Dwight School London Have Gone Electric; Sustainable Home-to-school Transport That Doesn’t Cost The Earth!

This new option to switch to a 100% electric bus service will allow all Zeelo customers to significantly reduce the CO2 emissions (an extra 3 cubic tonnes of CO2 emissions savings)  but also enhance the quality of the air around their campus. Through a managed service solution that is supported by an advanced routing engine and operations technology that has been modified to include vehicle range and charging opportunities, Zeelo will make the transition to electric bus commuting painless.

Zeelo have already previously provided smart bus transportation services for Dwight School London since 2021; running efficient, safe, and reliable home-to-school transport across three unique routes. In fact, Dwight School London, through its partnership with Zeelo, have already seen nearly 12,000 car journeys taken off the road in the last year, amounting to 26 tonnes of CO2 emissions removed from the atmosphere since the original service launched in September 2021. That is the equivalent of planting over 1200 trees!

We place innovation and sustainability at the heart of our school’s mission, vision and values. We are thrilled and immensely proud to be the first school in the whole of the United Kingdom to add this electric vehicle to our fleet of school buses and our whole community is excited by this new initiative

Chris Beddows, Head of School, Dwight School London

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In order to support the daily school journeys of around 50 students (at present) who live in North London, Zeelo has partnered with Airsym, who provide electric coaches and buses for private use, to operate one of three transport routes for the prestigious school. The new route will take the place of an existing one, and the hope is that it will also entice new parents to switch to Dwight School London’s new electric transportation service from regular school runs in their fuel-guzzling cars.

By switching to Zeelo’s EV route, Dwight School London will stand to offset an additional 26.45 cubic tonnes of CO2 annually, benefiting both the local community and the environment by enhancing the air quality in the area around the school and the nearby towns where students are being picked up and dropped off each day.

According to 2019 government statistics, it is four times more likely for children in London to attend school in an area where the World Health Organisation’s recommended level of pollution is exceeded. In fact, 28 of the top 30 local authorities for school air pollution are located within the Greater London area.

Offsetting carbon emissions goes some way towards helping us meet our sustainability targets but does not resolve the issue of air quality around schools and educational campuses. We’re delighted to support Dwight School London with their CO2 reduction plans by enabling the transition of their school transport services from diesel to electric vehicles and helping pave the way for all our education customers to switch to a net-zero transport service

Sam Ryan – CEO, Zeelo

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In just eight years, Zeelo, the top smart bus platform for independent schools, colleges and universities aims to have provided Net Zero bus travel across all of its services, which currently serve over 1.8 million daily commuters in the UK, North America, and South Africa. A strategic alignment  with Climate Partner, which offsets 3.5 kg of CO2 emissions per trip (12,000 tonnes annually) by planting trees in Uganda and constructing wind farms in Bulgaria, has allowed us to become the only bus transportation service in Europe that is already entirely carbon neutral.

Whatever the future holds, there is one certainty. More than ever, we must concentrate on the effects of the school run on congestion and CO2 emissions. We are at a critical turning point, and it is up to all of us to make the necessary changes for the benefit of the next generation as well as for ourselves.

Are you interested in learning more about our electric vehicle provision for home-to-school transportation? Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can support your school!

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