I’m proud to work for a company that is clearly taking action and not just making promises. If I could influence people to understand the significance of these actions and even make one small but powerful change too, such as taking a bus once in a while instead of the car.
One double decker can remove up to 70 cars from the road. Just think of that in terms of congestion and emissions alone. Also just making more people aware of the digital technology offering from the App, including pre-paid tickets, contactless payments, timetabling information and more. This all makes using the bus so much more convenient. And we also need to consider the role of buses in our communities and we must support them to keep them reaching and connecting people especially in the more rural areas.
To give you more of an insight to some of the things we are doing as a company:
Caledonia [Depot in Glasgow] is to be the UK’s largest charging hub!!
We provide easy and convenient mobility, improving quality of life by connecting people and communities.
First Bus is at the forefront of the green transport revolution, and we continue to fast-track our efforts to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions in our communities. By improving the air quality in the areas we operate within, we are supporting the health of our customers, and by cutting carbon emissions we are putting our weight behind Scotland’s ambitious plans for tackling the global threat of climate change.
With World Environment Day 2021 just behind us, it’s a timely moment to reflect on First Bus’ role in combatting the climate emergency. The annual initiative, which fell on Saturday June 5th, is led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment.
First Bus has a very important role in this combating this global crisis. We have already committed to Zero Emission Mission 2035 – our pledge is to no longer purchase diesel buses after 2022, and to run a 100% emission free fleet across the UK by 2035. But we’re not waiting until 2035 to get cracking, repairing our planet starts now. We’ve already seen huge investment in the retrofitting of over 1000 vehicles across the division, coupled with further investment in hydrogen and electric vehicles and the supporting infrastructure necessary to run this emerging fleet at scale.
These industry-leading technologies go way beyond the vehicles themselves, and our flagship depot in Caledonia, Glasgow is a shining example of all it takes to make the move to an electric fleet.
Work has begun to transform our Caledonia depot into the UK’s largest Electric Vehicle (EV) charging hub – capable of holding (and charging!) 150 buses once Phase 2 is complete. Phase One is just about ready, allowing a batch of 22 electric buses to hit the streets in time for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change conference.
Caledonia depot’s charging stations will be controlled by the latest in smart charging software to minimise the draw down from the National Grid at peak times, to also keep track of when each vehicle is fully charged… and it can even control pre-heating the interior ready for drivers and customers from the moment they leave the depot. Clever, eh?!
Another really important aspect of all this amazing stuff is education and specifically educating our young people.
We can share all this exciting stuff with them including key information about respect for bus and our staff and the importance of this in their communities. Also the great news that they will be part of the new generation to receive a free bus pass up to the age of 22!
I would like the young and vulnerable people of today to see bus as the fourth emergency service. A joined up approach by us all (like they do in pubs) so we can take people away from dangerous situations. Transport Scotland to agree a system to work with in line with hate crime charter. Local authorities need to play their part and see bus as part of the solution and not the problem in every aspect.
Just for fun:
Crazy things left on buses
How do you manage to forget your prosthetic leg?
Not forgetting false teeth and pet dogs!!
