First UK Bus has picked up a prestigious prize at the Environmental Excellence Awards 2011. Beating off stiff competition from the likes of Whitbread, Hewlett-Packard, and Sony Europe, First took home the Carbon Reduction Award for its efforts to cut its carbon emissions and improve its overall fuel efficiency through the roll out of its innovative DriveGreen system.
Powered by GreenRoad Technologies, First’s DriveGreen system - which aims to both improve fuel efficiency and passenger comfort while also cutting carbon emissions - was rolled out by the business in 2009. In implementing the system, the company had to equip 8500 buses, working over 110 sites and changing the behaviour of its 25,000 drivers around the UK. The programme has delivered real results though; like-for-like fuel efficiency has been improved by 4.9% and the company has saved 23,000 tonnes of CO2 overall, the equivalent of taking more than 5,000 small cars off the road each year.
DriveGreen works by recording all the movements a vehicle makes and recording them against a green, amber and red scale. Staff receive instantaneous feedback about their driving performance via a traffic light led display on the dashboard of their vehicles. If they are driving well a driver will see a solid green light but if they perform an unwanted manoeuvre, for instance harsh braking, or acceleration while turning, then an amber or red light will appear.
Notably the on-bus system is supported by a web-based programme which allows all drivers, and managers, to view their performance, comparing it against others driving the same routes. This in turn allows everyone to monitor trends and identify areas for improvement.
Talking about the entry, Judges at the Environmental Excellence Awards described First as the clear favourite in the category. They said “In a sector that has not always put the green agenda first, First has done so, and done it well”. Others in the same category were: Whitbread, Enworks, Hewlett-Packard, PIL Membranes, Sony Europe and a partnership entry from JD Wetherspoon and DHL.
John Bickerton, Technical Standards Manager for First UK Bus picked up the award at the event, which was held at London’s Hurlingham Club on Thursday 3 November. He says:”We are thrilled to have picked up this prestigious award and that our work with DriveGreen has been recognised in this way. We have won a number of bus industry awards for this technology but it is particularly nice to win when we are pitted against other big blue chip organisations representing quite diverse industry groups.
“DriveGreen has been a real success for First but much of the success we have seen is due to the hard work of those DriveGreen champions around our business who have been pushing the message hard amongst our driving staff. We’d like to share this award win with all those people who have worked hard to deliver the real results we have seen.”
GreenRoad continues to support First and the DriveGreen system and is currently developing the system to deliver even more savings by monitoring engine idling and enabling drivers to see where they can reduce their fuel consumption further.
For more information about First log onto www.firstgroup.com
For more information about GreenRoad log onto www.greenroad.com