Businesses in Bristol should consider running their own staff transport to cut carbon emissions and enable people to get into the city when Bristol’s Clean Air Zone is introduced in summer 2022, says one of the region’s biggest coach operators.

Bakers Dolphin, which runs holidays and schools transport, say coaches can provide the answer to reducing emissions and getting cars off the road.

Max Fletcher, Managing Director of Bakers Dolphin said:

“The days of one person to a car and major rush-hour jams need to end. There have been some fantastic initiatives to encourage cycling and car sharing and public transport schemes are constantly being changed, but the coach has been ignored.

“It is time that firms who want or need to maintain their city office or retail bases looked at coaches that could bring their staff in efficiently and in an environmentally-sound way in the same way that we operate to many schools in the region.

“Car drivers are constantly being told that they should cycle or walk. That works well for some but distance, bad weather and disability rules it out for others. Public transport is also difficult for some because of timings, routes or cost.

“With businesses spending money on shower facilities, cycle parking and reimbursing spiralling car parking costs it is time to look again at using coach operators as part of the solution.”

Bakers Dolphin, which was established in 1889, has constantly changed to meet the demands of the public and now operates a fleet of coaches that can transport people en masse with much lower emissions than private cars.

The firm has formed a corporate division aimed at supporting local businesses with their transport needs and able to bring people into Bristol from North Somerset and South Gloucestershire to work in the city.

Said Max Fletcher:

“At the moment a lot of people are still working from home and we all know that the landscape of the workplace has totally changed. We want to work with employers to provide solutions for them along the best routes that their team require. This will have the effect of cutting the number of vehicles on the road, cleaning up the air and supporting the businesses towards their own emission-reduction targets.”