FEATURE
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ome 1,500 Go-Ahead London men and women are members of the Go-Green Drivers’ Club, achieved by three months’ continuous green
We chat to Fabrice Koudougnon-Balet who is a garage administrator based at Bexleyheath and has worked for Go-Ahead for six years. Q: What is your greatest achievement? A: Learning the English language in a short space of time (French is my first language) and training as a bus driver within a year of moving to England. I was then appointed garage administrator. Q: Who is your favourite actor? A: Mel Gibson. Q: What advice would you give to a tourist in London? A: To be open and not afraid to talk to people and ask questions. I’d also suggest visiting the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and many of the capital’s museums. Q: What character trait do you most admire in others? A: Honesty. Q: What was the first car you owned? A: A Mazda. Q: What do you most like about your job? A: Having the chance to interact with people all day. The job is challenging as it’s changing all the time, especially with the arrival of new technology and new systems. Q: Who would you most like to meet? A: Nelson Mandela. Q: What is your favourite dessert? A: Crème brûlée. Q: Which country would you most like to visit? A: The United States. Q: What is your favourite pastime? A: I enjoy reading, particularly the Bible. 4
BusTalk l June 2010
band driving as recorded by the Telematics system. The aim now is to get as many more drivers as possible driving in a fuelefficient way.
THE FUTURE’S BRIGHT… THE FUTURE’S
THE Go-Ahead Group in 2008 was the first UK public transport company to be officially certified with the Carbon Trust Standard after taking action on climate change. Since then every Go-Ahead company has put in place projects to use energy more efficiently. It is estimated that throughout UK companies these initiatives reduce annual CO2 emissions by around 30,000 tonnes and operating costs by £5 million. Driving initiatives within Go-Ahead London alone are estimated to save up to seven per cent in the use of diesel. Going green really took off two years ago when worrying issues around climate change combined with rocketing oil prices. Fuel monitoring technology had been around in the bus industry for a while, but now the major players realised something had to be done quickly. Go-Ahead London launched a new vehicle management system for its entire fleet of more than 1,400 buses. The
‘Mix Telematics’ system – or ‘black box’ as it is widely known – monitors the use of the brake/accelerator and prompts drivers to “go easy on the gas” if necessary. At the same time, the Driver CPC was introduced and training included fuel-efficient driving.
As far as the fleet is concerned, the company operates several hybrid buses on behalf of Transport for London and is the first operator to introduce a zeroemissions, electric-powered fleet of support vehicles.
Since then the ‘Go-Green Drivers’ Club’ has been launched at Go-Ahead London and Docklands driver Tariq Mahmood won a brand new car just for driving professionally – that is, fuel efficiently and safely. The search is now on for this year’s Go-Green Drivers’ Club winner and while only one can win a car all members are entitled to a number of benefits. All this on the operational side has gone hand-inhand with the introduction of Eco Champions whose primary objective over the past couple of years has been to find ways of saving energy within buildings. Business development manager Frank Thorpe, who is one of the key figures in energy conservation within GoAhead London, said: “Investment and innovation are at the heart of our environmental programme and our immediate challenge now is to encourage all drivers to drive with fuel efficiency and safety uppermost in the their minds. One leads to the other, the two go hand in hand.”