We are tackling the issue of emissions by road traffic and airport vehicles head on through a number of measures:

Investing in rail
BAA has invested £750 million in building and operating the Heathrow Express service which removes around 3,000 cars a day from London’s roads. We have also introduced Heathrow Connect, invested in the London Underground by extending the Piccadilly Line to Terminal 5 and are seeking permission for a rail link to the west of the airport called Airtrack.

Improving bus services
The bus and coach station at Heathrow is the second-busiest bus station in the UK. BAA invests directly in local bus services by providing funding for cleaner buses and subsidising local bus routes around the airport so that all passengers, staff or local residents can travel for free.

Encouraging staff to car share
BAA operates the largest car-sharing scheme in Europe. More than 6,000 people from over 300 airport companies are members, and two-thirds car share three times a week. Since 2001 the scheme has prevented 53 million kilometres of unnecessary car journeys, cut fuel consumption by nearly 5 millions litres and saved 11 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere.

Investing in innovative transport schemes
BAA will host the first commercial trail of an innovative new public transport technology after Terminal 5 opens in 2008. The Personal Rapid Transit system has been designed to replace traditional buses and coaches by allowing passengers to travel between Terminal 5’s business car park and main terminal building in individual driverless pods. The pods are powered by electricity, generate zero local emissions and are more energy efficient than existing vehicles.

Cutting the number of delivery vehicles at Heathrow
BAA has opened a centre which consolidates airport deliveries off-site so that multiple deliveries can be made with just one vehicle. This has successfully cut the number of retail deliveries at Heathrow from 49,000 to just 8,300 a year.

Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)
If you are interested in finding out more about PRT please email us as heathrowmediacentre@baa.com.