Low Emission Bus Visits Glasgow School to Highlight Sustainable Travel

Published: 9 October 2019

St Joseph's Primary has teamed up with city bus operator First Glasgow, as part of their school's packed week of activities to mark Scotland's Climate Week.

First Glasgow staff initially met the children at our Clean Air Day event in the summer and to follow up on their learning, St Joseph's invited the public transport provider along to their school to talk about sustainable travel.

Eco-Friendly

To the delight of the children and invited parents, First Glasgow brought along one of their brand-new low emission buses, with driver Jimmy Lillis on hand to talk to the pupils about the improvements in air quality achieved by switching to these eco-friendly buses.

Sustainable Travel

Laura Slinger, Principal Teacher at St Joseph's Primary School said; "At St Joseph's we are continuously exploring engaging and creative ways of delivering 'Learning for Sustainability' - an entitlement for all learners. It is important to us that Climate Action Week is not a series of stand-alone events but a vehicle for showcasing and developing on-going learning and partnerships. This is supporting our pupils to be environmentally responsible citizens of the future. Our children were inspired by what they experienced at the Clean Air Day event in George Square this summer and were particularly impressed by the friendliness of the staff at First Glasgow. As a result, we were keen to request a school visit so that all our children from P1-P7 could learn more about the sustainable travel options that they can make use of in Glasgow. We have also invited parents to come along so they can become familiar with this mode of travel, especially given the close proximity of the school to the city centre Low Emission Zone."

Improving Air Quality

Convener for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction Councillor Anna Richardson said: "Delivering cleaner air is a priority for the health of our city and we are leading the way with Scotland's first Low Emission Zone, and other initiatives that encourage the uptake of active and sustainable travel. There is clearly a commitment from bus operators towards improving air quality and today has been a wonderful opportunity for pupils and their parents to see this investment for themselves with the chance to hop on board a new, low emission bus that is helping to increase the attractiveness of public transport, offering it up as a convenient and sustainable alternative to the car. The council has worked very closely with bus operators to phase in the LEZ and we'll continue to work in partnership to improve services that are vital to the lives of Glaswegians.

Reducing Vehicle Emissions

First Glasgow Operations Director, Duncan Cameron said: "We were delighted to accept the invitation from St Joseph's pupils to attend their Climate Week activity. The opportunity to educate parents and kids alike on why bus can be part of the solution to help reduce emissions and ease congestions on our roads was vital for us. It is important that we do all we can to try to change habits and get more people to ditch the car to use public transport instead especially when travelling to and from the city. We see bus as an important part to play and the more we can promote active and sustainable travel to the next generation to make them aware of the benefits to the environment as well as the hard work and investment we are putting into improve air quality across our fleet, the way we operate in general and in improving the standard of our offering to customers. I would like to commend the children for the hard work and enthusiasm they have put into their Climate Week activity. It is important that bus operators and the local authorities continue to work together in partnership to build on the recent momentum gained from the global climate emergency."

Glasgow's city centre Low Emission Zone came into being last year to protect public health and is the first to be introduced in Scotland. It's strict emission standards initially only apply to local service buses, however from the end of 2022 all vehicles driving into the zone will need to meet these requirements, including private cars.