Sustainable Transport Business Breakfast
7th November 2019
On Thursday 7th November 2019, The Future Economy Network had an early start running an exciting business breakfast on Sustainable Transport in central Bath. The Graze kindly hosted the event, a wonderful restaurant space where delegates were able to watch the city waking up around them.
First up, we welcomed James Freeman, MD for First West of England. James noted that the speed of change within sustainability is astonishing and that air quality has risen up the agenda but more needs to be done to ease congestion. One way in which First are easing congestion is by speeding up the process by passengers booking their tickets via their smart phones. He highlighted the difficulties experienced with the Bath Park and Ride diesel/electric hybrid and First’s decision to therefore upgrade their fleet to EuroVI standards, funded via Defra and to invest in 99 bio-methane buses that will be in service in Bristol by April 2020. They feel that until electric buses are more reliable and affordable, this is the better option. In Bath, there is a possibility that First will opt for hydrogen fuel cells and leapfrog bio-methane.
Next, we welcomed Alex Earl, UK Country Manager from Alfen. Alex gave an overview of Alfen, who build electric vehicle (EV) charge points. To date, they have built 60-70,000 charge points and have recently won a tender to roll out charge points in the Bath, North Somerset and South Glouce areas. Alex discussed the benefits of driving EVs; they are quick, smooth, high tech, have zero tailpipe emissions and have half the life cycle emissions of conventional internal combustion engines (ICE). Alex then suggested that range anxiety is not a new phenomenon, in fact, 800,000 ICE cars run out of petrol/diesel in the UK every year! He showed the intelligent dashboard in his EV which helps to calculate range and suggested that given that most people drive an average of 30 miles per day, range really shouldn’t be too much of a concern. Alex highlighted the number of charge points available in the UK using the ZapMap app as well as new EV models that are becoming available in 2020. He discussed the financials associated with running an EV; no car tax, no ULEZ charge, extremely low running costs and 20-30% savings in maintenance costs, and finished by discussing the future of mobility which will include multi-modal forms of transport and vehicles which are ACES; Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared.
Finally, we welcomed Jon Usher, Head of Partnerships from Sustrans. Jon gave an overview of Sustrans; a walking and cycling campaigning and consultancy organisation before discussing Bath within the context of becoming a liveable city. He highlighted the need to both encourage and enable sustainable transport options and suggested that Bath is the ideal scale to enable sustainable short journeys. He suggested that the topographical challenges of cycling in Bath can be overcome by making better use of the flat spaces and by increased uptake of electric bikes. Jon suggested that with 2 out of 5 car journeys in the West of England being a distance of less than 2km, combined with the health implications of inadequate physical activity and toxic air, there is a need to tackle all vehicles, not just ICE vehicles. Jon explained that there is also a social element to the creation of a liveable city, with traffic eroding the opportunities for social interactions. Jon ended by citing Waltham Forest as an area of good practice, where all services can be found within a 20 minute walk from people’s homes.
The seminars finished off with some productive questions from the audience and some engaging 60 second pitches. The event concluded with some valuable networking and finishing up the wonderful refreshments.
The Future Economy Network would like to offer sincere thanks to the speakers and to The Graze for their support. Also, a huge thank you to all attendees – we hope you found it an interesting and insightful event.
If anyone is interested in sponsorship opportunities at the Festival of Sustainable Business 2020, please email us at festival@thefutureeconomygroup.co.uk
The Future Economy Network look forward to seeing you at another event soon! Details of upcoming events can be found here!