An award-winning route planner aimed at encouraging people to leave their car behind and walk is launched in Bristol today by sustainable development charity Forum for the Future, in partnership with Bristol City Council, Bristol Primary Care Trust and Triodos Bank.
Walkit.com provides essential information for anyone considering a journey on foot within a five-kilometre radius of the city centre and is an early project for the Forum’s wide-reaching and ambitious Sustainable Bristol City Region Programme.
Jonathon Porritt, Founding Director, Forum for the Future, who launched the programme in March, says: ‘’Ditching the car for short journeys has always made sense, both for the wallet and personal health. Now that we know what kinds of carbon savings we need to make, there’s even more reason to follow our instincts.”
He adds: “Schemes like walkit.com are a vital resource, giving people the information they need to make simple choices that will have long lasting benefits for everyone.”
The walkit.com website generates easy-to-read maps between any two points in Bristol and also shows the health and environmental benefits of choosing to make that short journey by foot.
It displays:
- journey distance,
- the walking time (according to a slow, medium or fast walking pace),
- the amount of calories expended
- the amount of CO2 saved by not going by car, taxi or bus
See examples of actual routes at the bottom of the release.
Since its London launch in 2006, walkit.com has been rolled out successfully to Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Aberdeen and Cambridge. In 2007 the site received over 440,000 visits and generated nearly 670,000 walking routes.
Jamie Wallace, founder of walkit.com says:
“Our realistic first year target for Bristol is for 50,000 walkit maps to be requested which will mean around 4500 less car journeys in the city during the next twelve months.”
He adds: “In an age of persistent road congestion, growing carbon emissions and an increasingly overweight population, walking can provide a solution to all three at the same time.”
Forum for the Future's Sustainable Bristol City Region Programme has identified transport within the city region as one of its key challenges. Susan Warren, Head of Sustainable Cities, who heads up this programme says:
"Forum is delighted to be able to bring walkit.com to Bristol in partnership with Bristol Primary Care Trust, Bristol City Council, and Triodos Bank. This web site is a great way to support and encourage more people to walk around Bristol. We recognise that's important not only to advocate for people to use alternative modes of transport to the car, but also to encourage and help them by providing high quality resources such as walkit.com".
Examples:
From the Bus Station in Marlborough Street to the Bristol Old Vic theatre, the site shows a route map and the following:
Distance: 0.7 miles/1.2 km
Walking time: 11 mins fast
15 minutes medium
22 mins slow
Calories burned: 71 fast pace
63 medium
61 slow
CO2 emissions avoided: 0.25 kg car
0.32 kg taxi
0.11 kg bus
For a journey from the Temple Meads station to Queen Square, the site shows a route map and the following:
Distance: 0.7 miles/1.1 km
Walking time: 10 mins fast
14 minutes medium
21 mins slow
Calories burned: 68 fast pace
58 medium
56 slow
CO2 emissions avoided: 0.23 kg car
0.29 kg taxi
0.1 kg bus
For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact David Mason, Head of Communications at Forum for the Future: d.mason@forumforthefuture.org or on +44 20 7324 3631 and +44 (0)7799 072 320
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
The Bristol launch of walkit.com has received support from Bristol City Council, Bristol Primary Care Trust, Triodos Bank and Forum for the Future.
Walkit.com has received the following awards:
Most Innovative Transport Project - National Transport Awards, July 2008
Runner up, Ethical Business of the Year - Observer June 2008
101 Most Useful Websites - Sunday Telegraph March 2008 The 50 Best London Websites - Time Out February 2008 Runner up, Media Guardian Innovation Awards 2008
Forum for the Future – the sustainable development charity – finds practical ways that private and public organisations can deliver a sustainable future.
Forum is working in partnership to help and support Bristol to become the most sustainable city region in the UK. For more information on the Sustainable Bristol City Region Programme and wider Sustainable Cities work see: www.forumforthefuture.org/sustainable-bristol
Organisations supporting the programme include:
· Acanthus Ferguson Mann Architects
· Alastair Sawday Publishing
· Arup
· Bath University
UWE
· Bristol City Council
· Bristol University
· Business West
· Centre for Sustainable Energy
· Connecting Bristol
· The Converging World
· Environment Agency
· Government Office South West
· Hewlett Packard
For more information on Forum’s Sustainable Bristol City Region Programme and wider Sustainable Cities work see: www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/sustainable-bristol
