The Green Coach Company

Coach Travel is the ‘greenest’ form of public transport, not only does it have the lowest carbon emissions, but for every coach, 20 cars are taken off the road, cutting congestion as well as CO₂.   A study undertaken by the CPT (Confederation of Passenger Transport) states that ‘many schools, education authorities and employers recognise these benefits and use coaches to avoid jams, reduce the need for parking spaces and to save money and energy’.

The Government have set themselves the tough target of cutting carbon emissions up to 80% by 2050 and with British transport being responsible for 28% of the UK’s CO₂ emissions, there is lots of scope for this sector to improve.  ‘Just a 10% rise in annual coach journeys could mean more than 17 million fewer car journeys’ (CPT, Britain’s Coaches: Partnership and Passengers).

Bakers Coaches Carbon Neutral Travel Partner 

In order to improve the green credentials of your coach travel become a Bakers Coaches Carbon Neutral Travel Partner.  As all businesses, organisations and schools move into 2010 there is a need set by the Government for us all to assess our Carbon Footprint in order to provide a more sustainable future.  Here at The Green Coach Company we would like to offer you the opportunity to offset the carbon produced by your journey, thereby making it more environmentally friendly.

Example:  A Private Hire going from Biddulph to London and return is 340 miles.  This creates 0.02 tonnes of CO₂ .  In order to offset this against a Clean Energy Portfolio the cost would be as little as £3.75 or for UK Tree Planting £13.50.

Bakers Environmental Statement

‘Bakers Coaches recognises that its business activities have environmental consequences.  We commit to understanding the impact of our activities on the environment and the communities we operate within.  We shall seek to minimise negative impacts by continuously reviewing our environmental performance.’

Our Green Credentials  

Environmentally Friendly: Coach travel is a more environmentally way to travel than aeroplanes and individual cars (every full coach takes approximately 20 cars off the road!).

Purpose Built Depot: Bakers purpose built depot has been designed with environmental concerns at heart.  Our coach wash collects rainwater which falls on the roof and recycles it into a collection tank which holds 45,000 litres, this is then used to wash all the coaches and buses daily, ensuring that we are not taking more supplies from the water cycle.  Water draining from the wash then passes down through the interceptor filters, goes through into the pump house, is filtered and cleaned before it is fed back into the recycle tank for use in the soap application. We recover about 70 per cent of the water so it is very eco-friendly.  To ensure that no fuel and oil pollution is absorbed into the local water table our grounds are built on an ‘terram’ membrane which captures any excess back into the fuel interceptor.  There is little chance of any pollution escaping from the site.  Everything is boxed in and either filtered or separated before it goes into the public drains. We are self sufficient.

Recycling Policies:  Within the offices and garage we have policies in place meaning that all waste paper, plastics and metals are recycled.  Even our shredded paper is put to further use as bedding for horses!  Our highly specified workshop is now heated using waste oil generated from the services of our vehicles again saving valuable fossil fuels, gas, oil or electricity.

Introduction of New Vehicles: All Bakers coaches for Private Hire have at least a Euro 3 engine, enabling low carbon emissions and all are LEZ (Lower Emission Zone) compliant for London.  Some of the more recent vehicles, since 2007 are of a Euro 4 standard.  These Scanias use EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) technology, to further enhance their green credentials.  Our new buses with Cummins engines use the Aqueous Urea Solution to achieve Euro 4 or 5 standard.

Carbon Neutral Coach Travel: New for 2010 Bakers Holidays are pleased to say that all the coach travel on our holidays are carbon neutral, meaning that you can travel on our adventures without worrying about your carbon footprint!  We have calculated all the carbon produced by our vehicles during their tours and have offset this against funded projects such as Clean Energy Portfolio that deliver an equivalent carbon saving elsewhere.

The Way Forward

Bakers Coaches pledges to continue improving its environmental record to produce a more sustainable future for all, with the initiatives below leading the way.

• Extending the use of particulate trap technology to reduce vehicle emissions.
• Continue the programme of fleet replacement with modern vehicles complying to the latest emission standards.
• Increase the re-cycling of used parts in the maintenance department.
• Reduce the amount of paper printed and use electronic means of forwarding documents in lieu of surface mail.
• To reduce the amount of fuel used in vehicles by driving safely and smoothly and providing drivers with the SAFED training course.
• To reduce maintenance of vehicles and tyre wear by responsible, safe and considerate driving through the SAFED training course.
• Introduce tracking to monitor vehicles routes and vehicle idling to reduce fuel consumption.
• Introduce Green Road technology to all vehicles to reduce fuel, accidents, wear & tear and vehicle maintenance.

To download our 'Green Coach Company' leaflet please click here