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Reading Buses introduces unique climate livery

An English operator has taken matters into its own hands when it comes to climate change, unveiling a striking livery of global warming’s local impact on Berkshire county.

Sustainability seems to be on the lips of many in the bus and coach industry lately. But why say it when you can show it?

That’s what Reading Buses is doing. The English operator is pushing for a more carbon neutral industry in its own unique way by covering one of its bio-methane powered single deck buses with a unique livery.

The bus has been transformed into a climate stripes bus as a way of showing the change in temperature in the county of Berkshire since 1863. Following months of consultation with University of Reading Professor and world-leading climate scientist Ed Hawkins, who came up with the warming stripes idea, Reading Buses decided to raise awareness of climate change through its own fleet.

“The idea to put the climate stripes on one of our buses came from the fact that the stripes had been developed locally and used in so many international settings, but weren’t seen very often in the wider community,” Reading Buses CEO Robert Williams told ABC.

“The warming stripes are a means of visually communicating rising temperatures and the threat of global warming for all of our futures and have already been displayed nationally and internationally.”

The Reading Buses CEO is aware of the contribution private transport makes to carbon emissions. He says he is keen to promote sustainable practices using his environmentally friendly buses.

“Each stripe or bar represents the temperature averaged over a year, with blue being colder and red being warmer,” Williams says. “It shows the change in temperature we’ve seen in Berkshire over the past century.”


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Williams says the livery is the next step in Reading Buses advocating for a sustainable transport industry. The operator has already made investments in clean vehicle technology, with more than a third of its fleet running on bio-methane since 2013.

The Reading Buses CEO says he hopes the bus livery will highlight the environmental benefits of travelling by bus for members of Berkshire county.

Along with other initiatives, such as sourcing a new recyclable vinyl to keep the carbon impact of the warming stripes livery as low as possible, Williams says Reading Buses is intent on spreading a sustainable message to the industry.

“We are delighted to partner with the University of Reading to help highlight climate change,” Williams says. “By covering a bus powered by bio-methane gas with the climate stripes, we are able to offer an extremely low carbon reminder of the climate emergency.

“It’s also a reminder to people that using public transport is one of the easiest ways that they can help to cut emissions.”

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