GREEN GUIDE - Markham Publishing

CASE STUDY: CycleCity GuidesMapping your bike ridesCycleCity Guides is a specialist producer ofcycle maps and guides, mainly for localauthorities and other organisations. It operatesfrom a restored water mill in Frome, Somerset,generating its own electricity, with the surplussold to the National Grid.The company is one of the few which survey cycleroutes (on bikes of course), as well as providingcartographic and design services. It has surveyedmost large British cities (London, Birmingham,Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol,to name but a few), with the intention ofproducing maps to encourage cycle use. Notsurprisingly, cycle maps are hugely popular, aspeople seek out safe, quick and pleasant ways ofgetting around towns and cities. CycleCity Guidesalso produces maps for Sustrans (responsible forthe National Cycle Network) as well as Traffic-Free Cycle Trails, a 400-page book listing themost popular routes without traffic, suitable forfamilies and those seeking to get away from it all.Keeping up with its sustainable ethos, thecompany operates from a Grade II listedwatermill, which has seen its old 19th Centuryturbine refurbished and connected to modernelectronics in order to generate electricity. Thepioneering project has been followed by othermill owners in Somerset seeking to exploit trulyrenewable energy. The mill’s conversion won aBuildings in the Countryside award from theRoyal Institute of British Architects.By Martin Whitfield. CycleCity Guides, WallbridgeMill, The Retreat, Frome, Somerset BA11 5JU.T: 01373 453533 E: info@cyclecityguides.co.ukW: www.cyclecityguides.co.ukCASE STUDY: A2BCars for hireThe A2B Car Club is a new sustainabletransport option which provides vehicles forits members to hire as an alternative topersonally owned transport.This community form of car pool has vehicleslocated at bays around Bradford on Avon enablingmost residents to reach one within five minute’swalk. A2B’s cars are modern vehicles, maintainedand insured for both private and business use,from periods ranging from one hour to severaldays. Members book vehicles over the internet, bytelephone or even from the cars themselves bymeans of a smart card and PIN.The club is operated by a national company,Smart Moves Ltd. who also run a City Car Club inBristol, as well as London, Edinburgh, and agrowing number of other urban centres. Otherclubs of which there are currently around ten inthe South West, can take different forms. Thosebelonging to the national body, Carplus(www.carclubs.org.co.uk), provide members withthe means of avoiding the need to buy andmaintain their own, or a second, car.Considerable personal savings and convenienceare gained. Also, the kind of unnecessary, andeven unhealthy, car journeys some drivers make,often seemingly, to justify the expense ofownership, are avoided. Car clubs therefore helpto reduce traffic and parking congestion.Well established on the Continent, the car cluboption is still fairly new to the UK. Prospectivemembers often find it useful to have some way oftrying it out for themselves. A2B has been offeringintroductory or trial membership for a reducedmembership fee. This, together with a charge perhour and per mile covers all costs of using thecars.Contact A2B Car Club on 0845 458 1786 ora2b@smartmoves.co.uk. W: www.a-2-b.com268