Each May, Portsmouth City Council organises the Commuter
Challenge. In 2008 the event was extended and ran for a complete
working week, from 12th to 16th May inclusive. More details and
further background information is available on the Portsmouth City
Council web site >>.
The aim is for employees to travel
to work and undertake travel for work on that day by means of
sustainable transport - walking, cycling, bus, train or car
sharing. Even using the stairs instead of the lift counts as part
of the score. As
Transport Direct puts
it,
"In absolute terms of
reducing
CO2
it is
always better to use a scheduled public transport service. This is
because when you use a car the result is an extra journey is made
and extra
CO2
is
emitted into the atmosphere. On the other hand, when you use public
transport journey by bus, coach, plane or train the journey is
always scheduled and would take place whether or not you travelled.
So in real terms there is no additional
CO2
emitted."
The first Portsmouth Commuter
Challenge in 2005 was entered by 15 companies, with Robert Benn
Associates winning overall and winning the small company category.
Havant Borough Council won the Large Organisation category and came
second overall with about a third of Havant Borough employees
taking up the challenge saving a total of 2456 car miles, an
average of 7.14 miles per person employed by the Council and an
equivalent total emissions saving of 965.08kg.
Many of the staff continue to reduce
the amount of travel by private car since the challenge by using
sustainable travel helping towards a cleaner and safer
environment.
In 2006, 18 companies took part in
the Challenge which was held on 10th May. Robert Benn Associates
again won the Challenge overall, as well as winning the Small
Company category, by achieving a saving of 13 miles per person
employed. Gunwarf Quays won the Large Organisation
category with a saving of 11.42 miles per person employed.
Havant Borough Council came third in the Large Organisation
category and fourth overall, saving an average of 4.24 miles per
person employed by the Council with a total saving of 1485 car
miles and an equivalent emissions saving of 583.53kg.
The 2007 the Challange was rebadged
as the BIG Green commuter Challenge and was held on 9th May. We are
proud to announce that we won the Large Organisation category
again, with an overall saving of 879 miles (remember, it was a
really wet day!) and over 345kg of emissions saved.
And now we have won Large
Organisation category again in 2008, with an average of 12.2 miles
saved per person - that's a massive 3957 miles for the 16.9% of our
employees who registered results, and equates to over
11/2 tons of emissions saved!