Newcastle rolls out green transport campaign

City council urges residents to help reduce air pollution by using car rental and Park & Ride services

Residents in Newcastle have been urged to adopt greener modes of transport in order to curb air pollution in the city.

Run by Newcastle city council, the ‘Go Zero’ sustainable transport campaign is also part of an ongoing commitment to reduce carbon emissions by at least 20% by 2020.

The campaign encourages people to make use of the Park & Ride X40 bus service, charge their electric vehicles at the city’s 70 free accessible charging points, and join Newcastle’s Car Club — which gives temporary access to a vehicles.

Newcastle councillor Harvey Emms has welcomed the ‘Go Zero’ campaign

The car club allows residents to ‘pay by the hour’ for cars, which are parked in designated bays across Newcastle. They can be used and returned to the same or a different bay in the city.

Harvey Emms, assistant director of development at the council, said: “The Go Zero campaign is a fantastic way for the people of Newcastle to find out more about travelling in a way that is easier, greener and often cheaper.

“This will help reduce the city’s carbon emissions, making Newcastle a much cleaner environment in which to live and work.”

Harmful

Professor Margaret Bell (CBE), science city professor of transport and the environment at Newcastle University, added: “Newcastle is leading the way in terms of exploring how to make our environment in which we live and work cleaner and healthier. CO2 emissions are destroying planet earth and other gases are harmful to people and everything around us.

“Cars produce typically 60% of all carbon emissions from road transport in the UK, so promoting the use of more sustainable ways to travel, including using cycles, the bus, car clubs and of course, electric vehicles, reduce toxic emissions at point of use.

“These initiatives are a great way forward and by the public engaging with the local authorities, we can all contribute to making Newcastle a most desirable place to live and work.”

Earlier this month, Newcastle was shown to be one of 14 UK cities which breached the World Health Organisation’s PM10 guideline level of 20mg3 or higher in 2011 (see airqualitynews..com story).