February 19, 2008
London Free Press

Before you rock out with Linkin Park Saturday night, you can help save the environment and some cash.

With the slogan, Go Green For No Green, the Grammy-winning rock band has teamed up with London Transit, the city and Global Spectrum to offer free bus rides to and from the concert.

In addition, some free parking will be made available to green-minded concertgoers who carpool to the show.

"This is exciting. For us, it's really a benchmark for other (environmental) opportunities," said Larry Ducharme, general manager of London Transit, which will provide anyone with a Linkin Park ticket free rides to and from the John Labatt Centre concert.

"Everyone benefits, particularly the environment," he said.

The band is known for its green initiatives.

The California rockers announced at the start of its U.S./Canada tour that it would donate $1 for each ticket to a tree-planting project.

Within the past year, Linkin Park has contributed $500,000 toward reforestation.

The band -- which also uses bio-diesel fuel in its tour vehicles and whose members eat with recycled kitchenware -- is trying to green up each venue on the tour.

"Linkin Park sent out a wish list -- one of them being work on a deal with transit, parking," said Brian Ohl, JLC general manager and a regional vice-president for Global Spectrum.

"For us, the timing was great because we just started a greening process of the building. We jumped on board right away."

He said the arena's south parking lot, operated by the city, has space for 80 vehicles and 12 spots for wheelchair parking pass-holders.

If a vehicle has four or more fans -- all buckled in -- it will be allowed free access to that lot, which usually costs $5.

The lot will open at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Ducharme said the bus service, including its specialized services for patrons with disabilities, will be provided from 5:30 p.m. until midnight.

He's hoping to meet average Saturday-night revenue targets, as paying customers will also be riding buses.

If London Transit doesn't meet the revenue target, Global Spectrum will underwrite the cost.

"On New Year's Eve (when free service is also provided), our revenue from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. is about $3,000 to $4,000. You're looking at maybe double that because the time period's longer," Ducharme said.

Ohl believes more and more bands will be seeking partnerships to ease their carbon footprint as they tour.

"We'll do a review (of the project) and see where it takes us," Ducharme said.