Car Sharing Saves Cash

Sharing a car with another motorist could save the average commuter £1,500 a year, Travelwise NI has claimed.

The government body, which encourages alternative forms of transport, said more drivers should consider using one of the 21 park-and-ride scheme across the province which are operated by Translink. This option again offers potential savings of £1,609 a year or more in some cases. Translink currently provide 2,000 free parking spaces, with a further 2,000 planned and in development.

"The car-sharers that we have would say they have somebody to talk to on their way to work, socialising. Or they can sleep on the way to work and let somebody else do the driving every other day or every other week."
Michael Lindsay, Car Share Co-ordinator, Travelwise NI

Calculate just how much you could save using the cost calculator on the LiftShare website.

Related Links
Bikes on the Train or Bus
Train vs. Car ... Lisburn to Belfast
Belfast to Lisburn in 10 Minutes by Train

Transport Minister Opens New Bus Centre

Transport Minister, Conor Murphy, today opened the new £2.8million Lisburn Bus Centre. During his visit he also launched Translink’s new Passenger Charter.

“This investment in a new bus centre is a major asset for public transport in Lisburn and local passengers will benefit from a modern fully accessible station which provides better and more comfortable facilities for all. I am committed to improving public transport and my key objective in investing in bus services is to encourage more commuters and other travellers out of the car. Substantial investment in bus services between 2003-2007 has resulted in nearly 940 new Translink buses, making it one of the most modern, comfortable and reliable fleets in Europe. In addition between 2008-2011 a further £36million will be invested in buses to ensure these high standards are maintained. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the EU Building Sustainable Prosperity Programme which part funded this new facility for the travelling public.”
Conor Murphy, Transport Minister

The site is close to the city centre and offers quick access to Bow Street Mall and the surrounding commercial area. A bus lane adjoining the station will increase access and shorten journey times.

The Minister also launched the new Translink Passenger’s Charter. The new Passenger’s Charter sets out standards and targets for punctuality and reliability, waiting times, standing on buses and trains, complaints procedures and what passengers can expect from Translink staff.

Related Articles
Lisburn Bus Station
Translink Fares to Rise by 5%
Train vs. Car ... Lisburn to Belfast

Belfast to Lisburn in 10 Minutes by Train

I was told by a friend who regularly travels from Belfast to Lisburn that unusually the train takes minutes, on further probing of the point they said, four minutes. Every time I tried to take the express service, I always characteristically of me missed it.

Yesterday for the first time used the express service on the C3K CAF trains, and thought I would time the journey. It took just over ten minutes, an average of 47mph for the 7.8 mile journey (assuming road distance), not bad point to point, and during peak travel hours, a fast an efficient alternative to the car.

Recent Articles
How to Fill the Other Half of the Train?
Train vs. Car ... Lisburn to Belfast
Translink Fares to Rise by 5%

Translink Fares to Rise by 5%

Translink are set to increase train and bus fares from Monday 25th August 2008. On average Metro will increase by 6.4%, Ulsterbus by 5% and N I Railways by 4.2%. This is the second rise to be announced this year, with rising global oil prices to blame. Translink will pay £9m more this year in fuel costs than in 2007, and the burden of this extra expense can not be asorbed by the company, as it is financially unviable to do so, and must be passed on to the passengers.

A full list of the price revisions can be found on the Translink website.

Whilst the news is unwelcome to those using public transport, it still offers the best value for money, and is one of the fastest ways to travel during peak hour commuting, not to mention an environmentally friendly choice too.

Related Articles
How to Fill the Other Half of the Train?
Train Vs Car ... Lisburn to Belfast
Translink Increase Passenger Fares

Lisburn Bus Station

Lisburn City officially opened their new world class £2.5m bus station on the corner of Hillsborough Road and Smithfield Street, adjacent to the Lisburn Square on 30 June. Whilst I have procrastinated in visiting, I did today and took a few snaps of the building which will serve 71 000 people who live in the city centre, and the countless visitors that will travel in from surrounding towns to visit.

The building provides excellent facilities, with full disabled access across the building, a huge improvement to the bus shelters available across the street before the building opened.

The building includes some sustainable building processes including solar skylights, which create a light and spacious feel throughout the building. A solar thermal heating system which provides hot water all year round for heating the building and also the toilet facilities. There is also a covered bike shelter for cyclists to park and ride, covered by CCTV.

Hopefully the facility will encourage more people to make use of buses to commute and for leisure purposes, the centre also provides information, and for a first time bus user the information screens detailing the destination of each bus and where it will be located (ie stand number) and its current status (ie on time). I was quite shocked on my first visit to see a steady stream of human traffic using the new centre, a very positive first look!

Maximising Efficiency

Increasing passenger numbers on any mode of transport effectivily increases the efficiency of the vehicle and reduces average energy used per passenger km. This video clip from Japan shows how they maximise efficiency out of peak hour trains, if not resulting in an uncomfortable ride, it's a pitty these aren't sites to often seen in the UK (more people using the trains, oppose to people being pushed in them).

How to Fill the Other Half of the Train?

Today it was announced that Northern Ireland Railways operates its train service with a capacity averaging 50%, or the equivalent to 257 000 empty seats per week. The figures were taken from an average week in 2007.

Which Line Performed Best?

• Londonderry Line - 70%
• Portadown Line - 50%
• Bangor Line - 36%
• Cross-Border Rail Service - 35%

Northern Ireland has one of the lowest uses of public transport, at half the UK average, however since 2001, NIR has seen a 50% increase in passenger numbers, with a 23% increase in the last two years. A considerable achievement, with factors including new rolling stock, and a faster, more efficient service. In comparison to other cities, a train every half-an-hour (off-peak), city-to-city may be a factor reducing the use of the service.

If the trains were full, it would be equivalent to reducing 156 707 car journeys a week, or 8.15m a year in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately supply and demand pricing in the public transport sector is not correlated with train fare pricing. Fare reduction often leads to increased pressure at peak periods, with minor traffic increases in off-peak services. This could reduce CO2 emissions by in excess of 15 000 tonnes annually based on small cars emitting 99gCO2/km.

How Much Can I Save?
Following on from my attempt last month to quantify the annual savings by using public transport, Translink have came up with their own figures below. Taking several typical Belfast commuter routes, Translink compared the total cost by car (AA ‘cost per mile’ data, plus parking charges) against the cost of the public transport option. In each case, commuters fare much better with public transport, with big savings to be made in the course of a year:

• Antrim Road to Belfast City Centre by Metro – save £1532.70 per working year (10 months)
• Newtownabbey to Belfast City Centre by Metro – save £2510.30 per working year
• Lisburn to Belfast City Centre by NI Railways – save £2274.30 per working year
• Carrickfergus to Belfast City Centre by NI Railways – save £2666.20 per working year
• Bangor to Belfast City Centre by NI Railways – save £2572.10 per working year
• Larne to Belfast City Centre by Ulsterbus – save £3748.50 per working year
• Magherafelt to Belfast City Centre by Ulsterbus – save £3962.70 per working year

What About the Future Rise in Fuel Tax?
An increase in fuel taxes is often connected with the hypothesis of a triple dividend: Apart from the modal-shift-effect, which relieves the environment as well as the infrastructure, and the fiscal effect, which should increase the public revenue, the movement of passengers to public transport systems should decrease its deficit. However, this calculation fails because higher fuel prices increase peak-hour transit use but not leisure or off-peak transit. But the typical attribute of peak traffic is above-average marginal costs and below average revenues. Therefore, higher fuel taxes will increase public transports deficit rather than decrease it. The fiscal lucrativeness of higher fuel taxes will be significantly lower than is often expected.

How Can NIR Fill the Other Half of the Train?

• With the continued increase in oil prices, over the last year there has been a 2% reduction in vehicle miles travelled according to the AA, as the price continues to rise, it has already been shown to affect driving habits, decreasing miles travelled, travelling at off-peak times, walking shorter journeys, driving in a more fuel efficient way. Whilst habits change it does also price those on the lowest incomes out of cars.
  
  
• Implementation of Park & Ride schemes for cars and bikes, have also contributed to the success in previous years. Avoiding city centre parking charges and congestion entering the city. These need to be developed further to reduce the negative impact of parking problems at restricted space sites.
  
  
• Could the next step in helping people get to work be implementation of Green Journey Planners, simply Translink could offer outreach to companies initially in the city centre of Belfast. Offering to look at how each individual travels to work, how much this costs them (in time and money), and a greener and maybe shorter alternative, detailing the annual savings (again in time and money).
  
  
• Reducing the cost of travel, or removing the cost altogether, through government funded schemes. Trialling this in the outset with a free travel day, to see how this affects passenger numbers. Cost could be fractionally offset with advertising, similar to other international transit systems, such as the London Underground or Hong Kong MTR. Long-term, higher footfalls, could lead to increased property rental values.
  
  
• Introduction of simple stored value card such as the octopus or oyster card to enable a simple straight forward journey, reducing staffing needs, all pricing structures reduced to lowest possible fare, time specific pricing. Multi use, in conjunction with bus system.
  

If you have any ideas on how Translink can increase bums in seats, then let them know.

Train vs. Car ... Lisburn to Belfast

Using the example of travelling daily from Lisburn to Belfast in Northern Ireland we are going to compare how taking the train can be beneficial, not just for the environment, but also for your pocket and time.

Translink offer a free car park at Lisburn station, and will soon extend the number of available spaces by 272, at a new proposed car parking facility located in close proximity to the station, allowing even more people to take advantage of the park and ride scheme. With a daily return ticket to Belfast at only £3.30 (current promotional rate). This takes the hassel out of the 7.8 miles journey to the city centre, and not to mention the time to find a car parking space. So why do so many people still drive when the journey can take up to an hour in both directions, Google maps cite a 23 minute driving time on an average day, during regular travel. Even at this the train can take a mere 9 minutes point to point. Saving at least 14 minutes off the drive time. According to the AA, it would cost £6.09* (or more) in associated costs to drive, taking into consideration tax, insurance and car maintenance.

Also taking into account many companies do not offer car parking, or do so at a reduced rate, the cheapest car parking in the area of central Belfast was £3.40* a day.

So travelling to work by train costs £3.30 a day (with greater discounts for weekly and monthly tickets) compared to £9.49 per day by car. With this the journey time of 9 minutes compared to 23 minutes at least by car. Annually this would save you 121 hours, added to that the time gained from being able to carry out those tasks on the train, such as texting, reading the paper, checking the news that you would not be able to do in the car. You would save £31 a week and £1,609 a year travelling by train, and if you include your time into the equation, you could consider further savings in excess of £1,000 per year.

For more on Park & Ride in Northern Ireland with Translink visit their dedicated section. Plus they also have a list of all Park & Ride sites in Northern Ireland.

*Based on Travelling in a car worth less than £10 000 new, and travelling 10 000 miles a year, not allowing for recent surges in petrol prices. Source: AA
*Based on Secure designated car park space with Key/Fob for automatic shutter door entry, on Great Victoria Street, Belfast, Source: Gumtree

Biking Hype & Car Fuel Reduction Ideas

After the purchase of my bicycle a few months ago, with the weather picking up, and myself into a normal sleep routine, I now bike to work every morning, and home every afternoon. As yet I have not been arrested for furious cycling or blatant abuses of the highway code just yet, I try to remain as legal as possible.

The bike ride is one of the fun parts of my day, and now I am completing the task in less than five minutes in the morning, faster than driving and a third of the time taken to walk. Each day saving about 400g CO2 from the environment, (really I should have converted much sooner).

Other friends have also now bought bikes, and with the recent rise in oil prices to a record $135 a barrel, and analyst expectations that will continue to rise to $200 in the next 18 months, petrol prices are surely going to remain constant or rise considerably for the foreseeable future. This morning I had the pleasure to meet a manager at the local independent bike shop in work, and from his comments, bike sales are on the up, however based on seasonality and natural increases in prices across the board he is unable to give a detailed increase figure.

Now signals the time to either reduce your fuel consumption, through better driving technique, car sharing, park & ride schemes, public transport, alternative cars or converting to bike.

Here's a few ideas.

Better Driving Technique

Already on this blog we have published ten tips that could save you £120 (probably about £200 a year now, in our article, Drive Efficiency ... Drive Efficiently.

Car Sharing

If you drive to work from the same location as other from your work, or would like to start car sharing with randomers.

National Carsharing Network
Lift Share
Travel Wise Northern Ireland

These links can give you advice on car sharing.

Park & Ride Schemes

These are schemes where you drive to a point and make use of public transport for the remainder of the journey. These often operate from locations outside major cities. A flat rate fee offers a return bus / train service and parking, and could work out substantially cheaper than parking in the city centre. Often services offer bus / trains every ten minutes to ensure the service is easy, frequent and feasible for the majority. More info on specific schemes can be found at Park & Ride. However this is not a definitive guide.

Picture: Upgrading the Network

Translink are upgrading the rail network in Northern Ireland between Ballymena and Coleraine in an attempt to improve travel times and comfort.

Rapid Transport Network for Belfast City

Department for Regional Development, announced yesterday a high class bus-based network could cut commuting times while costing significantly less than that of a light rail system similar to that of the Luas in Dublin. Since the Luas was launched in June 2004 some 100 million journeys have been made with 80,000 people travelling on it every day.

Three pilot routes have been considered in the studies: one running from Dundonald in the East to the city centre; one serving the development in Titanic Quarter and onwards to Queen’s University and the City Hospital; and one into the West from the city centre to the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) and beyond into West Belfast.

The report by Atkins & KPMG noted instead of the £590m needed to establish a light rail network, the consultants say a high quality bus-based system with vehicles carrying 120 passengers, could be built for close to a quarter of the cost at £147m, however there should be the option of migrating to light rail in the future should the demand.

Conor Murphy, Regional Development Minister's Statement

"Transportation experts have concluded that the most appropriate system for the city is a modern and high class bus based system. Rapid transit is an exciting prospect for Belfast and I have recently visited the Netherlands and have seen examples of what could be possible here.

It is however, important to share the findings and recommendations of the studies with those who can assist me in reaching a final decision on what is the best system for Belfast. I therefore want to hear the views from a range of key interests taking into account all the facts of the studies, including the likely number of passengers and costs and therefore intend to engage with members of the Regional Development Committee and subsequently with other parties whose contribution will be important and vital.

Many people may not know precisely what is meant by rapid transit but it is something new that we have never had before in terms of public transport. I envisage it as a service offering improved speed, reliability, comfort and access features over conventional public transport. It is a service that should be segregated from other traffic as much as possible with new vehicle designs that enhance the journey and reflect Belfast as a 21st century city.

This is our opportunity to create a new dynamic transportation system for the city, one that helps link people to jobs, hospitals, schools and colleges. One that links communities to the city centre and the emerging opportunities in Titanic Quarter. A system that can be expanded to other parts of the city in due course, a system that attracts drivers out of their cars as they see the advantages of rapid transit.

The Programme for Government highlights rapid transit as a key priority with a commitment to start work on the first scheme by 2011. I have secured £111million for rapid transit and continue to explore opportunities to draw in additional private sector finance."

This development is a new provision for public transportation in Belfast, and from media reports the service is likely to be extremely affordable, as a way of keeping demand for the service and enticing car users on to public transport. Should the scheme be implemented in such a way to achieve its aims it will reduce traffic congestion, journey times and CO2 emissions, providing benefit to the city and the environment.

The Fastest Way to Cross London

With the AA having announced the average speed in Central London having fallen to a meager 10mph, it reminded me of an episode of Top Gear which aired last year, the episode was repeated this week, and is available to view on the iPlayer as of writting.

Many races have been performed before pitting cars, bikes and public transport together in a bid to see which method of transport is the fastest, but the BBC Top Gear team added a boat.

Starting from Kew Gardens, the most westernly point on the North Circular, the team were to travel across London one of the world's busiest cities, to the City Airport. The most easternly point on the North Circular. Of course you will have to watch on BBC iPlayer or YouTube to find out who wins, if you even need to watch.

But here is some screen shots;

What Ever Happened to the Great British Holiday?

Walkers Crisps recently started a promotion on their crisp packets called Walkers Brit Trips, you simply collect "e-points" from packets by entering the individual code online. The range of trips is extensive with entry to theme parks, 2 for 1 on many adventure pursuits and discounts on short breaks.

The main reason I was encouraged by this promotion was that, more often than not we holiday in foreign countries, and failing to even consider UK locations as an acceptable getaway spot. I too am guilty of this, failing to have even seen some of the local tourist hubs in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. In actual fact I have been to London airports many more times than being in London.

So what happened to the great British holiday?

From the most recent UK Tourism Survey figures, we did take 79.2 million domestic holidays in the UK in 2006, spending £13.6 billion. In addition to these overnight trips, there were almost 270 million day visits made to the British coast, generating a further £3.1 billion spend. On average each trip was of 3.9 hours with an average party size of 3.5 people.

UK Top Ten Cities for Domestic Trips;

1. London
2. Manchester
3. Birmingham
4. Bristol
5. Blackpool
6. Leeds
7. Scarborough
8. Newcastle
9. Liverpool
10. York

In 2005, the UKTS found that we took 86.6m domestic holidays. These figures have been continually decreasing year-on-year. Changes in UKTS methodology make direct comparisons with the figures for previous years difficult.

UK Top Ten Cities for Business Trips;

1. London
2. Birmingham
3. Manchester
4. Leeds
5. Bristol
6. Nottingham
7. Liverpool
8. Newcastle
9. York
10. Hull

The growth of low-cost airlines have somewhat contributed to the demise of the domestic holiday, as more often than not, an airline ticket to Paris is cheaper than a rail ticket to London from Birmingham. Cost is an imminent factor and overall you can travel to pretty much anywhere in Europe for the same price (or even sometimes less) as travelling within the UK. Obviously this price differeniation does little to promote UK interests.

This means that we are travelling further by air, year on year, we don't need to even see the figures, just the constant news that UK airports are planning expansions, with additional terminals and runways to meet current existing and future demand.

Holidaying is a bit of an exact science, as to which is more environmentally sound way to travel. For example, London to Paris with EasyJet emits 56kg of CO2, not including additional travel to and from the airports. Eurostar emits only 5.5kg of CO2 per person. The driving distance, is about 289 miles, including using the train to cross the channel, depending on your car and the number of passengers, you could be looking at anything from 51kg of CO2 for the smallest car with one passenger, to 210kg for the most inefficient car. With more passengers this will obviously decrease. But if you were to drive to Brighton alone, you would emit more emissions than travelling to Paris by eurostar.

Green journeys not only matter to and from the local supermarket, but when we travel to the other side of the globe, but not only is travelling green difficult to calculate its nightmare over huge distances, with connections and stop overs, and in today's society time is a highly important factor in transport costs, especially for business, and individuals with limited holiday time.

Green travel is tough but if you can do it I applaude you, I am thinking of my next planned trip, Belfast > Bristol > London > Paris, in less than five days, and of course back again. With such little time I may have to hypocritically fly part of the journey.

If you want information on how to travel anywhere by train, check out the Man in Seat Sixty One, the link is in our blogroll.

Translink Increase Passenger Fares

Bus and Train fares in Northern Ireland fares are set to rise from the 31 March by 3% for Metro, 4% for Ulsterbus and 5% for Northern Ireland Railways. Unaffected will be the price of most day tickets, Metro multi-journey tickets and rail weekly and monthly tickets would remain unchanged.

In a time when government are alledgedly encouraging people from their cars, an increase in cost of public transport whilst justified by rising fuel costs is unfortunately pressing those existing users and decreasing the financial incentive to switch. Northern Ireland has one of the lowest usages of public transport, at half the UK average, and with that one of the highest rates of car dependancy. This was also a factor in why Northern Ireland council areas were rated so poorly in the Green Barometer III report in November 2007.

However, Translink have (even with past fare rises), seen a considerable rise in passenger numbers and journeys over the past few years with a growth of 20% on Metro since 2005, over 20% on Goldline since 2004 and a massive 40% on NI Railways since 2002.

In other news, they have joined forces with the new £400 million Victoria Square Complex in Belfast to offer employees an opportunity to travel for free. Through Translink’s Corporate Commuter Initiative (CCI) Victoria Square employees issued with travel passes to encourage them to commute to and from work by public transport. This award-winning and incentivised scheme is aimed at increasing awareness and the use of Translink services by businesses across Northern Ireland.

“Our objective is to identify and work in partnership with employers that wish to be environmentally responsible. Together we ensured all personnel had access to timetables and our on site surgeries provided staff with travel information particular to their individual needs. By encouraging staff to trial the bus or train our goal is to persuade many to use public transport regularly to get to and from work. The new Victoria Square will provide over 3,000 jobs and currently have no provision for staff parking therefore we are delighted to work with them in this way to support our ongoing, intensive environmental awareness campaign. Indeed, we welcome the opportunity to work with any local businesses that are committed to developing green travel plans for their staff whether they are new organisations or those relocating staff to new premises,”
Carol Marsden, Brand Manager, Translink

The Woman Who Stops Traffic

With road transport being a major contributor to UK CO2 emissions, with approximately 91m tonnes emitted annually, and up 1.3% on 2006. Channel Four last night screened the Woman Who Stops Traffic, one woman named Kris, with her aim of reducing gridlock in the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, which has one of the highest car ownership rates in the country, through a no car day.

Focusing her efforts on three different local traffic hot spots, the eight local schools, high street and the industrial estate which employs 8000 residents. After a harsh initial response from community leaders and the community itself, a four week campaign to promote the car free day on 01 February, Kris and her supports eagerly watched on to see if the fruits of their labour, council money and the future of Marlow. A shaky start saw large numbers of vehicles at day break, but by morning, the areas around the traffic hot spots were literally no car zones. Reducing traffic by up to 40%, and reducing those pupils that travel to school by car to only 10%.

If you missed the first episode in this new series, why not log on to 4oD, to stream or download the latest channel four television shows. Is this the model for the rest of the country?

The show follows on from Transport for London's latest increase in the congestion charge for cars which exceed emissions of 225g/km (or for cars manufactured before March 2001, an engine size over 3.0 litres). Cars that do not meet the new threshold will be forced to pay a congestion charge of £25. But the types of car that fall into this category include some family favourites, with some larger vehicles such as the Land Rover Freelander 2 2.2, BMW X5 3.0d and Porsche Boxster 2.7 falling into the lower price category.

To find out if your car is over or under check out the government website, VCA Car Fuel Data.

"Some really surprising cars will be caught by the £25 charge. A 2.0-litre petrol Vauxhall Zafira - a family MPV - emits 228g/km of CO2 and will have to pay. And there are plenty of 4x4s and sports cars that will pay the minimum charge of £8."
Dan Stevens, News Editor, Autocar

An alternative to the car is train travel is often seen as a relatively clean way to travel, and rightly so. The carbon emissions produced by train travel are between two to three times less than by road. Currently, rail travel accounts for about 7% of traffic but emits only about 0.2% of the carbon monoxide, 2% of nitrous oxides and 1% of volatile organic compounds produced by the transportation sector. The best electric trains produce less than a third of carbon than diesel trains, and with the efficiency of electricity production improving this too will get better. The trouble is, only 40% of trains in the UK are electric, the lowest proportion in Europe.

I will be reviewing the new more efficient, carbon friendly and shorter Eurostar service to Paris, in May, as I take a short trip to London and Paris (if Eurostar would like to send me free tickets just let me know). For more information on train travel, the Man in Seat Sixty-One can help.

Whilst on the topic of trains, and in more general terms Stagecoach, the firm that operates bus services across the UK, holding a 16% market share, and controls 25% of the rail market, including South West Trains, East Midlands Trains, and a 49% stake in Virgin Trains, the operator of the West Coast Main Line. This week announced "encouraging" like-for-like revenue growth was 14% on train services and up 7% on bus services compared with the same period (fours months from Oct 31).

Sorry for the late updates as I have been very busy at work and ill lately. In positive terms it has made me think about greening my work more as a solution to future unresolved problems. The news over transport emissions in recent weeks has shown that we need to tackle what is a growing dependence on cars, with the main method by local and national government of getting those out of their cars via green taxes, but are these effective methods?.

With ever increasing fuel costs, added tax is certainly pricing lowest income families out of the market, the new £25 congestion charge and higher road taxes will focus on high CO2 emitting vehicles, the majority of which are the highest priced and aimed at the luxury market. The hefty increase will certainly serve as deterant to high emitting cars in London, and should make people think twice about what they buy, as in future the bar will be lowered to include more cars.

I do not live in London, but since Tuesday night I have been transfixed about buying a new bike, as a method of travelling to and from work and general exercise, maybe even for my late night lurks to Tesco. But in a funny way I find myself asking the same questions as aired in the Woman Who Stops Traffic. Where will I lock it up? Will it be safe? Will I be safe? ... I shall update you on my outcome next week when I will confirm my final decisions. Which I hope will be a resounding "get on yer bike". As I am a bike newbie any advice would be welcome, hence I might ask some blogger out there in the field to write an article.

Train Fare Woes

Today came the announcement from the Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc), that Season ticket and standard day return fares across the UK would be rising from January 2008 on average 4.8%. Cheap day returns, open and advance fares would rise by an average of 5.4%.

"We need the revenue from fares to pay for investment in the railway for the benefit of passengers We are providing a higher-performing railway with new, refurbished and more punctual trains and better stations."
George Muir, Director General, Atoc

With passenger numbers on the railways at their highest levels ever, passenger groups and the shadow transport secretary have hit back at these rises.

"Passengers will be dismayed that fares are going up again, especially as on most routes they have no choice about which train company to use. Many commuters will have to fork out hundreds of extra pounds for their next annual season ticket."
Anthony Smith, Chief Executive, Passenger Focus

"Labour's fingerprints are all over these fare rises. We have now had years of escalating above-inflation increases which are hitting many family budgets hard."
Theresa Villiers, Shadow Transport Secretary

I have to oppose any price rises in train fares, in reality we should be looking to reduce train fares in the UK. In the last ten years passenger numbers have increased 42%, but fares have risen year on year. With this there have been increased costs to run the services, and the increase in fuel prices needs to be recouped. However, the increasing fuel prices may price people from their cars on to public transport, further increasing the numbers using the trains, and putting more pressure on the existing rolling stock which is currently already over burdened. Train operators could implement strategies, or information systems to better adapt to the demands of their service ensuring trains are used more efficiently rather than invest in rolling stock which may not be required.

Government are looking to reduce the funding to public transport, yet the revenues from taxation on cars far dwarfs that of the funding given to for-profit companies which are making huge profits at the expense of the passengers.

Reducing the costs of public transport (eventually to a free service) is the way forward to ensure the UK meets targets on CO2 reductions, and as the price gap further expands between public transport and private car ownership, people would be more attracted to public transport.

Proposed changes from 2 Jan 2008 (Regulated / Unregulated Fares)

• Arriva Trains Wales, 4.8%, 4.8%
• c2c, 4.8%, 4.8%
• Chiltern Railways, 4.8%, 5.1%
• CrossCountry, 4.8%, 7.0%
• East Midlands Trains, 4.8%, 7.0%
• First Capital Connect, 4.8%, 4.8%
• First Great Western, 4.8%, 6.1%
• First ScotRail, 4.8%, 4.8%
• First TransPennine Express, 5.0%, 6.4%
• Gatwick Express, 3.8%, 5.0%
• GNER (Nat Express E Coast), 4.8%, 6.6%
• Heathrow Express, n/a, 0.0%
• Hull Trains, n/a, 0.0%
• London Midland, 4.8%, 4.8%
• Merseyrail, 3.8%, 5.0%
• Northern Rail, 4.8%, 5.7%
• one, 4.8%, 6.8%
• Southeastern, 6.8%, 4.8%
• Southern, 4.8%, 4.8%
• South West Trains, 4.8%, 4.3%
• Virgin Trains, 4.8%, 4.8%
• Average, 4.8%, 5.4%

TfL in £9.65m Order of Hydrogen Buses

As part of Transport for London's continued commitment to the environment, mayor Ken Livingstone has announced an order of ten Wright Group badged hydrogen powered buses to be delivered by 2010.

All ten of the new Wrightbus single deck vehicles will be powered by a hybrid-electric drive system, five of which will incorporate Ballard Fuel Cells, with the other five buses utilising a hydrogen internal combustion engine developed by Ford Power Products. As there is no carbon in the fuel, hydrogen-powered vehicles produce no carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide or particulate emissions. They also have the additional benefit of being exceptionally quiet in operation.

Use of hydrogen also opens up the possibility of creating fuel from renewable sources, which can reduce world dependence on imported oil and other fossil fuels. Hydrogen can be derived from water through electrolysis, a process that can be achieved with clean electricity generated from solar, wind, or hydroelectric power.

“Hydrogen technology offers a sustainable, safe and clean power source which is ideally suited for a densely populated, major international city like London. Working closely with our technical partners and Transport for London, this order is another significant step towards making the vision of a “hydrogen economy” a reality and demonstrates our determination to be at the vanguard of development of ever cleaner and even more efficient buses.”
Jonathon Poynton, Business Development Director, The Wright Group

Wrightbus has played a proactive role in the development of cleaner buses in the capital, which has already seen 12 Hybrid Electric Vehicles already in successful operation on two TfL routes.

eurostar Carbon Neutral from November, and A Little Faster

eurostar have decided to offset their CO2 emissions in full as from November 14th 2007. As part of their new ten point plan to "tread lightly" on the environment and reduce their emissions by 25% directly through efficiency and waste reduction by 2012. Consequently, changes across all areas of their business, from the big things like energy efficiency, paperless ticketing and waste management, through supply chain selection to smaller cultural changes like recycling in their offices.

Ten-Point Plan

• Reducing paper usage by switching to e-tickets and bar code ticketing downloaded to mobile phones; undertaking direct marketing via email and web-based information; and where paper is unavoidable, sourcing from sustainable forests or recycled paper, and recycling all used paper
• Separating, sorting and recycling all on-board waste, including food waste, by the most appropriate methods
• Ensuring on-board disposable items (e.g. cups, plates, napkins) are either biodegradable (made from maize extract) or fully recyclable
• Replacing train air-conditioning refrigerants with the less environmentally damaging chemical R134a by 2008 – seven years before the EU deadline
• Refurbishing or de-branding and recycling used staff uniforms
• Sourcing on-train food from local sources in UK, France or Belgium wherever available, including organic suppliers, or Fairtrade for overseas supplies
• Ensuring that lighting, heating and mechanical plant at stations, depots and offices are as energy efficient as possible; developing a ‘switch-off’ culture; and sourcing electricity from greener sources of energy
• Reusing water from train-washing at the new Temple Mills maintenance depot, and investing in rainwater collection to further reduce consumption
• Sorting and recycling waste from stations, offices and the Temple Mills maintenance depot, with the goal of zero disposal to landfill; and with 80 per cent of waste to be recycled by 2009
• Helping travellers reduce CO2 emissions when accessing Eurostar services by providing journey planner information and ticket sales for public transport options, and developing new travel initiatives and partnerships

It is faster to travel by train from London to Paris, than plane, after the opening of new high speed lines where trains can travel at up to 186mph, from the new home of eurostar at St Pancras. The journey from Paris to London, took a mere 2 hours 3 minutes and 39 seconds. The expected average journey time will be about 2 hours 15 minutes. Construction of the line and revamping St Pancras cost £5.8bn in public funds. Of the funding, £800m went on redeveloping St Pancras station, meaning the cost of installing the line was about £73.5m per mile. This compares with £28.4m to build a mile of a three-lane motorway in 2005, according to a Parliamentary answer from May last year.

"Today marks Britain's entry into the European high-speed rail club. Journey times to Paris, even for people travelling from Yorkshire, would be broadly the same as for those flying due to lengthier check-in times at airports."
Richard Brown, Eurostar, Chief Executive

Anticipated Journey Times

• London-Paris 2 hrs 15 mins
• London-Brussels 1hr 51 mins
• London-Lille 1hr 20 mins

Not only is it faster, it is also more environmentally friendly, even without the full offsetting of emissions, per passenger eurostar emissions are only 10.9kg of CO2 (London - Paris, Return Journey). In comparison, easyJet who I highlighted yesterday as being one of the most efficient airlines, emit 112kg of CO2 for the same return journey, plus this does not include the emissions from getting to out of city airports. To offset each passengers emissions will only cost about nine to twelve pence. Seven services to Paris and five to Brussels will start running from Ebbsfleet from 19 November and a ticket office has been opened at Bluewater Shopping Centre two miles from the station. Eurostar tickets from London to Paris start from £59 return.

"Doing nothing is not an option. What Eurostar is doing is a plan for the future."
Stuart Rose, Marks & Spencer, Chief Executive

Picture: Solar Powered Bus Station

Revolve has announced the winners of its photo competition at their website. One image that I liked is titled Ghost Bus, so had to post it here. It pictures Vauxhall Cross Bus Station at night, the second busiest bus station in London, serving around 45,000 passengers per day with 12 bus routes calling at the strikingly designed interchange.

Vauxhall Cross incorporates cutting edge photovoltaic technology to draw energy from daylight, generating as much as 30% of the energy required to power the bus station, enough to light eight three-bedroom houses for a year. The cantilevers on the interchange structure reach out to the sun and will generate electricity for the 24-hour station by turning daylight into power.

In recent times, London's bus usage has increased by 40 per cent with a 5 per cent of drivers switching from cars to public transport. The only shift of its kind in any major city anywhere in the world. After the success of the world's largest fuel-cell bus fleet trial, The Mayor of London plans to introduce 70 new hydrogen vehicles to London by 2010.

Pedal Power: Borrow a Bike Because its Fast

In the recent annual commuter race by Transport Alternatives, to see whether two, four or many wheels were fastest in New York, of course the bike won. Whilst the study was not statistically proven it this case it was the fastest method of transport from the starting point at a Brooklyn cafe to the finishing point at East 26th Street and First Avenue Manhattan. The 15 minute, 4.13 mile ride was completed by Luci Olewinski, a nursepractitioner who bikes to work regularly. That aside it was also the cheapest, most environmentally friendly and healthiest option.

"I'll be relaxing in the park before my competitors even cross the East River"
Luci Olewinski, Predicting her imminent win before the start of the commuter race

The bike industry in the US has annual sales in excess of $5.8 billion, accounting for new bike sales, parts and maintainance. 2005 was an all time high and this trend is continuing. New York City alone has seen an increase of over 50% in daily cyclists in the last ten years, up to 120 000 from 75 000. According to 2000 Census figures, New Yorkers have the longest average commute in the country, about 45 minutes.

However, the average bicycle commute in New York City only takes 30 minutes. Across the other side of the Atlantic one high street retailer has been trying to enlighten the residents of London to get back on their bikes. Halfords, for one month placed ten bikes at ten locations as part of their Borrow the Bike project. The idea was that people could take the bicycles when needed and ride to their desired location, leaving the bike to be picked up by someone else to continue the usage. The scheme attracted lots of attention and thousands of people went to the dedicated site to leave comments.

“What a great idea – I found one at Euston station. The bike saved me from a packed rush hour tube. I was home in minutes!”
Dawn, London

In Dublin, Ireland, they have also implemented a similar scheme to reduce traffic congestion in the capital city, where an estimated 25 000 people cycle to work every day. The council plans to have 500 bicycles located at 25 points around the city for public use 24 hours a day. The bikes are "virtually vandal proof", will not get a puncture and have no visible cables. For a small fee, you can collect a bike from one of the 25 collection points and with that cycle to your desired location, leaving the bike at another collection point. Each bike will have a micro chip to allow it to be traced should it not be retuned to a designated point. The scheme which should be available to use in three months time is funded by JC Decaux, in exhange they will be allowed to erect a further 120 permanent advertising boards and remove 1800 other boards as part of the overall deal.

"We have to do something about the chronic traffic problems and congestion in the city centre, but I'm a bit concerned that the council isn't operating the scheme independently and is linking up with an advertiser"
Bronwen Maher, Dublin City Councillor, Green Party

Whilst the Dublin scheme is being fully implemented it doesn't offer the full unrestricted and free service that the Halfords short term scheme offered. By restricting the usage to the end user, and with that the additional charge I fear this will deter many from using the scheme. This is where the Halfords scheme excelled. However, the Halfords scheme did have one proble, none of the bikes were returned. The idea was, at the end of the scheme the £160 Carrera Subway bikes would be donated to the charity Bikes4Africa. The bikes would then be distributed to students who face ten mile walks to school.

If you have an old bike which is not being used consider donating it to Bikes4Africa.

"None have yet been returned. We know they are still out there. We have had reports of sightings but nothing specific. We probably won't get them all back."
Halfords, Borrow The Bike