Travel Awareness

What is Travel Awareness?

National Campaigns

Borough News

"good going" - the London-wide Campaign

How Does SWELTRAC Get Involved?

Useful Links

What is Travel Awareness?

There is no great mystery to the issue of travel awareness - it is, as the title suggests, a process of raising awareness with the general public and organisations about:

• the way people travel 
• the effect this has on the environment 
• the different transport options that are available 
• encouraging more sustainable ways of travelling

National Campaigns

Amongst the national campaigns that are regularly supported by the boroughs within SWELTRAC are:-

• Walk to School Week

• National Bike Week

Walk to School Week is held on a bi-annual basis in May and October. For further information about Walk to School Week in your borough, please click on the link to your local council on our 'Partners' page. For general information about walking to school, please go to www.walktoschool.org.uk

National Bike Week is held annually during the third week in June. In 2006 it was held from 17-25 June with many events organised throughout the Boroughs. For further information about National Bike Week events in your area, click on the link to your local council on our 'Partners' page or go to  www.bikeweek.org.uk for general information about the campaign.

In addition to the national campaigns, many of the Boroughs run their own specific campaigns and events and SWELTRAC will be supporting these. Details of the events happening in your area will be posted on this website shortly.

A n event also supported by SWELTRAC is Walk to Work Week.

Why walk to work?

• Get Fit
• Reduce stress
• Reduce congestion
• Help your local environment

These are just some of the benefits of walking to work! Studies have shown that people who walk as part of their journey to work are fitter, perform better and are absent less. Recent government reports have made it clear that doing 30 minutes moderate physical intensity exercise reduces the risk of premature death from heart disease and some cancers.

In May 2006, the second Walk to Work Week took placeand SWELTRAC encouraged people in the sub region to incorporate walking into their daily commute.

For further information, email sweltrac@richmond.gov.uk or call 020 8487 5039.

"good going" - the London-wide Campaign

The good going campaign is the London wide travel awareness campaign supported by Transport for London. The campaign was launched by the Mayor ofLondon, Ken Livingstone, on 7 September 2004.

The campaign is designed to encourage us to walk, cycle or to use public transport instead of the car and to car share when this is an option."good going" also highlights how the public and private sectors are working - in partnership - to cut traffic congestion and vehicle emissions in the Capital.

The essence of good going is that no initiative is too big or too small to benefit from - and give added value to - good going.Individuals can play their part by formally signing the good going pledge to walk, cycle and use public transport, when possible and to car share when this is an option. For further information on the good going campaign visit  www.goodgoing.co.uk

One of the main events in the good going calendar is good going week, which is held on an annual basis starting in September. 

How Does SWELTRAC Get Involved?

Borough Support

SWELTRAC supports the borough councils within the partnership who participate in travel awareness events as well as running our own campaigns which involve a number of boroughs. An example of one of our recent promotional campaigns can be seen here.

SWELTRAC campaigns and initiatives

In addition to supporting the boroughs, SWELTRAC also run a number of centrally co-ordinated campaigns and initiatives.

Car Sharing

An ongoing campaign for the SWELTRAC partnership is the promotion of car sharing to organisations and businesses to encourage staff to car share where possible. SWELTRAC have a dedicated website  www.sharethecar.org

Organisations can sign up to sharethecar.org and create their own private group on the website. This means that staff will be matched with other people who work for the same organisation. The registration process is quick and easy to use and the computer does all the hard work for you.

Further information about car sharing can be found on our website  www.sharethecar.org

Bike Week

Bike week is a nation wide campaign promoting all kinds of cycling and is centrally co-ordinated through an interactive website www.bikeweek.org.uk. Those wishing to take part can search the website to find events in their area. Bike week is held every year in June and supports the National Cycling Strategy, which aims to increase the use of cycles for all types of journeys, and has a target to quadruple the number of trips made by bike by 2012 based on 1996 levels.

In London, bike week is part of the good going campaign so look out on this website for details of upcoming events in your area.

Useful Links

www.travelwise.org.uk

www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/travelwise/travelwise-awareness-campaigns.shtml

Further useful links can be found on our dedicated  links page.