Copyright © 2010 Carbon Voyage Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Tesco Carbon Voyage is a ride-sharing service allowing Clubcard customers to journey together to and from Tesco stores, saving money on travel costs, helping to reduce carbon emissions and congestion on the roads and in the car park. The service is initially being trialled for 12 weeks.
Tesco is committed to reducing its own carbon footprint both globally as well as here in the UK, and we are keen to find ways that help our customers to do this too, and of course because... Every little helps
There is £250 worth of eco-friendly prizes and 1000s of Green Clubcard points to be won. To find out more click here.
Also, there is ‘£2 off your first journey’ for the 100 ‘first’ journeys made with Tesco Carbon Voyage. To find out more click here.
Beyond saving money and helping the environment, participating customers will help shape any similar service that Tesco may offer in the future.
In addition, if you're a car owner there's less wear and tear on your vehicle and no searching for a parking space. There's no need to cart your shopping either across the car park or to the bus stop as the drop off and pick up points are right outside the front of the store. It's also found that by people travelling together from the same local area it can help lead to building more relationships within the community too.
Tesco consistently strives to find ways to drive down costs for customers. In addition we work closely with members of the Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI) at the Manchester Business School to establish ways to help address environmental issues. To find out more about the SCI click here.
By combining the two aims, we have identified a service which helps customers to save money and help the environment all at once.
Tesco have partnered with Carbon Voyage to facilitate the trial of this service as they are experienced in matching potential ride-sharers, plus their focus is to reduce the carbon effect of journeys, which includes encouraging use of more fuel efficient vehicles. For more information about Carbon Voyage click here.
The trial is running in three North London stores: Brent Cross, Colney Hatch and Wembley Extra stores. Please note that Wembley Extra was formerly known as Brent Park store.
Each registered customer that uses the service for the first time is eligible to receive a discount of £2 against their first single journey, this offer is limited to the first 100 ‘first’ journeys made with Tesco Carbon Voyage.
No cash balance is payable if the first journey fare is less than £2. The offer is not transferable and cannot be redeemed for cash or other alternative tender.
Transport in the UK is responsible for almost a quarter of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions. It is clear that unless we all do something to reduce our carbon footprint, things are only going to get worse, which is why Tesco is committed to reducing its own carbon footprint and to find ways, like working with Carbon Voyage, to help our customers achieve this too.
To find out more about climate change click here.
You can call the Tesco Clubcard helpline on 0800 591688 (Free from BT Landlines) 9am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm on Saturday.
The trial is only open to Clubard customers who are registered at either Brent Cross, Colney Hatch or Wembley Extra stores. Please note that Wembley Extra was formerly known as Brent Park store.
If you wish to register for a Tesco Clubcard, pick up a form in store, register by phone or on-line. To find out more click here.
We aim to ensure that you are fully aware of how much you will pay for each journey, so there are no hidden charges or suprises. Wherever possible we will match your journey with another Tesco shopper so you can share the journey and the fare for each of you will then be reduced.
When you request a ride on-line or by phone, you will be offered between one and three travel time options as close to your requested time as possible if available, with a price quoted for each, from which to select so you can decide when to travel and on the savings you may make.
Remember, there is ‘£2 off your first journey’ for the 100 ‘first’ journeys made with Tesco Carbon Voyage. To find out more click here.
This is most easily explained by using an example:
Mary has been matched to ride-share with Jane to Brent Cross store. Mary lives one and a half miles from the store. Half a mile after being picked up by the minicab they stop and pick up Jane who lives one mile from the store. Mary will be charged the full cost of the part of the journey from her house to Jane's house, and they will both be charged 70% each of the cost of the journey from Jane's house to the store.
Yes you will as long as you are sharing with another Clubcard customer.
Excluding any discounts or reduction in fare that you will receive if you are sharing, the charging rates applicable when paying by cash are a Base Rate which includes the first two miles, of £6.00 with a per mile charge of £2.30 thereafter.
Prices are based on using a standard vehicle which can carry up to four passengers. For prices for journeys for five or more people please call Tesco Carbon Voyage on 0844 669 4444. Please note that calls to this number are charged at 5p per minute from landlines. Calls from mobile phones may be higher, please refer to your service provider for details.
Journeys not paid for by cash are subject to VAT and a payment collection costs is also applied to non-cash bookings.
No waiting charges will apply as long as you meet your minicab within 10 minutes of your pick up time.
A waiting charge of £1 per five minutes from the time of booking is applicable if the waiting time exceeds 10 minutes. Waiting time is only payable by the customer who causes the delay.
If you are late by 5 minutes, the driver will call to find out if you still wish to travel. Depending on that discussion, it will be at the driver's discretion whether to wait for more than 15 minutes; if not, or if the driver is unable to contact you and you do not appear within ten minutes from the point of booking a cancellation charge will be applied.
If sharing with another customer, then the first customer will have the ability to request the vehicle to take them directly onto their destination once the driver has made contact with the customer who is late.
If the driver has been unable to contact the customer who is late and the first customer elects for the vehicle to go before the ten minutes has passed, then no sharing rebates will be applied.
Sometimes circumstances may require you to cancel your journey. If this was to occur within 15 minutes of your arranged pick up time it would attract a 50% cancellation fee as the minicab will have already been despatched.
The 50% is based on the amount you were due to pay for this single journey and will be collected at the time of you next journey or if through your credit or debit card if this is the payment method you had chosen for the booking.
In the event of soilage, minicab companies charge a standard fee of £50. This would be advised to you at the time of occurrence and you will be expected to pay the driver directly by cash.
To register go online to http://www.tescocarbonvoyage.com, click on ‘Register Now to Start Saving’ and complete the online application form. You will need your Clubcard number and mobile phone number to complete the registration.
On completion of registration you will receive a welcome email. Before you can start making booking, follow the link to activate your Tesco Carbon Voyage account.
For the purposes of the trial of this service, customers are required to have a mobile phone. A later trial may extend the service which excludes the need of mobile phones.
Once you have registered you can book online, over the phone or by text. Online bookings can be made 24 hours per day. To book online, visit http://www.tescocarbonvoyage.com
Bookings over the phone or via text can be done between 7am and 11pm seven days a week. To book by phone, call 0844 669 4444. Please note that calls to this number are charged at 5p per minute from landlines. Calls from mobile phones may be higher, please refer to your service provider for details.
To book using the Tesco Carbon Voyage TextService click here to find out more.
You can pay by cash or credit or debit card. At the end of your journey the driver will confirm the fare that is due.
For convenience you do not have to handle any cash at the end of your journey if you choose to pay by credit or debit card, click here to find out more.
All of your transactions will be shown on your Tesco Carbon Voyage on-line account.
Please note that if you do not pay cash, your booking will attract VAT and a payment collection charge.
Yes you can. Prior to the journey, the driver will be told what fare to charge you so there are no surprises. However this excludes any extras such as additional waiting time or if you want to change your destination address.
If you are sharing with another customer, any change to your destination address may not impede on the wishes of other sharing passengers and you alone must pay for the associated extra costs.
Paying by cheque is not presently an available option, the two payment options are by or cash or credit/debit card.
You may use your credit or debit card to pay when you make your booking by phone with us on 0844 669 4444.
Your card details will be taken over the phone at time of booking but no amount will be debited until completion of your journey. Please be aware that journeys paid using credit or debit cards attract a payment collection charge and VAT so will cost a little more than if you paid by cash.
You will be informed of the estimated fare at time of booking and the driver will confirm the amount to you on completion of your journey. If you decide to pay the driver by cash at that point then the credit or debit card transaction will be voided.
Paypal is the merchant service used by Carbon Voyage to collect credit or debit card payments, so on completion of the transaction you will receive an email directly from Paypal confirming the transaction details.
Please note that calls to 0844 669 4444 are charged at 5p per minute from landlines. Calls from mobile phones may be higher, please refer to your service provider for details.
Any ex-gratia payment you may choose to make is solely at your personal discretion. An amount cannot be added to the PayPal transaction so if you wish to tip the driver you will need to do so with cash.
This is based on a VW Passat 2007 which has a carbon emissions factor of 136gm/km; this vehicle is used by some of our suppliers.
The TextService allows you use SMS text messaging to quickly request the next available minicab to take you to where you want to go.
This is a great option for people who have free messaging from their mobile phones, for when you're nearing the end of your shopping and its noisy in the store or for those who are hard of hearing.
Please note that your normal network charges will apply.
The TextService will recognise your mobile phone number and know your home address and preferred store from when you first registered on-line at TescoCarbonVoyage.com. It's important to keep your personal information up to date on your account as this is how the minicab will know which store to take you to or collect you from.
When you register online at Tesco Carbon Voyage, you will receive a text message with instructions about registering. It will say:
Hi (your name), To confirm your Tesco Carbon Voyage registration, text 'Tesco Register' to 60777. If you need help using the service, text 'Tesco Help' to 60777.
The response text that you need to send is not case sensitive but please make sure the spelling is correct or else we won’t receive your confirmation.
The booking service provides a quick easy way to book a journey from your home to your favourite Tesco store, or from that store back to your home on the next available minicab.
Where possible we will match you with another Tesco Carbon Voyager.
To order a minicab to take you from your home address to your favourite Tesco store, text 'Tesco' to 60777.
You will receive a message like:
Hi (your name). To pay cash, the fare is £xx.xx - text 'Tesco Cash' to 60777. To pay by card text 'Tesco Card' to 60777 and we'll call you back.
To order a minicab to take you from your favourite Tesco store to your home address, text 'House' to 60777.
You will receive a message like:
Hi (your name). To pay cash, the fare is £xx.xx - text 'Tesco Cash' to 60777. To pay by card text 'Tesco Card' to 60777 and we'll call you back.
Once we hear back from you, then your booking will be processed.
To cancel your booking, you will need to text 'Tesco Cancel' to 60777.
To change your booking, call our customer support line on 0844 669 4444.
Please note that calls to 0844 669 4444 are charged at 5p per minute from landlines. Calls from mobile phones may be higher, please refer to your service provider for details. Your standard service provider charge rates apply for texts that you send to 60777.
Indeed you may. If you arrange your journey to the store on-line please select the ‘Yes, I would like to book a return journey back to my pick up address’ option and confirm the time you wish to be collected. If booking by phone, please ask the operator to also book your return trip. Each journey will be classed as an individual trip.
When requesting a minicab using the TextService, only a one way trip can be arranged at a time.
It is important to contact us as soon as possible if you need to change your booking. For cancellations of less than 15 minutes notice a 50% charge of fare price will be made to your credit or debit card if this is how you arranged to pay for your fare at time of booking. Alternatively the amount due will be payable at the time of your next journey.
To make changes please call our customer support line on 0844 669 4444. Please note that calls to 0844 669 4444 are charged at 5p per minute from landlines. Calls from mobile phones may be higher, please refer to your service provider for details.
Either the start or end location needs to be one of the three Tesco stores involved in the trial, please select from the drop down list when making a booking. When using Quick Estimate on the Home Page type in TESCO to see the drop down list in the Pick Up or Drop Off address boxes.
Call us on 0844 669 4444 and we can arrange a vehicle for you. Calls to this number are charged at 5p per minute from landlines. Calls from mobile phones may be higher, please refer to your service provider for details.
Where a cancellation occurs with less than 15 minutes notice a 50% charge of the fare price will have been made and you will still get a discount, but this may be less than what the discount would have been if you had shared.
Where a journey has been cancelled that does not attract a cancellation charge then you will be charged at the standard rate.
Absolutely! Firstly, when you order your ride home make sure you request ‘extra shopping space‘ if you expect to have more than four full carrier bags, Small Green Bags (or equivalent). Meet the driver at the designated pick up point outside the store with your trolley. The driver will assist with loading the shopping into the boot and also help unload your shopping.
Please note that the driver will not be able to bring your shopping into your home. If this is a service you require please order your grocery shopping on-line from Tesco.com, for more information click here.
Special bag tags are available for you to write your name on and attach to a handle of each of your shopping bags. The bag tags are durable enough to stay attached to your shopping bags ready for your next shopping trip.
The bag tags can be found on the Tesco Carbon Voyage stand in the foyer of the shop or at the Customer Services desk.
If your wheelchair can be folded up and put in the back of a standard saloon vehicle, then the minicab companies involved in the trial can assist but sharing opportunities may be limited. Unfortunately, at present, none of these fleets have ramps for wheelchair access.
It is important to provide us with accurate details of your address for where you need to be picked up from. Stating full postcodes is a very good way of ensuring that there is no confusion. All of the minicabs that Tesco Carbon Voyage use have GPS and mobile technology to help collect you and deliver you to your destination efficiently.
When a vehicle has been selected to pick you up, you will receive contact details of the driver by text so you can directly speak with them to sort out any confusion.
Each journey will be classed as an individual trip and so each will need to be paid for separately.
Please note that there may be a slight difference in the cost of a return journey due to different routes that the driver may need to take eg because of one way streets.
Some shoppers prefer to be flexible about their shopping time and so may not be travelling back with you unless they have also pre-arranged their return journey at the same time as yours.
The safety of Tesco customers is of the utmost importance to us and partly why we chose to offer a minicab sharing service.
We only work with licensed operators and licensed vehicles. All drivers and vehicles are required to go through a series of checks to ensure that you are provided with a safe service. Additionally, Carbon Voyage is licensed with the Public Carriage Office and is regulated by Transport for London, to find out more click here.Tesco Carbon Voyage doesn’t have its own vehicles. During this trial, we are mainly limited to standard vehicles. An example of a standard vehicle is a VW Passat that has a carbon emission factor of around 136g/km.
Please contact Tesco Carbon Voyage if you lose something, and we will endeavour to reclaim it for you. You can also directly call the fleet that provides the service to you. To contact Tesco Carbon Voyage click here.
By checking your ‘My Bookings’ page when you are logged in online, you can also find the journey where you lost something and record the issue there.
We hope this will never happen but we are keen to ensure you have a way of making us aware of anything you are unhappy about from this service. You can complain directly to the driver if you wish, or alternatively, please contact us with details of the problem that you experienced and we will respond to you as soon as possible. To contact Tesco Carbon Voyage click here.
We are required by law to keep records of bookings, complaints and lost property for at least six months after a booking occurs.
The Tesco Carbon Voyage service is an initial trial and limited to journeys to and from Tesco shops. However, you can register separately with Carbon Voyage and use the service for other journeys, click here to find out more.
Tesco Carbon Voyage... helping customers go shopping for less
There are 22,000 licensed taxis and 46,000 private hire vehicles in London
The majority of taxis have CO2 emissions of 226 g/km and above. The Toyota Prius has a CO2 emission rating of 104g/km.
Taxi fares will rise 3.4% in 2009 to meet higher black cab running costs, but only 1/3 of these vehicles are on a system that allows jobs to be sent to them.
Employees in the media and publishing industry claimed the most business miles and the most taxi journeys in 2007.
Copyright © 2010 Carbon Voyage Ltd. All Rights Reserved.