Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership (GCRP) are excited to announce that our popular TrainTripper platform has undergone a youth-led innovative rebrand. By focusing on the carbon calculator tool and implementing a fun kettle comparator, we hope to make concepts such as ‘carbon emissions’ or ‘carbon savings’ accessible and relatable to all.
TrainTripper
TrainTripper was launched in 2023 to promote car-free leisure trips to the nine Gloucestershire towns with train stations. Visitors to the site can plan their trip by exploring some of the fantastic experiences these places have to offer and then create a personalised map detailing places of interest. The platform was later expanded to include 18 stations in Oxfordshire, allowing visitors to explore towns and cities across the region.
Sustainability and the Green Agenda
One of the most innovative aspects of the TrainTripper platform is its carbon calculator tool. The calculator allows visitors to see how much carbon they have saved by opting for sustainable rail travel instead of going by car. The website also displays important sustainability facts and statistics around sustainable transport. We hope that TrainTripper can be instrumental in raising awareness of sustainability and influence modal shift towards sustainable forms of transport.
Youth Focus
TrainTripper was co-produced alongside young people and GCRP’s youth initiatives are at the heart of our work. Research conducted by GCRP in our ‘Young People’s Voices - insight and impact report’ found that young people care deeply about the environmental impact of travel. 45% of respondents said that the environmental impact of a journey affects the way they travel, with 80% identifying public transport as the smarter environmental choice.
However, 56% of young people didn’t know what a carbon calculator was, and 62% said that concepts such as carbon emissions did not make sense. This sentiment was echoed in other engagement events attended by GCRP with local communities and businesses in the county, suggesting more needs to be done to increase understanding.
Kettle Comparator
In response to this feedback, TrainTripper has been updated to include a new kettle comparator tool. This displays the amount of carbon saved by taking the train instead of driving an average petrol car, as how many times you could boil a kettle using the same amount of carbon*. We hope that making complicated terms such as carbon emissions and savings more relatable and accessible to all, it will improve understanding and encourage more people to opt for sustainable transport when planning their trips to the region!
If you want to give TrainTripper a go and calculate your carbon savings in a fun and relatable manner, then visit https://traintripper.co.uk/ and plan your trip today!
TrainTripper was developed with support from our partners Great Western Railway, CrossCountry Trains, Community Rail Network and the Department for Transport.
*Estimated CO2 emissions saved by taking the train instead of driving an average petrol car.
Distances calculated using Google Distance Matrix.
CO2 emissions calculated using DEFRA CO2e emissions factors.
Kettle comparison is for boiling 1.7 litres of water from 14°C with
a kettle of 80% efficiency at a CO2 production rate of 217 grams per kWh
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