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Corporate Responsibility

At National Express Group corporate responsibility is a fundamental part of our business – it’s about what we do and how we do it. We know that public transport has a central role to play in improving the quality of people’s lives. Our challenge is to effectively communicate the contribution that our services can make to society, in both social and environmental terms.

We report more widely on our corporate responsibility initiatives in our Corporate Responsibility report. In 2007 we were once again included in the Dow Jones Sustainability and the FTSE4Good indices. And in August 2007 we were listed in The Observer newspaper as one of the 20 best firms in the FTSE 350 index, assessed on a range of social, environmental and corporate governance criteria.

A key part of our communities

Our business and our brands are an integral part of the fabric of everyday life. Connecting with our communities is key and each part of our business is empowered to do this on a local level.

Much of our community support comes in the shape of initiatives close to the hearts of our people and our customers. In North America we continue our support of the Special Olympics with employees across the division volunteering for events across California, Texas and Illinois. In Spain we signed a €400,000 partnership with UNICEF to support the promotion of breastfeeding in Morocco, a country in which Alsa is a transport provider. Alsa is also the sponsor of the fifth Solidarity and Immigration Mundialito (Little World Cup) which brings together over 700 people from 25 countries with the aim of promoting solidarity through sport. In the UK we became sponsors of The Football Association, providing unique opportunities for our people to engage with the games and players that are such a part of the landscape of life in the UK.

Working together to create change

The climate change debate has moved on apace in 2007. Our focus has been on communicating the large net environmental savings to be made from customers using our services instead of car and plane. We launched an online carbon calculator to highlight the carbon savings made by individual journeys and will continue to develop initiatives that promote this message throughout 2008.

We continued our partnership in the Climate Group’s ‘We’re in This Together Campaign’, which helps consumers find ways to reduce their carbon footprint. As part of this, in Summer 2007, we ran competitions to win tickets to Live Earth, when our customers told us their pledge to reduce their carbon footprint. As official transport providers to Wembley Stadium we provide services from 57 destinations around the UK to each match, significantly reducing the numbers of car journeys to the stadium. In addition we are a key partner in the Carbonfootyprint.com campaign providing free coach travel to all FA Cup matches from the Third Round onwards, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of the competition.

Continuous improvement

We are also working to reduce our own energy and carbon emissions where we can. In our bus business we started a trial of hybrid buses at Travel London – operating on the 129 route from the Cutty Sark to North Greenwich whilst in Leon, North Central Spain we launched the country’s first electric minibus. At National Express East Anglia, through train modifications and the launch of train simulators, which promote energyefficient driving, we have seen significant drops in energy use. And the entire c2c fleet of trains now uses regenerative braking which has reduced energy use by around 20%. Some of our most ambitious plans for energy reduction come as part of the new National Express East Coast franchise. Over the length of the franchise we plan a 28% reduction in CO2 per passenger kilometre.

We’ve continued to make improvements at our sites with National Express West Midlands garages reducing their energy use by around 40% and train depots by around 25% in the last three years. We also plan to create a number of green initiatives and invest in onsite renewable energy. As a complement to this in our UK business we switched to “green tariff” electricity so all our site and depot energy in the UK now comes from renewable sources. The contract also provides electricity for the Midland Metro in the West Midlands, resulting in the line becoming the first light rail system in the UK to be effectively emissions free.

Keeping safety front of mind

Safety is at the core of our business and we are focused on ensuring that our safety record improves across our operations. 2007 saw two accidents, one involving the tragic loss of three lives. Our thoughts remain with those affected by these incidents. We remain commited to our policy of continuous improvement in safety. In Spain we have invested in driver training with a resulting 15% drop in incidents. Improvements were also recorded in North America, due in part to the second year of the division’s safety awards which focus on keeping safety at the forefront of every driver’s mind and rewarding drivers who exceed the safety performance standards. In our UK train operations, the rate of signals passed at danger (SPADs) has improved by 16%, and currently stands at its lowest level ever.

Our business, our people

The safety and development of our people remains a fundamental part of our success as a business and we ensure that we provide support to them at every level. We continued our ‘First Level Leaders’ programme which provides managers with the necessary training to help them develop their potential. Engagement with our people is key and we ensure that our communication with each employee is central to everything we do. Our Employee Survey is crucial in gathering their thoughts and views and we ensure that these are not only listened to, but acted on.

We will continue to explore ideas to tackle the issues facing our business and society. Only by listening to our people, our customers and stakeholders can we truly ensure we are making travel simpler.

Safety first
When it comes to safety, driver training is key. We continue to invest in the technology and training programmes to keep our people and passengers protected.

Encouraging change
Educating people about the environmental benefits of using public transport is one of our primary roles in reducing the effects of climate change.

Green electricity

Switching our UK business to a “green tariff” electricity means all our site and depot energy now comes from renewable sources. It also means that Midland Metro, the light rail system in the West Midlands, is effectively emissions free.

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