FREE BUS TRAVEL FOR ALL STAFF IN GUERNSEY AS IT FIRM GOES GREEN

All Guernsey-based staff at the IT firm Itex have been offered free bus travel to and from work as the company introduces an environmental initiative designed to reduce carbon emissions. The offer is part of Itex’s ongoing efforts to attain a nationally recognised environmental accreditation.
 
The company’s Managing Director, Richard Parker, explained, ‘We believe we have a corporate responsibility to minimise our environmental impact wherever possible. At Itex we are developing our own environmental management system which addresses our energy use, waste and use of resources such as paper. The free bus travel programme is running for a month and is just one of many that we are in various stages of implementing. Our staff have been involved from the outset and this initiative represents one of the ideas from their discussions.’

The intention is for Itex staff to gain a greater awareness of the ease of public transport in Guernsey and, after travelling by bus to and from work, to make greater use of the service in the future.

The Managing Director of Island Coachways, Hannah Beacom, said, ‘This is a fantastic scheme, and hopefully it will encourage Itex staff to try out the bus as an alternative to the car when getting to and from work. It is great to see a company taking a proactive ‘green’ step and we are hoping that this will inspire other companies and commuters to change their habits and leave the car at home. I would like to commend Itex for taking this approach and am happy to be able to support them in their environmentally friendly efforts.’

The staff who have taken up the offer have said they’re been impressed at how easy and convenient bus travel has been.

‘They’ve also told us that they’re spreading the word about our scheme,’ said Mr Parker. ‘We understand that they’ve been telling others about the initiative who may in turn pass the idea on to their own companies; so it’s quite possible that free bus travel could be rolled out by other businesses too.’

The free bus travel scheme is only one part of Itex’s efforts to become a greener company. Itex has a long-standing commitment to conducting business in an environmentally responsible way and the drive to achieve the BS8555 standard is just one element of that.