Workplace Travel Plan

What is a Workplace Travel plan

A workplace travel plan is a package of practical measures which are designed to encourage your staff and visitors to choose alternatives to single occupancy car use for travel to and from your premises.Typically measures will include initiatives to encourage car sharing, to promote walking and cycling and to increase public transport usage.

A workplace travel plan involves the development of a set of measures, initiatives and targets to help your business address your transport problems. Flexibility is the key to a successful plan. YOUR business travel plan will address YOUR problems and provide YOU with solutions.

For further general information on travel plans, visit  the travel plan section of the Travelwise website

SWELTRAC and the London Borough of Richmond have produced detailed guidance on how to develop a travel plan. A free copy of the guidance can be ordered by calling Ben Hawkins 020 8487 5036.

For further advice on how to develop a travel plan read our simple  step by step guide

Why adopt a Workplace Travel plan?

A travel plan can offer your organisation a range of benefits and act as a strategic tool to solve:

Accessibility problems: if your site or the surrounding area is congested this will cause delay, which can have an economic cost to your business - staff arrive late, deliveries arrive late, visitors may be discouraged from visiting your site and your business travel is also delayed.

Parking problems: your car park may be overcrowded with minimal space for visitors. The cost of on and off site parking for your staff and visitors may well be significant (average figures are estimated at £500 per annum per space). Reducing the need for parking could reduce your costs and free up much needed space for extended development or the space could be utilised for car sharers, visitors or people with mobility impairments. There is increasing pressure on parking provision in most areas and a business travel plan can help to relieve this pressure.

High Business Travel Costs: if your staff need to travel on business it is likely that your travel costs will be significant. Reducing the need to travel and encouraging alternative forms of transport can provide you with significant cost savings.

Improved staff performance: Studies by the British Medical Association and other institutions have shown that staff who cycle or walk as part of their journey to work are fitter, perform better and are absent less. Staff will also appreciate the increased travel choice and personal benefits that a travel plan can offer.

Forthcoming planning applications: if your business is planning to expand and submit a planning application in the future, having a travel plan is an essential part of most applications.

Tax exemptions: there are a range of exemptions and reductions that your organisation can claim by having a travel plan. Your organisation could provide the following services free from tax and national insurance contributions:

• A bus service for travel to and from work

• Cycles and equipment for travel to and from work

• Cycle and motorcycle parking

• Season ticket loans

• Tax relief can also be claimed on capital expenditure on travel plans.

Save money using low emission vehicles: government grants are available towards the cost of a clean fuelled vehicle. Alternatively fuelled vehicles are cheaper to run and offer savings on road and company car tax. Many alternatively fuelled vehicles have the advantage of being exempt from the central London congestion charge. Here you can find more information on government grants and potential savings.

What does it involve? A step by step guide

If you decide you are interested in implementing a business travel plan follow our step by step guide:

Step 1. Secure senior management support: senior management support is vital in ensuring the success of the plan. Senior support will ensure that sufficient resources are allocated to make the plan a success both in terms of staff time and budget allocations.

Senior management support is also important in “leading by example”. If senior managers are seen to be actively supporting the plan this can generate interest and enthusiasm amongst staff.

Senior managers may get involved by attending travel plan meetings or by making representations for the board or executive committee.

Step 2. Identify roles and responsibilities: it is usually necessary to identify a travel plan co-ordinator who will be responsible for the development and implementation of the travel plan. This can be done alongside existing responsibilities or as a new post for larger more complex organisations.The role of the travel plan co-ordinator will vary between organisations and it may be that an individual in an organisation is already undertaking a number of the tasks involved. In general terms, the travel plan co-ordinator will be expected to liaise with the people or departments implementing the measures and deal with enquiries from members of staff. Another part of the role will be to keep senior managers updated and to help publicise and market the plan.

Step 3. Undertake a staff travel survey: it is important to have an understanding of current travel patterns before implementing a travel plan. The staff survey will give you information about where people live and how they are currently travelling to work as well as the reasons for their decision. This will feed in to the measures that need to be implemented as part of the plan. For example, the survey results may show that more people would cycle if there was secure cycle parking available or if there was an experience cyclist who would be willing to cycle with them.

This sort of information will be vital in determining which measures will work for your organisation. There is little point introducing a car share scheme for example if the results of your survey show that very few staff would be interested in such a scheme.

Step 4. Undertake a site assessment: the site assessment will give an overview of the public transport, cycling, walking and car links that facilitate access to your site. The assessment considers each of the modes both in terms of on site provision and the surrounding area. For example – is cycle parking available on site? Is the parking secure, is it covered? Are there safe cycle routes to the site? Which buses serve the site, where are the bus stops?

Step 5. Identify objectives, targets and indicators: it is essential that you don’t lose sight of why you are implementing a travel plan. Setting objectives, targets and indicators ensures that you do not lose sight of your goals and will give your plan focus and direction. Objectives are the high level goals of your plan, targets are the measurable goals which will help you assess whether you have met your objectives and indictors will monitor whether your targets have been met!

The easiest way to demonstrate the difference between these things is by way of an example:

• OBJECTIVE - relieve congestion on and around your site

• TARGET - reduce the number of single occupancy vehicles entering the site by X %

• TARGET - increase number of cyclists by X%

• INDICATOR - number of people regularly car sharing

• INDICATOR - number of cycles parked on site

In reality, there are likely to be a number of targets and indicators that link to each objective.

Step 6. Identify Measures: there should be a balance of short, medium and long term measures in your plan as well as a balance of “carrot” and “stick” measures. When identifying measures, there are a number of factors to take into account including the resources you have available, both in terms of finance and staff time, appropriateness of the measures, timescale, health and safety issues and many more.

For more information about the measures that typically form part of a travel plan,  click here.

Step 7. Management, Monitoring and Marketing: the travel plan is an ongoing project and there will need to be ongoing management. Monitoring is one of the vital elements of the plan and should be done on a regular basis. Surveys and progress reports will keep track of the plan and will show if objectives and targets are being met. Marketing is also a key element of the plan – staff need to know why the plan is being introduced and what measures are being introduced. The positive benefits the plan will bring should be highlighted to staff. The plan will require ongoing promotion and marketing if it is tosuccess.

Would it work for my organisation?

Any organisation can successfully implement a travel plan. Because a travel plan is specific to your organisation and your site, the plan is tailored to your needs and resources. For example, a small company might not want to invest in some car sharing software but it may be possible to match staff members manually without the need for expensive software. For a large organisation on the other hand, the expense of car sharing software would be justified as it would not be possible to match staff any other way.

Possible Measures?

Here are examples of some of the measures that can be included in a travel plan. These include:

• Measures to raise awareness

• Provide dedicated travel plan notice board Include regular articles in staff magazine

• Distribute public transport information, cycle maps

• Run poster campaign

• Measures to promote walking

• Ensure walking routes on site are direct and well maintained.

• Ensure signposting is clear

• Provide umbrellas and personal alarms

• Introduce flexi time

• Prevent people who live within easy walking distance from parking on site

• Measures to promote cycling

• Provide safe, secure and covered cycle parking

• Establish a Bicycle Users Group

• Provide lockers, showers, changing and drying facilities

• Provide pool bikes

• Measures to promote public transport use

• Provide access to journey planning software on your computer network

• Provide interest free season ticket loans

• Offer personalised journey planning for staff

• Measures to promote car sharing

• Set up car share database (join our car share scheme as a corporate member – visit  www.sharethecar.org for more information)

• Offer guaranteed ride home service

• Offer priority parking for car sharers

• Measures to discourage Single Occupancy car journeys

• Introduce permit system with eligibility criteria

• Introduce parking charges

• Restrict parking to 4 days per week

The measures listed above a mix of short, medium and long term and contain examples of both “carrot" and "stick" measures.

Make your plan a success

The travel plan will not be a success without ongoing support and commitment from your organisation. There are several factors though which are key:

Publicity and Marketing – it is essential that the travel plan is well publicised throughout the organisation. A common problem for organisations is that their staff simply do not know about the measures and schemes that are provided and consequently there is a low take up amongst employees. There are a number of ways you can publicise your plan and the media chosen will depend largely on what is available to you and the nature and size of your organisation. Common examples used to promote a travel plan include:

• "All staff" emails

• Intranet/website

• CD Roms

• Booklets/leafles

• Posters

• Induction pack

• Management briefings/staff meetings

• Promotional events

How SWELTRAC can help?

• We can provide advice and assistance on a variety of travel plan measures

• We can provide you with guidance to help you get started

• If your organisation is interested in voluntarily taking steps towards implementing a travel plan, we have a limited number of free travel plan notice boards which can be put up on your shop floor, staffroom, canteen or other central point.

• We can supply you with public transport information for your local area

• We can help you set up a private car sharing group on our car share database  www.sharethecar.org

If you are interested in implementing a travel plan, please contact Ben Hawkins, the SWELTRAC Senior Travel Plan Co-ordinator at b.hawkins@richmond.gov.uk or on 020 8487 5036.

The Travel Plan Officers group

SWELTRAC run a Travel Plan Officers group for the travel plan officers in the boroughs within our partnership. The group meets quarterly to discuss initiatives within the boroughs and effective ways of working together. The group provides an opportunity for the borough officers to share best practice and ideas.