Some good videos

I thought I would add a couple of cool videos that I’ve seen!!! Both are linked in to The Prince’s Trust Accounting For Sustainability – all with some interesting characters in them. The first involves a number of business leaders including Sir Richard Branson, Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis and the second features Stephen Fry.  The first of the videos again highlights the point made in my last post about how sustainability can indeed assist in reducing the cost of doing business, and should be embedded into day to day process rather than operate as something that sounds nice in a CSR policy.

I saw another horrendous video yesterday on Mother Jones where they’ve uncovered an excerpt from some utterly ridiculous ultra-right wing religious fanatics claiming that environmentalism is part of some satanic world order – aside from dismissing the link between fossil fuel usage and climate change, I think that they perhaps miss the point in the Bible about being custodians of the earth – which we are all quite bad at!

Why will people only share cabs during a tube strike?

On Wednesday, there is some likelihood that there will be a tube strike on the London Undergound and Docklands Light Railway. When it happened last year, there were a number of taxi sharing initiatives set up by Transport for London (TfL) that were reported on. It really is a shame that taxi sharing (and car sharing) is not part of normal life here as it is in other countries as it is a great way to save money, meet new people and reduce your impact on the environment. Peter Jackson from the BBC considered this last year during the tube strike and his leading comment was:

“Londoners hit by a 48-hour Tube strike are being encouraged to taxi-share to keep the city moving. It’s an idea that makes sense on any day of the year – but can the notoriously reticent British really take it to heart?”

It is an unfortunate set of circumstances but pretty true. Typically, our customers save 30% of the shared component of their fare when they share, so there is an economic argument in favour of sharing, and in these tough financial times, that’s not a bad deal.

PS. If you do want a cab during the strike, I would book early online or via 0844 669 4444!

The Launch of Tesco Carbon Voyage

We are launching a ride sharing service called Tesco Carbon Voyage this week in partnership with Tesco and the University of Manchester’s Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI). The service will be operating as a twelve week trial at three of Tesco’s big stores in North West London; if it proves successful, it may be extended. To visit the site, click here. The service will be offered to Tesco Clubcard holders in three Tesco Extra stores in North West London.

This is a really important activity; 84% of all passenger car trips in the United Kingdom only have one occupant according to DfT figures, so any opportunity to increase vehicle occupancy can have a impact on reducing carbon emissions, congestion as well as cost. The service we provide will be great in being able to get a baseline of the impact of customer travel to and from these stores and then identify potential financial and environmental savings.

What we are trying to do here is firstly understand travel patterns to and from supermarkets and then provide Tesco customers with a safe and convenient way to share their trips to and from their stores. The customers of the service will be able to book via phone, text or online. We will capture all the financial and environmental data so customers can find out how much they are saving through the ride-sharing scheme.

At the end of the trial, the SCI will also interview several hundred participants to get a detailed understanding of their views to such a service – what is a good enough incentive to get people to share, what barriers are there and so on. Something that is unique here is that not only are people being surveyed about their travel patterns, but we have the opportunity to see what they actually do. The SCI has also written a short information piece on this trial here.

As a start up, this is a tremendous opportunity to deploy a service on a very large scale and demonstrate the value of what we have to offer, and we’re really pleased to have been selected by these organisations to help them deliver this service.

Carbon Conversation

Last Tuesday, we were one of the presenters at the Carbon Conversation during which Greenbang and Cisco released a report which can be downloaded here. We discussed the basics around transport and the environment; ultimately there is a huge amount that businesses and organisations can do now to reduce their carbon impact, and saving lots of money at the same time.

The Carbon Conversation, February 2010: Carbon Voyage

Interview with Founder

A few months ago, James Swanston was interviewed by Hugh Mason of Pembridge to discuss his journey through the G2I program run in London.  Anyway, here is the interview!