75 First Aberdeen bus drivers have been recognised as some of the best on the road and have been presented with the ‘GreenRoad Fleet Elite Award.’
The award is based on driver’s ‘DriveGreen’ performance and is designed to reward and recognise the safest and greenest drivers within the business.
First’s unique DriveGreen system, which was launched in Aberdeen in 2009, is designed to provide customers with a safer, smoother journey, whilst also reducing the company’s carbon footprint.
A DriveGreen ‘traffic light’ monitor is fitted to vehicle dashboards on every one of First’s buses, which helps show the driver how well he/she is driving. The monitor displays a static green light if the driver is driving at low risk, or flashes amber or red if a bus driver carries out an unwanted driving manoeuvre such as heavy braking or rapid acceleration. Points are given for each event and the fewer points a driver has, the better their DriveGreen score is.
First Aberdeen Bus Driver, James Hay, was one of the 75 drivers to receive the ‘GreenRoad Fleet Elite Award’. The 26 year old from Ferryhill has been a driver at First for three years and said: “I’m really pleased to have received the award. It’s important to me that my customers have a safe and a smooth trip.
“Since First introduced DriveGreen a few years ago it has certainly helped me improve my driving skills - I’ve even had customers compliment me on how smooth their journey is. Now when I am driving the car in my time off I continue to use the DriveGreen principles and drive more smoothly – it’s safer and saves petrol.”
Duncan Cameron, Managing Director of First Aberdeen, said: “Our drivers have embraced our groundbreaking DriveGreen technology and as a result are providing customers with better, safer journeys and reducing our carbon footprint. I’m very proud that so many of our drivers have earned the Fleet Elite Award.”
About DriveGreeen
Every one of FirstGroup’s 6,500 buses, including the 175 based in Aberdeen, are fitted with the latest GPS technology that can detect dozens of driving movements per second and immediately lets the driver know how well they are driving.
The DriveGreen equipment picks up on acceleration and braking patterns as well as corner, lane and speed handling. A ‘traffic light’ LED monitor on vehicle dashboards displays a static green light if the driver is driving at low risk, or flashes amber or red if a bus driver carries out an unwanted driving manoeuvre such as heavy braking or rapid acceleration.
The driver can then make immediate changes to their driving to ensure buses travel more efficiently to produce fewer CO² emissions and more smoothly, improving the journey experience for passengers.
The technology used for DriveGreen is provided by US company, GreenRoad. GreenRoad launched its ‘Fleet Elite Awards’ in February 2012 recognising good driving behaviour across its clients worldwide.