Southern Vectis is marking Clean Air Day – Thursday 8th October – by urging people across the Isle of Wight to leave their cars at home and travel by sustainable transport instead.
The local bus operator has been helping to improve the quality of air we breathe over recent years by investing in new, greener, vehicles.
Richard Tyldsley, Southern Vectis’ general manager, has said:
“Buses have the potential to take many cars off the road – even with current on-board social distancing measures in place.
“And there are potential health benefits too. Beyond the bus journey itself, a relatively overlooked aspect of public transport commuting is the ‘first and last miles’ – that is the four daily journeys that people make to-and-from their homes and workplaces. This provides the ideal opportunity to integrate a good amount of physical activity into their daily lives.
“Our website makes planning a journey really simple and will even show passengers how many steps they would take to walk to a bus stop, which bus route to take and how long they will be on the bus, then the amount of steps they will need to take to get to their final destination. It will even calculate how much Co2 they would save compared to driving.
“Bus travel has changed beyond recognition over recent years, and those who haven’t travelled with us recently will be amazed at the enhancements we’ve made.
“Our new buses have more comfortable seating, USB charging points for smartphone and tablet users, accept mobile phone payments, as well as contactless and many sport the very latest Euro 6 low emissions engines. And now we have reinstated our services to pre-Covid levels, so those travelling with us can be assured our buses are safe, frequent and reliable.
Article continues below this advertisement “Although our capacity is slightly reduced due to social distancing measures, we have a useful ‘busy bus’ checker tool on our website. Our customers can check a bus en-route to see how busy it is – enabling them to make a decision to catch a later bus if required.”
Thy’ve obviously not heard about the pandemic and not using public transport.
Am sure they have, hence restriction of passenger numbers on each bus and improved cleaning on each trip if. no one was meant to use public transport this includes buses, taxis, trains, tube, trams, airplanes, ferries, why hasn’t the government banned them from operating? I just hope one day you don’t need anyone of these services in an emergency because that would be double standards wouldn’t it?
Make it worth my while£14.00 return from Ryde to Newport for Me and the wife cheaper to pay for the car park.
Biggest rip off on the isle of wight
second only to the rip off getting off the island
Let me see…. The company running the buses is urging everyone to catch the bus…. hmmmmmm, I wonder what could be in it for them.
If anyone was even remotely interested in improving the air quality, they would stop chopping down trees, and concreting over the wildlife to build cheap rabbit-hutch houses. But then, that wouldn’t make a few people fabulously rich though, would it?
Avoid public transport and work from home if you can, say the gubberment. Do the opposite says bus company. And lets not forget that these buses no longer serve significant parts of the island at all, and also are just about one of the most expensive forms of transport here. So no Southern Vectis, i’m out – I will continue to use my car.
Yes. I will be quite happy to use a bus rather than my car when Southern Vectis deigns to serve St. Lawrence and no, I am 77 and cannot walk up St Lawrence Shute.
Firstly I have no association with the bus company or know anyone who works there. But I do use the buses as I can’t afford the luxury of a car. As a key worker I used the buses through lockdown and upto now touch wood I’ve been ok and I’ve seen top mopps cleaning the buses as they Come in and before they go out and everyone seems to behave with face masks etc and there is alot of elderly use the buses and they seem fine. As price goes yes it seems expensive but look at the service we get on the island its nearly on par with London and the IOW is classed as rural and I’ve spoken to people from Cornwall and they have 3 buses a week if thier lucky. so you get what you pay for. The upkeep and cost of running a single bus can’t be cheap I looked online they do around 5 to 7 MPG, tyres are around £600 a pop and there are 6 I think maintence replacement parts damage so on and then paying wages, investors etc etc and they only get subsidised on a couple of thier routes and only receive pennies from the OAP pass (online source) it all mounts up. It wasn’t long ago everyone way praising bus drivers and southern vectis as part of the key workers. But its strange and sad that in a matter of months southern vectis have gone from hero’s to a**eholes and many other key workers fall in the same boat.
Yes, the service is quite good between the major conurbations but you try getting a bus in St Lawrence. Their ain’t one unless you struggle up the 1 in 3 St Lawrence Shute which isn’t funny when you are 77.
how many busses will pass you with a sign “sorry bus full” leaving you stood in the rain getting cold drenched and late for work, that is if you have a service at all.
Think hopefully this is temporary during the pandemic.
This is a joke right they are no better than the ferry company’s…do they even realise that you have to work over an hour free just to get a day rider trying to make people feel bad about pollution!!! You would have thought that islanders would be intilted to a discount/ yes there is a key which is a little cheaper but you have to have the money upfront to get a little discount (even harder now as so many people have had there hours cut) 2020 what a year to remember not that we can celebrate on new years eve … lower the daily rover then your have twice if not more people using the bus as it will work out cheaper than the car parking charges & petrol and keep the pollution down …. not rocket science…
With the current Pandemic I will stick with my Car.
Too risky, especially with many people on Public Transport not wearing a Mask.
Two words pandemic and cost say it all
As coronavirus cases soar, it is entirely inappropriate to encourage travelling on public transport, as there will always be some level of risk. And as for ‘clean air’, these buses are still diesel engined, and while they may be an improvement on the previous generation, they still pump out an assortment of pollutants.
No thanks can’t treat ex staff right, but can preach to make use the bus…. Don’t think so! I’ll stick to my car
Yeah ok £7 return don’t think so
I wouldn’t use the buses to expensive if u go from newport to Ventnor and back £9 I cycle everywhere I go like all public transport is to expensive on island no wounder y people don’t use the buses unless u have to
I drive a TT and Its still cheaper for me than getting a bus when the royals and elites stop using private jets to get everywhere then I will CONSIDER getting a better car for the environment. Until then I am going to enjoy my 1 tiny luxury I have in life! Start from the top and make an example, stop blaming everything on the general public who have no choice in what happens!!