Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Public transit can be a great way to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Last year, TransLink became the first ever member of the APTA (American Public Transportation Association) to reach the Gold level of the APTA Sustainability Commitment. Having a strong commitment to sustainability is one of our core values. We’re continuing to cut down on our emission levels while also cutting our costs on fuel consumption. Here are some of our latest numbers:

• 2008: 61.4 litres / 100 km
• 2009: 59.3 litres / 100 km
• 2010: 56.2 litres / 100 km
• 2011: 55.8 litres / 100 km
• 2012 YTD: 55.7 litres/100 km

Between 2009 and 2011, TransLink reduced diesel consumption by 1.64 million litres, saving $2 million. An estimated 500K litres of fuel was saved during the first full year of CMBC’s anti-idling campaign. Our diesel bus fuel efficiency has continued to improve in part due to the replacement of diesel buses with hybrid vehicles and CMBC’s anti-idling campaign.

At the same time, our ridership has continued to increase while our fuel consumption has decreased.  There were 354.7 million trips on the TransLink system in 2011 compared to 336 million  in 2010, a 5.5 per cent increase (2010 was the year our region hosted the Winter Olympic Games. These ridership gains were achieved without increasing bus service hours.

There are other ways that we’re helping to maintain a sustainable transportation service. Check our these past posts and the TransLink website. Happy Earth Day, everyone!