National Express has joined forces with Westminster Council to ramp up its anti-idling campaign, #DontBeIdle, in a bid to make the capital a healthier city.
As part of the new partnership, the UK’s largest coach operator has been working with the council on educating drivers of public service vehicles about the harmful effects of unnecessary engine idling.
The campaign, which up until now focused on regular-size vehicles, is now aiming bigger and with the recent introduction of the Ultra-low Emission Zone the timing couldn’t be better.
National Express’ Service Delivery Director, Ed Rickard, said: “Most people don’t realise it but coaches give out five times fewer CO2 emissions than a car so travelling by coach is already one of the most environmentally friendly forms of transport.”
“We take our environmental responsibilities seriously and are always looking for ways to be more eco-friendly. Working with Westminster Council on this campaign is a great way to do this and we have been working hard to reduce engine-idling wherever possible across our network.”
Nickie Aiken, Leader at Westminster City Council said: “We have to get the message out there, turning off your engine can save lives. National Express are the first big coach company to support our campaign and are ahead of the game in introducing cleaner, greener vehicles – with their support we can spread the message further and help cut pollution in our city.”
“Our #DontBeIdle campaign is really sparking people’s imagination and I’d urge other businesses to get involved.”
London suffers from the worst air pollution in the country. With 9.9 million drivers in the capital and 370,000,000 miles driven in Westminster each year, road transport contributes to more than half of the city’s most deadly emissions.*
