Airport Taxis Have "carbon On Their Hands"

By Author: Ann Brown
Total Articles: 2
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A new website http://www.fairfare.co.uk aims to help travellers and taxi operators to reduce their carbon footprint by allowing taxi operators to advertise these otherwise empty journeys on their website often at bargain prices.

The site http://www.FairFare.co.uk gives guidance to passengers on taxi pricing but allows its customers to set the price. For the taxi driver about to depart empty to pick-up a passenger from the airport some revenue is better to no revenue, so FairFare encourages its taxi operators to sell these empty legs for low prices starting from just 1.00 GBP.

Travellers taking taxis to the airport rarely think about the implications for their carbon footprint. Few realise that less than 20% of these airport taxis carry a passenger in both directions. This means that the taxi airport transfers are blighted with waste and needless damage to the environment.

Travellers are aware that their airport taxi can cost as much as their flight but few are aware that their 100 mile airport run results in a 200 mile round trip typically consuming 5-6 gallons of fuel. This is comparable to the amount ...
... of fuel used per passenger on a 90 minute European flight on a modern Boeing 737 aircraft.

The public would be appalled at the prospect of aircrafts flying around empty or even at 50% capacity, but we appear to tolerate 80% of our airport taxis are either driving to or from our airport without a passenger and even bestow them with privileges such as dedicated traffic lanes.

One the co-founders of FairFare said, "Getting passengers into these otherwise empty taxis is one of the best ways for passengers to improve their carbon footprint. In addition, the carbon offset is obvious and immediate and not amortised over 10 years by a developing tree."

Everybody is a winner the Taxi driver, the Passenger and the Environment.

Find out more about FairFare on http://www.fairfare.co.uk