Bike, Bus and Recycle; First Capital Connect Promotes a Greener Journey
(PRWEB UK) 1 November 2013 -- To raise recycling rates and encourage passengers to bike or bus to the station, First Capital Connect is staging a Green Week from 4-8 November.
Members of the First Capital Connect environmental team will be visiting stations to promote new on-train newspaper recycling zones being rolled out and trialled on services out of Moorgate.
They will also be handing out free travel mugs (to cut waste from disposable cups) and giving passengers the chance to win one of three top quality bikes worth £300 each and 10 weekly PlusBus tickets.
First Capital Connect Head of Safety and the Environment Mark Underwood said:
“Electric trains are already the greenest form of public transport but we want to do more to help our passengers have a more sustainable journey. We already recycle 60% of the rubbish we collect; we hope that our trial of recycling zones in luggage racks of our Moorgate services will make that better still. It will also help us present a cleaner train for other passengers, which is one of First Capital Connect’s commitments to improve passenger satisfaction.
“We want to encourage our passengers to think about biking or taking the bus to the station. That’s why we have more than doubled the number of bike rack spaces at stations across our network and built new bus forecourts in many places.
“Over and above this, we want people to think about using travel mugs – an estimated 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups are thrown away in the UK every year. That’s enough to stretch round the glove five and a half times! Most coffee retailers across our network have agreed to fill up travel mugs instead.”
As part of Green Week, which has been planned since September, members of the First Capital Connect environmental team will be visiting the following stations between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.:
• Monday 4 November, London Blackfriars
• Tuesday 5 November, Hitchin
• Wednesday 6 November, West Hampstead Thameslink
• Thursday, 7 November Potters Bar
• Friday, 8 November, St Albans
Media are invited to attend.
For more information about Green Week, sustainability and First Capital Connect, visit firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/about-us/sustainability.
Recycling zones are being introduced as a trial in luggage racks next to doors on trains into and out of Moorgate. Passengers will be asked to leave their papers in the racks on leaving the train. The first train will be labelled for the start of Green Week and others will follow.
Three Mango brand bikes are on offer in the competition as are 10 weekly PlusBus tickets. To enter, visit firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/about-us/sustainability.
PlusBus offers unlimited travel in the PlusBus area of your originating or destination station. For more information about PlusBus, visit plusbus.info.
Results of a survey carried out by Which? and published in October 2011 estimated that 2.5 billion disposable cups are thrown away a year. Travel mugs instead of disposable cups can be filled at these locations:
Here is a list of coffee retailers at our stations who will use your travel mug if requested.
Great Northern route:
Baldock – Espresso 2U
Biggleswade – Cravin’
Downham Market – The Railway Arms
Elstree & Borehamwood – Cravin’
Finsbury Park – Espresso Organics
Hatfield – Chuggs
Hitchin – Hitchin Station Shop and Coffee Coffee
Huntingdon – Station Buffet
Knebworth – Linnies
Letchworth – La Concha and Rico’s
Potters Bar – Chuggs
St Neots – Rico’s
Stevenage – Chuggs, Puccino’s and Golden Bean
Welwyn North – Deli Stop
Thameslink route:
Blackfriars – WHSmith
City Thameslink – WHSmith
Elstree & Borehamwood – Cravin’
Flitwick – Cravin’
Harpenden – Cravin’
Luton Airport Parkway – Parkway Express Ltd
St Albans – WHSmith and Soko Coffee
West Hampstead Thameslink – WHSmith
About First Capital Connect
• First Capital Connect operates trains from London to Bedford, Brighton, Wimbledon and Sutton on the Thameslink route and Peterborough, Cambridge and King’s Lynn on the Great Northern route.
• Approximately 180,000 people travel with First Capital Connect every weekday – 95,000 on the Thameslink route and 85,000 on the Great Northern route.
Roger Perkins, First Capital Connect, http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk, +44 8454700789, [email protected]
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