Bus travel is 'greenest' form of transportation, surpassing air, rail travel and well ahead of private automobiles.
NEW YORK – Megabus.com, the popular city-to-city, express bus company serving more than 120 cities across North America with fares from $1, received the American Bus Association‘s (ABA) 2014 Green Operator Award.
Megabus.com was selected by motorcoach industry peers after an extensive review of operations, including megabus.com’s commitment to environmentally friendly ways to drive, the use of anti-idling techniques when the bus is not in use, the safest and greenest ways to recycle oil and other engine fluids and overall business practices that promote environmental protection and awareness.
“Megabus.com is honored by this additional recognition of our environmental stewardship and industry leadership,” said Dale Moser, president and COO of Megabus.com. “As Americans continue to look for ways to protect the environment while also stretching their dollar, we look forward to providing safe, convenient and affordable travel to millions of customers.”
As part of the judging, ABA received significant assistance from David Kestenbaum, the Director of the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Certification for Sustainable Transportation program. Many motorcoach companies are seeing the value of being green, and the University of Vermont program helps the industry obtain their goals, which include being a good environmental steward, reducing their overall costs, saving energy and promoting the company with the University’s “eRating” certification and driver training programs. Megabus.com has participated since 2009 in the UVM Green Coach Certification program (GCC), the first in the passenger transportation sector to recognize, via an official certification program, excellence in environmental performance. Participating companies are provided “Green Coach Certified” ecolabels which can be placed on qualifying vehicles to highlight their environmental benefits.
“The ‘Green Coach Certified’ decals on every megabus.com bus signify to our customers that they are positively impacting the environment by taking megabus.com instead of driving or using other forms of city-to-city transportation,” said Dale Moser.
“Similar to what programs like Energy Star do for the appliances, it is hoped that this program will help consumers recognize and celebrate the most environmentally friendly forms of transportation,” said David Kestenbaum, member of the GCC research team. “Buses operated by megabus.com play a variety of positive roles, from less congestion on our roads to reducing the carbon footprint of travel. If travelers started to move from place to place with this type of efficiency, as a country we’d be well on our way to meeting and/or exceeding some of the most ambitious Green House Gas reduction targets for this sector.”
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
