Southern Vectis is marking Clean Air Day – Thursday 17th June – by urging people on the Isle Of Wight to leave their cars at home and travel by sustainable transport instead.
Islanders are being encouraged to hop on a bus to mark the national day of action.
Andrew Wickham, Managing Director of Southern Vectis, says:
“We are committed to helping improve the quality of air we breathe on the island, and we have been working on this in a number of ways over recent years – including investing in a new fleet of greener vehicles.
“Buses have the potential to take many cars off the road – even with current on-board social distancing measures in place.
“Even though so called ‘Freedom Day’ has been postponed, there are still plenty of reasons for people to travel across the Isle of Wight. Offices, shops, bars, restaurants and tourist attractions are all open for business, and we are seeing an increasing number of passengers on board our buses.
“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.
“The new buses we have invested in during recent years have more comfortable seating, USB charging points for smartphone and tablet users, accept mobile phone payments, as well as contactless and they sport the very latest Euro 6 low emissions engines.
Article continues below this advertisement “If more people choose to leave their cars at home and travel with us instead – on Clean Air Day and moving forwards – we could make a real impact in helping to improve the air quality across the Isle of Wight.”
Will the driver help me on-board with my tool boxes and materials ?
Hopefully the new buses will come with mirrors that the drivers will use before pulling out
Clean air day! what a joke. I live on a bus route on a corner turning. My house gets absolutely covered in fumes/dirt coming off these so called clean buses. It’s costing me a fortune to clean down the outside all the time
Yes and they stop anywhere – stop outside my place, where it is not safe to do so, the designated bus stop with a cleared area for folk to get off is 20 yards further on!
Don’t get me started on the cost of the fares, like the ferries one of the dearest in the country… oh and by the way don’t bother complaining you just get ignored.
Bus or my Mini Cooper S euro 6 driving myself enjoying or being driven stopping frequently and being bored ok not going to take much persuasion guess it’s my car it’s got fun factor and it’s euro 6 like the bus ✅
If you want to encourage people to use buses you should offer ‘free travel’ for a couple of days.
If the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme showed anything, it was that people move their arses when there’s a financial incentive!
They did that years ago for a day and vowed never to do it again, the excuse was “they were too busy”
That would be a marketing dream. The quote said ‘we would be amazed about the enhancements they have made’. If that’s the case surely the more people who are amazed the more people will come back as paying customers.
But what do I know.
I’d LOVE the option of taking the bus to work on that day. But despite Havenstreet having a considerable population, there IS NO bus service. Go figure!
My car currently costs me £2.50 a day to run to get me back and forth to work. What would the equivalent cost be, per day. A minimum of £9 I think? That a whopping £180 a month…
Clean your wallet out you mean with southern Vectis. Rip off busses
Don’t these buses use diesel engines? If so, how are they ‘green’? Ok, maybe they’re ‘greener’ than the old buses but I doubt if many people would consider a large diesel engine ‘green’. Besides, the fares are prohibitively expensive unless you are eligible for free travel and I, for one, simply can’t afford to use them.
Why would anybody want to wait around for, and pay, to get on a germ factory where you get to enjoy other peoples tedious phone conversations, the finest of children expressing themselves because their parents fail to control them etc? Since the covid there is even less reason to go near public transport. Enviromental impact of the usually half empty busses is nothing to be proud of either.
Southern vectis are to expensive that’s why they have mainland buses over while the trains are off
Wow ! They have got rid of all their Diesel engined vehicles, and replaced the entire fleet with electric vehicles. At last. Real clean air, with no chance of particulate or carbon monoxide poisoning. And zero noise pollution also. Well done.
Like the majority of businesses, it’s never for the sake of the planet, it’s for pushing the figures higher on their bank accounts. Stop pretending you give a hoot about the planet and just admit you want people to pour money into your hands. If Southern Vectis truly cared, “Clean Air Day” should be everyday, not just one!
5 min walk to bus stop, hoping bus isn’t late in the slow moving rush hour traffic, up to 10 mins to get to bus station for change of bus, sit up to another 10 min wait for next bus, 12 min journey to nearest bus stop to work, then a 10 min walk. Cost £2,50 one way.
At certain times of the day/night, NO bus service.
In car, max time is 12 mins even in busy traffic.
Sorry, but car for me every time.
Who would be stupid enough to pay for an expensive S.V bus when the car is so much cheaper? If they lowered their ridiculous prices, some of us may be tempted.
Why pay £18 for a return trip for the two of us when I can go by car. Too expensive