UL announced as Smarter Travel Campus of the Year

The winners of the inaugural Smarter Travel Awards were announced this week, March 27, with the University of Limerick being awarded the Smarter Travel Campus of the Year, Cycling Campus of the Year, Student Union of the Year and Sustainable Champions of the Year at the event. Partners of the Smarter Travel Workplaces and Smarter Travel Campus programme from around the country submitted entries to the awards competition which recognise and celebrate the efforts that workplaces and campuses make to promote sustainable travel.

Pictured here is Geoff Ginnetty (centre), Galway University Hospitals, winner of the Smarter Travel Workplace Award with (l-r) Sean Collins and Ross Higgins of the University of Limerick, winners of the Smarter Travel Campus Award.

Sean Collins from the University of Limerick said: “The University of Limerick is delighted to have won the Smarter Travel Campus of the Year Award, the Smarter Travel Cycling Campus of the Year Award and the Smarter Travel Sustainable Champions of the Year Award. Smarter Travel is supported from the highest level in UL and the successes would not have been possible without the support of the Buildings and Estates Department led by Director, Robert Reidy, the support of Limerick Smarter Travel and the UL Students’ Union. We are delighted to see the ULSU win the Students’ Union Award. The ULSU has supported the Smarter Travel agenda on campus led by President Tommy Bulger, General Manager, Martin Ryan and Welfare Officer, Shane McCormack. We would also like to thank the NTA for their support with implementing a range of measures to encourage sustainable commuting to the campus community.”

Anne Graham, Chief Executive Officer at the National Transport Authority said: “A growing number of Irish organisations are engaging in Smarter Travel, working with their staff and students to facilitate travel choice in favour of more sustainable transport, resulting in reduced costs, enhanced employee wellbeing, better access and more effective parking management. Smarter Travel Plans can reduce an organisation’s car use by 18% on average. The promotion and facilitation of cycling in particular both on campuses and in workplaces made for strong competition, which highlights the growing interest in cycling across Ireland.  The Awards are well placed to act as inspiration and leadership as we recognise organisations that are paving the way for more sustainable travel options.”

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Ross Higgins, University of Limerick added: “We have done a lot in UL but recognise further scope for improvement in terms of opening people’s eyes to alternatives to the car and hope to continue with enculturating Smarter Travel in UL.  We’ve learnt a lot from the initiatives carried out in various campuses around the country and hopefully other workplaces and campuses might learn from and implement some of the initiatives carried out in UL.”

Awards were presented in 14 categories across different modes of transport, sustainable champions and overall workplace and campus. University of Limerick took the lead amongst third-level institutions, taking home the award for Cycling Campus of the Year, Student Union of the Year, Sustainable Champions of the Year and Smarter Travel Campus of the Year award. Winners in the workplace categories included St. Vincent’s University Hospital who won Cycling Workplace of the Year and Sustainable Champions of the Year and ebay Inc. who won the Public Transport Workplace of the Year.

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