Go electric, Green tells Parliament in a bid to cut taxi expenses

Published on Wednesday 23 December 2009 21:41

MSPs should be given access to electric cars and scooters to help cut down on emissions and taxi bills, Scottish Parliament officials have been told.

Scottish Green leader Patrick Harvie has urged them to create a pool of electric vehicles as a way of helping to reduce carbon emissions and set a good example.

He said the Scottish Government was placing heavy emphasis on the potential of electric cars as part of its transport policy, with ministers claiming that almost all vehicles on Scottish roads will be electric or low-carbon within a decade.

Mr Harvie said: "I think they're being over-ambitious, but it seems reasonable, if we are serious about this, that the government and the parliament should lead by example."

He said that about half-a-dozen electric cars or scooters could be made available for MSPs and staff to use for travelling in Edinburgh.

"There is a fair amount of taxi use, people going to meetings and so on," he said. "If it's just within the city, these short journeys could relatively easily be made by electric car or scooter.

"It's not about Draconian rules. I'm not saying there should be no more taxi use. But there are small vehicles which don't use a lot of road space and can be charged for pennies.

"I suspect a lot of manufacturers, including Scottish companies, would jump at the chance of supplying that."

Mr Harvie tabled a series of questions on the issue to the cross-party Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), which is responsible for housekeeping at Holyrood.

Alex Johnstone, on behalf of the SPCB, said a question on demand for pool vehicles would be included in a travel to work survey planned for next year.

The Conservative MSP added, however, that the SPCB had previously provided a pool car, but there was insufficient demand to make it viable.

He said the option of joining Edinburgh's City Car Club had also been examined, but there was insufficient demand to justify a corporate membership.

Mr Harvie said the parliament could do more to promote the electric car pool idea. He added: "Really, the parliament creates demand when it decides what it's going to pay expenses for and people respond to these rules. If for certain journeys MSPs were expected to use a pool car, and if they chose a taxi they had to pay for it themselves, I suspect there would be far fewer people taking taxis."

Mr Harvie also said the parliament garage should have charging points, so MSPs could recharge their own electric cars.

There is currently one electric charging point in the garage, installed for an experimental electric motorcycle used by Lothian and Borders Police.