Carbon Voyage meets Peter Jones
On the 22nd of July, Carbon Voyage was one of six finalists out of around 3,000 entrants in the Enterprise Business Challenge, a competition to pitch to Peter Jones of Dragons’ Den fame.
James Swanston with Peter Jones at the Enterprise Business Challenge
In the week preceding, I went from someone who had never really watched Dragons’ Den to someone who has now pretty much watched every episode in existence. Unfortunately we didn’t win, but it was still a great day (the winner was Funky Lunch which is a great idea to get kids to eat more healthy food)
It was a good day, not just in terms of getting some more pitching experience, but also to meet some of the other finalists and hear about what they are up to.
In other news, we’re working on a really exciting project at the moment which I am hoping will launch later this year up north. There is a very cool article in the National Geographic that is sort of an aspiration what we would like to achieve called ‘A Day with Less Driving’ – check it out!
1 comment July 29, 2010
Why will people only share cabs during a tube strike?
On Wednesday, there is some likelihood that there will be a tube strike on the London Undergound and Docklands Light Railway. When it happened last year, there were a number of taxi sharing initiatives set up by Transport for London (TfL) that were reported on. It really is a shame that taxi sharing (and car sharing) is not part of normal life here as it is in other countries as it is a great way to save money, meet new people and reduce your impact on the environment. Peter Jackson from the BBC considered this last year during the tube strike and his leading comment was:
“Londoners hit by a 48-hour Tube strike are being encouraged to taxi-share to keep the city moving. It’s an idea that makes sense on any day of the year – but can the notoriously reticent British really take it to heart?”
It is an unfortunate set of circumstances but pretty true. Typically, our customers save 30% of the shared component of their fare when they share, so there is an economic argument in favour of sharing, and in these tough financial times, that’s not a bad deal.
PS. If you do want a cab during the strike, I would book early online or via 0844 669 4444!
1 comment June 21, 2010
The Launch of Tesco Carbon Voyage
We are launching a ride sharing service called Tesco Carbon Voyage this week in partnership with Tesco and the University of Manchester’s Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI). The service will be operating as a twelve week trial at three of Tesco’s big stores in North West London; if it proves successful, it may be extended. To visit the site, click here. The service will be offered to Tesco Clubcard holders in three Tesco Extra stores in North West London.
This is a really important activity; 84% of all passenger car trips in the United Kingdom only have one occupant according to DfT figures, so any opportunity to increase vehicle occupancy can have a impact on reducing carbon emissions, congestion as well as cost. The service we provide will be great in being able to get a baseline of the impact of customer travel to and from these stores and then identify potential financial and environmental savings.
What we are trying to do here is firstly understand travel patterns to and from supermarkets and then provide Tesco customers with a safe and convenient way to share their trips to and from their stores. The customers of the service will be able to book via phone, text or online. We will capture all the financial and environmental data so customers can find out how much they are saving through the ride-sharing scheme.
At the end of the trial, the SCI will also interview several hundred participants to get a detailed understanding of their views to such a service – what is a good enough incentive to get people to share, what barriers are there and so on. Something that is unique here is that not only are people being surveyed about their travel patterns, but we have the opportunity to see what they actually do. The SCI has also written a short information piece on this trial here.
As a start up, this is a tremendous opportunity to deploy a service on a very large scale and demonstrate the value of what we have to offer, and we’re really pleased to have been selected by these organisations to help them deliver this service.
1 comment June 16, 2010
Travelling to Festivals
According to a BBC article, travelling to and from events is the most environmentally harmful aspect of festivals. This was based on a report by Julie’s Bicycle, which is a not for profit organisation that was set up a while back to help the industry clean up its act. I’ve really only been to one big concert in the UK and by far – the worst bit was the nightmare of trying to leave at the end because everyone was getting in their own taxis – of course many of these people would have been going to exactly the same train station (the only one in a twenty mile radius of where the concert was at).
An oft cited statistic from me recently is from the DfT‘s recent report on traffic statistics for 2009. In it, it highlights that 84% of all passenger car traffic in the UK involves only a single occupant. This is a pretty crazy statistic – and I guess partly why there is so much traffic congestion. There is plently of empirical evidence to demonstrate the financial and environmental savings that can be achieved through improving the utility of transport vehicles. We’re about to start an activity with a very large retailer and a university to understand what incentives are enough to get people to share and what the real and perceived barriers are. While this is initially based around minicabs (as they are part of a regulated scheme), the same principles could apply to any form of sharing.
Add comment June 14, 2010
A Couple of Recent Speaking Opportunities
Over the last few weeks, Carbon Voyage has been fortunate to be able to speak about what we are doing – firstly at GreenNet 2010 in San Francisco run by GigaOm’s Earth2Tech and more recently at Low Carbon South West’s Low Carbon Startup Fest in Bath which was chaired by James Watson of the Economist Intelligence Unit. In both cases it was great to see some of the innovation from the other startups presenting Soneter and get a good insight into what is happening on both sides of the Atlantic. I think there is still a lot that the UK investment community can learn from what is happening in the US – things like Y-Combinator would be a welcome addition over here and schemes such as the EFG are proving to not deliver what they are intended for (Richard Tyler quoted me as saying something similar about the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme in the Daily Telegraph back in January 2009). It has been useful in both cases to get a bit of feedback from venture capitalists and private investors about what they are after which will hopefully be of use when we do start actively seeking investment.
Add comment May 14, 2010
Interns Wanted
Carbon Voyage is looking for a marketing or PR guru with entrepreneurial flair and a passion for the environment to join our team. If you are interested, please contact careers [a] carbonvoyage [dot] com.
Responsibilities
While KPIs will be based on individual skills and experience, responsibilities are likely to include:
-Assist with managing website copy and contributing to the company’s blog.
-Communicating with customers via social networking platforms and newsletters.
-Drafting press releases.
-Drafting of marketing material for business.
-Assist with customer relations and monitoring customer behaviour.
Knowledge, Skills & Qualifications
Must have:
-Excellent communication skills and writing abilities.
-Technologically savvy with a high comfort level in the use and application of information and communication technology.
Preferred:
-Marketing or communications related studies or experience. There are B2C and B2B elements to the business, so experience in either will be valuable.
-Experience in the environment and/or transport sector, particularly major environmental reports, policies and carbon accounting methodologies.
-Experience in provision of customer support.
Other requirements
-It is essential that this person at the very least have an interest in and awareness of green/CSR issues.
-UK based at present.
Persona/ style/ demeanour
-A can-do attitude, who is undeterred by obstacles
-Strong work ethic and very professional
-Extroverted; able to assist in representing the company in a large audience.
-Something of an entrepreneurial spirit with a readiness to work flexibly given the start-up nature of the business.
Why might this person want to join the venture?
-Belief in the concept of the venture
-Strongly committed to green agenda and ventures that support such
-Strongly committed to making a difference to a more sustainable provision of transport services, both here in the UK and globally
-Excitement of being a part of a new start-up venture
Remuneration:
Initially, the role will be offered on an agreed expenses only basis. The role is anticipated to be equivalent to approximately 1.5 days per week.
Role to be located:
The office is located in Shoreditch; however, the business is run virtually, so the majority of work can be done at home. Occasional visits to customer locations in London may be required.
Add comment April 12, 2010
Carbon Voyage at GreenNet 2010
Carbon Voyage is delighted to announce that we will be appearing at Earth2Tech’s GreenNet 2010 on 29 April 2010 in San Francisco. There are ten companies presenting and the sketch is that the companies “need to have developed innovative technology that uses information technology — the web, mobile devices, wireless networks, software and computing — to fight climate change in some way.” This is an exciting opportunity to present the business in front of many important thought leaders, businesses and venture capital firms. You can read all about it here.
Add comment March 25, 2010
Carbon Conversation
Last Tuesday, we were one of the presenters at the Carbon Conversation during which Greenbang and Cisco released a report which can be downloaded here. We discussed the basics around transport and the environment; ultimately there is a huge amount that businesses and organisations can do now to reduce their carbon impact, and saving lots of money at the same time.
1 comment February 8, 2010
Interview with Founder
A few months ago, James Swanston was interviewed by Hugh Mason of Pembridge to discuss his journey through the G2I program run in London. Anyway, here is the interview!
Add comment January 31, 2010
New Carbon Voyage Business Portal
Carbon Voyage has just released a new SME portal allowing our customers to have business accounts. This provides a simple to use web platform to manage ground transport needs (taxis and airport train services). The key benefits of using our service are:
Single portal to compare and choose different transport options and their different costs.
Ability to save money through sharing taxis and filling empty return journeys.
Financial and environmental reporting, and offsetting of carbon emissions (through Planet Positive).
Bookings can be made online or via our dedicated business 24/7 call centre.
The service is presently available in London. If you are interested in trying the service, you can register online or email info @ carbonvoyage.com. The full features are:
Bookings
- Ability to book for people in your organisation.
- Passenger notification via sms optional.
- Send courier packages via taxis.
Consolidated Management Information
- Ability to see total business spend, team spend and/or individual spend (financial and carbon).
- Bookings linked to cost codes.
- All bookings recorded so there is a single consolidated receipt/ spreadsheet of entire transport spend.
- Exportable spreadsheet/ .csv file to accounting software.
Sharing Portal
- Ability to find your own shares within your network/ business.
Business Rules and Preferences
- Pre-population of common business destinations (eg. Head office, branch offices).
- Preferred fleets.
- Permissions about using particular vehicle types.
- Set approval limits for individual staff spend. When a staff member gets close to their limit, we will advise the manager who can then prevent future use/ increase budgeted spend etc.
Customer Support
- Email Support.
- Call Centre.
Add comment November 18, 2009
