Going Greener: Transition Travel
Image © davipt: flickr.com/davipt
Our survey says
- 63% students took at least one return flight to Europe in the last year 40% took 2 or more flights last year BUT
- 73.7% would consider taking fewer flights to help the environment!
Students learning essential bike repair skills
Transition Travel
Universities officially account for 2% of the UK’s transport emissions, mostly from commuting. However, those figures don’t include the massive emissions from air travel by staff and international students.
A strong transport plan which includes aviation emissions should be your first demand if the uni doesn’t have one, but there’s plenty of DIY options to reduce our own transport emissions too.
The Transition Travel plan:
- Encourage staff and student to fly less
- Promote cycling and walking or public transport options
- Introduce comprehensive video-conferencing facilities
Join or set up a lift-sharing scheme
Birmingham Green Bike Project
Case Study:
The Birmingham Green Bike Project is based on the University’s Edgbaston Campus run by student volunteers. Staff and students can come and learn how to mend their bikes, use their mechanical skills to experiment and repair things and to train people to repair their own and other people’s bikes. It also provides a social hub for people interested in bikes, tinkering, creativity, environmentalism and community-building.
Case Study:
The Leeds ‘Velocampus’ scheme provides students from Leeds and Leeds Metropolitan with low-cost bike hire. Based on a successful ‘Velocampus’ initiative in Nantes, France, the scheme has over two hundred hybrid bikes available for hire, complete with lights and locks, for only £35 a year. Students say positive benefits include affordability, convenience and the obvious health benefits of all that exercise.
