0 LOW CVP TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE WINNER SEEKS JV AND INVESTMENT PARTNERS FOR NEW GREEN TRANSPORT MODEL

• A recently-announced winner of the Low Carbon Urban Mobility Technology Challenge, which was a competition to find the best solutions for limiting the environmental impacts from transport in cities, is now actively searching for Joint Venture and Investment Partners to help trial the innovative network in a UK city in the near future.
• Approaches from private investors, public-private partnerships and local and regional authorities are all welcome.
• The award-winning ‘To-You, it’s Local’ concept presents a rare and unique opportunity to genuinely reduce congestion and pollution in towns and cities, through acombination of three innovative elements.

The award-winning “To-you it’s local” scheme presents a radical yet realistic way of significantly cutting congestion and pollution in UK cities, as vindicated by the scheme’s success in the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership (Low CVP)’s recent Urban Mobility Technology Challenge. At the heart of the idea is the age-old principle of simultaneously reducing the number of private and goods vehicles on our roads, while increasing the number of Public Service Vehicles (PSVs), such as buses and taxis.
But what sets To-you it’s local apart from previous, similar-sounding schemes, is its ability to create an alternative city freight system that will serve the booming e-commerce market which is generating an unsustainable growth explosion in the parcel delivery sector, at the same time as persuading car drivers to switch to public transport thanks to the frequency and comfort of the alternatives it provides.
The infrastructure model consolidates three state-of-the-art technologies into a unique system for both businesses and private users;

• Freight*Lift – removes the requirement for pallets ( on which £1billion + is wasted annually) and enables rapid automated transfers of grouped freight consignments
• Cool*Run – combined with Freight*Lift enables transport of multi-temperature products in one vehicle without traditional chillers and insulated body constraints
• Freight*Bus – a multi-tasking passenger and freight carrying bus which utilises surplus bus capacity at off-peak times to transport freight
• Locker Box and Micro- Hub Network-the provision of a network of conveniently located collection and delivery nodes in association with passenger transfer points, bus stops and stations.

Hugh Frost, inventor of To-You, it’s local, explains the thinking behind his idea: “Public transport vehicles are part of the existing problem because for much of their service time they have low occupancy and utilisation levels, while emitting large amounts of pollutants. The fact is that most buses (the same issues apply to trams and trains) run well under capacity (and are even near empty on many routes) especially during off peak times. ‘To-You’ looked at passenger & freight systems end-to-end and concluded that there is sufficient overlap to be able to build on and integrate existing infrastructure of both passenger and freight systems. First, however, it will be necessary to develop a network of freight consolidation centres for freight movement, micro-hubs for passenger and freight delivery, and collections nodes which will take the form of automated freight drop boxes located within the bus support infrastructure.”
Although this concept may sound complicated and expensive, many of these required infrastructure elements already exist, such as bus/rail stations & depots. Micro-hubs would also be located at major bus stops, and concentrations of retail and other commercial activity.
Finally, the proposed infrastructure will utilise micro EVs for the last/first 1000meters of journeys, thereby providing parcel freight final destination delivery/collections if required and on-demand passenger service feeding to and from the local micro-hub (bus stop) for intermodal transfers to the larger Freight*Bus or other e-Light Goods Vehicles and conventional buses.
“This will create a seamless flow of combined freight, while passengers will be enabled by a safe modular and automated transfer of the freight combined with a variable seating capacity within the Freight*Bus enabling the buses capacity for freight and passengers to incrementally adjust dependent on demand,” explains Frost.
To-You also envisages better integration of the national rail system with buses and other transport systems enabled by the micro-hubs, national coach networks using the edge of town hubs for collections and drop offs of inter-city passengers enhancing there transit speeds and eliminating the congested last /first mile for  the coach traveller at every town they pass through.
 The much more effective use of capital resource that Freight*Bus provides and the substantially increased revenue from the provision of freight services would enable bus franchisees to increase the number of vehicles in operation. This in turn would enable them to increase the number of routes, frequency of service, and provide better integration with rail systems enabling a high frequency ‘turn up & go’ metro type service.
The capital cost of these proposed Hubs will be distributed throughout the range of services offered and will therefore reduce the burden on the public transport budget, with the freight activities being a major revenue contributor.
Hugh Frost Designs Ltd, which has developed the ‘To-You’ concept, is currently looking for the necessary Joint Venture and investment Partners to be able a trial network to be established in a UK city in the near future. Frost’s plan is for the To-You program to initially test and service the infrastructure using Electric Light Goods Vehicles with the inclusion of Freight*Bus as the second phase.
About Hugh Frost Designs Ltd
Hugh Frost Designs is an independent design company working in the area of green transport and supply chain logistics. The To- You solution to urban mobility is the result of observations and research by Frost and his team into the existing freight and passenger systems which have a legacy of working in modal silos with little or no collaboration, To- You is a commercially driven solution in which collaboration will provide a competitive edge to all its participants as well as addressing many of the issues associated with urban mobility.  

About the Low CVP Urban Mobility Technology Challenge
TheLowCVP Urban Mobility Technology Challenge was a competition to identify and promote low carbon innovations with the potential to cut carbon emissions and other environmental impacts arising from transport in cities.The winning entrants were selected by an independent expert panel and will present their solutions to a specialist group of executives from vehicle manufacturers and other potential investors or supporters at a private even to be held in early November.