FAT FUEL * UK - Aids green switch to bus travel
The humble burger and chips may have a role to play in a healthy environment after all. Waste cooking fat, used as an alternative fuel, is encouraging people to switch to public transport
Scotland,UK -The Scotsman, by Terry Murden -29 June 2008: -- ... When asked why they had left their cars at home and opted for the bus, 4% of travellers in a pilot scheme run by Stagecoach said it was because the company was running its vehicles on chip fat collected from McDonald's, the fast food chain, and the public turning up with containers of the stuff collected from their own homes... The company converted a number of its older vehicles, as it needed to ensure there was no lasting engine damage, and the results were encouraging, not only in the waste fat's ability to replace traditional fuel, but because of the public's reaction... Brian Souter, the firm's unorthodox founder and chief executive, acknowledges that motorists may be switching to public transport more for reasons of rising fuel costs than for environmental reasons, but the research suggests otherwise, with strong support for green and healthy issues... A survey of 4,000 people conducted by the company in Cambridge and the south of England showed that 64% see the environment as a high priority, that 47% had reduced their car use, 36% used buses more often and 19% have increased their use of trains... Overall, 10% said they had changed their mode of transport in the past three years, of whom 20% said it was for health reasons, 12% to help the environment and 10% because of the availability of bus passes... Significantly, the survey was conducted in April, ahead of the more recent rises in fuel prices and heightened public concern over the spike in transport costs. Also of note, 32% said they would pay more for environmentally friendly public transport... With rising fuel costs likely to discourage car use, Souter believes Stagecoach is bound to benefit... (Video from YouTube, by Ally31334 - October 01, 2007: "Stagecoach in Warwickshire Volvo B10M/Alexander PS 20215" - N215 TDU on route 57 -Nuneaton / Coventry via Bedworth- between George Eliot Hospital and opposite Bermuda Park McDonalds)
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