Minimising our environmental impact
Using public transport delivers positive environmental benefits. Emissions of air pollutants are lower per passenger kilometre for buses than cars. The use of buses also plays a vital role in cutting congestion.
However there are also significant environmental impacts associated with running a transport company. The North American business includes a school bus operation, a bus transit operation and a maintenance and service operation.
The business is running approximately 67,000 vehicles across over 1,000 sites.
These figures include the vehicles and properties associated with the Laidlaw acquisition. Sites undertake vehicle maintenance, washing and fuelling.
| The main environmental impacts associated with these activities are as follows. | |
|---|---|
| Climate change | Emissions of nitric oxides, particulates, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide from operation of buses. |
| Air quality | Emissions of nitric oxides, particulates, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide from operation of buses |
| Use of resources - energy | Use of energy to heat and light depots |
| Use of resources - water | Use of water to wash buses and for domestic purposes |
| Waste management | Management of waste arising from maintenance operations, offices and waste derived from customers on the buses |
We monitor our performance in relation to total emissions but also normalise the data per vehicle kilometre. In North America we operate contracts on behalf of our customers, so our business growth is not dependent on passenger numbers and we do not monitor these.
Our management framework
The Laidlaw acquisition has led to significant growth in operations. This year we have committed to significantly strengthening the management structure for environmental management in North America with the appointment of a Head of Environment and Environmental Co-ordinator. They will work with appointed environmental representatives from each of the North American businesses and our environmental consultants Strata to deliver a three year environmental strategy.
The strategy sets out a number of objectives. We will:
- strengthen the environmental management structure in North America;
- assess all new sites for legal compliance;
- develop the environmental management framework to be compatible with ISO14001;
- strengthen the environmental training programmes;
- integrate the new sites into existing waste management contracts and develop regional waste management contracts for general waste that is currently managed at a local level;
- establish a framework for utilities monitoring, starting with a pilot programme; and
- develop a climate change strategy specific to North America.
This work will build on the existing FirstGroup America Environmental Management Manual which sets minimum standards that would meet the most stringent federal and state requirements. These procedures are supplemented at local company level where different regulatory standards may apply.
Each of the North America operating companies has an audit programme to check individual locations against the requirements of the management manual. The method and frequency of audits currently varies from company to company. But our three year plan will standardise-audit programmes across the organisation.