Commuter travel plans

Summary

The main aim of this measure was to reduce the number of single car journeys by employees travelling to and from work, and to reduce the impact of the ‘School Run’ (parents driving their children to and from school), so as to achieve a sustained increase in the number of safe sustainable journeys to and from school. These aims were achieved by working with businesses and schools to help them develop Travel Plans which detailed a range of measures to encourage more employees/children & parents to walk, cycle, use public transport or car share.

Implementing sustainable mobility

The evaluation for this measure focussed predominantly on assessing modal shift. This was mainly done using ‘Hands-Up’ surveys for schools, and iTrace surveys for businesses. It also looked at the impact of individual initiatives at specific schools and businesses.

• The percentage share of car trips to and from schools within the Civitas corridor has reduced by 13% during the lifetime of the measure, compared to an 8% reduction in schools outside of the corridor.This represents a 5% saving in car trips.
• One of the businesses worked with was Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company. The percentage share of car trips to and from their Conway Street depot reduced from 32% in 2010 to 26% in 2011. Their Whitehawk Road depot saw a 14% share reduction in car trips.

Progress

The evaluation for this measure focussed predominantly on assessing modal shift. This was mainly done using ‘Hands-Up’ surveys for schools, and iTrace surveys for businesses. It also looked at the impact of individual initiatives at specific schools and businesses.

• The percentage share of car trips to and from schools within the Civitas corridor has reduced by 13% during the lifetime of the measure, compared to an 8% reduction in schools outside of the corridor. This represents a 5% saving in car trips.
• One of the businesses worked with was Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company. The percentage share of car trips to and from their Conway Street depot reduced from 32% in 2010 to 26% in 2011. Their Whitehawk Road depot saw a 14% share reduction in car trips.

Outcomes

Lessons learned:

• A successful Travel Plan campaign relies heavily upon building robust relationships with key personnel in the targeted businesses and schools.
• Being able to link the Travel Plan campaign into targets/actions already being taken by the business/school in key to securing the longevity of the measure.