village any help would be welcome.Well back to my hoop and stick.Take care.
Switching to a couple of bus journeys a month may help the planet, but with these southern vectis pirates, it would bankrupt me!
It’s all capped at £2 like the rest of the country, isn’t it?
Lol. This!! After the royal madam’s helicopter trip!! One rule for them; another for us!!
Wow… Good for Vectis.Setting an example on the island by giving everyone free travel on that day!! I think not.
Why not stop spacex .Stopping the peasants doing everything whilst the billionaires play god.