A county Monaghan firm has become the first passenger transport company in Britain and Ireland, and only the second in the world, to achieve the coveted new ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems standard. Matthews Coach Hire, based in Callenberg, Inniskeen, can now claim to be the cleanest passenger transport company in Ireland.
Matthews secured the major standard thanks to a five-year energy saving campaign which has seen them reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20%.
ISO 50001 is a voluntary international standard developed by ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) which aims to help organisations continually reduce their energy use, and therefore their energy costs and their greenhouse gas emissions.
Minister for Transport, Tourism, & Sport Leo Varadkar congratulated the company on its award. “Matthews Coach Hire is a pioneering transport company and I want to congratulate it on this latest success,” said Minister Varadkar.
“Last year Matthews secured a significant contract to transport athletes at the Olympic Games. It’s the only Irish transport company to employ alcolock devices in its fleet, and was the first private company to trial the Leap card. This company consistently shows leadership in transport.”
Noel Matthews, the company’s Quality and Fleet manager said: “The Government’s implementation of the EU’s Green Procurement Policy a number of years ago set us firmly on the road to energy efficiency. ISO 50001 requires us to continuously improve our energy management system, and our resulting energy performance year-on-year.”
“It also offers public procurement and licensing agencies the means to objectively measure and differentiate clean and sustainable transport operators under the Green Procurement Policy. Through continuous driver education and energy monitoring, we have reduced our fuel consumption from 33 litres per 100km to 27.23 litres per 100km (10.4mpg) over five years, which makes a huge difference across our fleet. Our CO2 and GHG are now a full 20% lower than our starting point in 2008.”
“With our emissions at just 20g of CO2 per passenger kilometre, compared to an A-labeled car at 140g/km, we can confidently say that we are Ireland’s cleanest passenger transport service. Building on a succession of energy awards and independently measured fuel savings from 2008 to 2012, Matthews completed their 50001 certification audit in November 2012.”
“We are indebted to Conor Molloy of Authentic Solutions who has been with us through every step of this process,” said Noel.
They were previously the only privately owned Irish passenger transport company to have gained an ISO 9001:2008 quality management system accreditation. Founded by Paddy and Mary Matthews in 1995, they operate a fleet of 36 vehicles in their daily commuter, tour and private hire services. They are also double National (SEAI) Energy Award winners for energy efficiency (major user) and energy awareness, thanks to their EcoDrive training, fuel management systems and safety procedures.
They are the only Irish transport company to use alcolocks and every Matthews coach and support vehicle carries one of the devices. They were also the only transport company in the State to have secured a contract at the London Olympic Games.