Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Travel Info for All Energy

Why I'm not buying carbon compensation for the All Energy Opportunities event:

The Venue and Travel page on the All Energy site is a good example of how far we as a society have to go to achieve a low carbon economy.  

There is a carbon compensation scheme to ease your guilt about flying to your renewable energy conference. There is information on how to fly/drive/train/boat to Aberdeen. There is a list of hotels with distances described as journey time by car. However, there is a distinct lack of information about how to get to the conference venue by public transport. Perhaps that's because there is no bus? Perhaps that explains why every year there is a 100m queue for taxis after the event?

Well of course there is a bus, and of course, what was I thinking, such low status and inconvenient transport is not suitable for those who bear the responsibility of de-carbonising our economy. For anyone else who can't be bothered with this aversion to public transport (or with standing in the rain for a taxi), here is the bus info.

bus #40 (First group); between Union Str (6 min from station) and the Conference Centre car park ('Bridge of Don, at Park & Ride on Exhibition Ave'). Here's the bus map, and the timetable for bus 40.
bus #63 (Stagecoach); between Union Sq bus station (connected to train station by a shopping mall) and Ellon Str (the dual carriage running past the conference centre). Going to AEO, alight at the stop ('Bridge of Don, opp the Parkway') opposite the tall grey thing that looks like an air traffic control tower. Leaving AEO, get on at the Ellon Str bus shelter ('Bridge of Don, adj the Parkway') directly in front of the main conference entrance, at the end of a wee path. Here's the timetable.
bus#67(Stagecoach). Same stops as #63. Here's the timetable.

Despite the self-righteous ranting, I am actually looking forward to All Energy! And of course I will be providing summaries of the wave energy events for those of you who have chosen the low carbon travel option of not travelling.

Image credit:

'Aberdeen bus station' under creative commons licence http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aberdeen_bus_station_sign.JPG

3 comments:

  1. Really useful - thanks.

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  2. I was pleasantly surprised to see a fair few All Energy delegates using the local buses. Returning to the station on the last day I found myself sitting behind one of the speakers of the last session, Simon Cheeseman, who told me more about the ETI's wave and tidal projects.

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  3. Updated info for 2014:
    Bus 40 no longer running; now X40: http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/aberdeen/journey_planning/timetables/timetable.php?day=1&source_id=2&service=X40&routeid=9650521&operator=19&source=sp
    Updated link to Maps: http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/aberdeen/journey_planning/maps/

    ReplyDelete

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