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.
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 p
ublic turning up with containers of the stuff collected from their own homes.
"We didn't do anything to promote the scheme apart from paint the buses and market the alternative fuel," said a slightly bemused Martin Griffiths, finance director, revealing the results of the experiment in Kilmarnock.
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, who is never afraid to try anything out of the ordinary, admitted he was surprised that people would swap their cars for the bus because of the fuel type being used, but he is delighted they have done so, and believes it is part of a wider shift in public attitudes towards green energy that can only benefit his company.
Souter believes this change is structural, in that it may signal the beginning of a more lasting growth phase for the sector. Rail passenger journeys fell sharply after the Second World War and bottomed out from the 1960s through to the 1990s. This decade has seen an equally sharp upturn, creating a U-curve that gives Souter grounds for optimism.
"There is evidence to suggest this is growing quickly now and that there is a change in customer behaviour," he says. While bus use has yet to emulate the U-curve dynamic, the figures have turned up after 50 years of decline.
Souter 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.
"We are clearly part of the solution, not the problem," says Souter, adding that the company is now seeking ways of exploiting these trends through partnerships. He is keen to investigate schemes that reward travellers for their green credentials and is looking at ideas such as a carbon credit card.
"The economy is declining but we are still carrying more people and this is due to lifestyle factors which are making people behave differently," he argues. Even in America, where the green agenda is generally thought to have a lower profile, he is seeing evidence of greater interest in bus travel. A double-decker service introduced by Stagecoach on the New York-Washington route was quickly sold out.
But the UK is providing the biggest opportunity for public transport growth, and year-end figures released last week back up Souter's optimism. Underlying operating profits jumped 27.3% to £205m on group revenue up by 17.2% to £1.76bn.
With rising fuel costs likely to discourage car use, Souter believes Stagecoach is bound to benefit. "We are in a very exciting space at the moment," he says.
The full article contains 694 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
