by Feargus O’Sullivan, Bloomberg
Highlights
- With the pandemic still raging and people still fearing public transportation, London is considering using their open-air double-decker tour buses as a means of everyday transport
- This comes as 70% of Londoners polled say that they no longer feel comfortable commuting by public transit
- Few tourists are in the city and these tour buses are mostly unused and parked, waiting for the moment when tourism and travel resurges
- An on-demand bus company named Snap is heading this venture and has already deployed test runs of the service
- Snap CEO Thomas Ableman doesn’t want to see more cars on the road as the city begins to reopen:
“The Tube in London is currently at 30% of its usage before the pandemic, while car use is at about 80% of where it was pre-pandemic…We really don’t want a car-based recovery to this crisis, so we need to find solutions that people are comfortable with — and you can’t get a more Covid-secure means of transport than an open-topped bus.”
Increased air pollution from fossil fuel emissions makes all of us more vulnerable to the current COVID-19 pandemic. The Climate Center’s Climate-Safe California Platform includes solutions for clean mobility to cut greenhouse gas emissions from transportation.
Nina Turner
Energy Programs and Communications CoordinatorJanina is a graduate of the Energy Management and Design program at Sonoma State University with experience in non-profits that specialize in sustainability and volunteerism.
