20/11/2009
Monday 16th November officially saw the public opening of the new 1000 parking space Enderby Park & Ride service. It will provide fast and frequent transport into and around Leicester city operating Monday to Friday 7am – 7.00pm.
Enderby Park & Ride
The Enderby site which is conveniently situated just 5 minutes from M1 Junction 21, will take passengers every 10 minutes to St. Nicholas Place in the heart of Leicester’s vibrant town centre. The bus will then complete a central loop providing a service to key areas of the City including Leicester Magistrates Court, Leicester Market and Town Hall, Leicester City Council, Leicester Royal Infirmary and De Montfort University. It will then return to Enderby Park & Ride centre.
The low energy terminus will cut heating costs and energy consumption by up to 15% as well as reducing carbon emissions through state of the art ground source heat technology. A geo-thermal ground source heat pump will provide heating, cooling and hot water and sensors will also adjust temperatures and ventilation as required.
Veolia Transports Vision
Veolia transport UK Ltd in conjunction with Leicester City and County Council aims to set a new standard of sustainable and environmental best practice. This has been achieved through our operating buses which utilise low-emission engines to minimise environmental impact and reduce carbon emissions. Journey times will be a minimum as the route will make use of existing bus lanes to avoid traffic congestion whilst reducing the amount of cars on the road.
Earlier this month, the park and ride scooped a prestigious eco award at the regional Constructing Excellence Awards. Lesley Pendleton, County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation, stated: “This park and ride is a flagship site, offering convenient parking for commuters, shoppers and sports fans. The techniques used in its construction are innovative and forward-thinking and this has been recognised through its recent award win.”
Vincent Bech, Chief Executive Officer stated “we will provide continual support for this project by using our knowledge and research conducted throughout Europe to develop new technologies to further enhance our cutting edge environmentally friendly bus engineering”.
Launch
The launch on Monday 16th November 2009 went smoothly. BBC Radio Leicester aired a live broadcast 8.00am departure from the park n ride site. Where they put the journey time of our quicksilver bus to the test. Wayne Smith, General manager confirmed “A car took 21 minutes to do the same journey our bus took 14 minutes to do it, so a positive spin on bus travel”.
Going forward Veolia Transport hope to work on similar initiatives, and use our expertise to complete many more successful projects.