Travel plans
Contents
- Overview
- The benefits of adopting a travel plan
- Work place travel plans
- Help creating a travel plan
- Achieving the travel plan
- Smarter choices
Overview
A travel plan is a plan produced by employers to encourage staff to switch to more environmentally friendly ways to travel to work.
A plan could include:
- car sharing schemes
- a commitment to improving cycling facilities
- a dedicated bus service
- restricted car parking
- promoting flexible-working practices such as access to work computers from home and video conferencing
The benefits of adopting a Travel Plan
Producing a travel plan can be beneficial to organisations and their employees, but also to the community.
An organisation can:
- save money by reducing the cost of providing parking spaces
- reduce staff travel costs
- reduce the costs of running a fleet
- enhance their image in the community and to partners and employees by showing a commitment to adopting a green agenda
- increase productivity from a healthier and more motivated workforce
- aid staff recruitment and retention
Employees are given an opportunity to:
- save money by switching to a cheaper mode of travel
- reduce the stress of commuting
- have a better quality of life
- reduce the risk of health issues related to lack of exercise
- benefit from tax concessions
Communities will benefit from:
- less traffic and congestion
- improved local air quality
- reduction of social exclusion
- fewer residential parking problems
Work place travel plans
Travel plans are very useful documents that provide you with options to tackle your business' transport issues.
About 50 businesses in South Tyneside have shown interest in sustainable travel and have committed themselves to develop a strategy to deal with the travel they generate in terms of staff's single-occupancy journeys, deliveries, visitors and customers.
Help creating a travel plan
All Tyne and Wear districts have teamed up and adopted an online travel plan management tool called iTrace.
iTrace allows you to carry out an audit to assess what facilities are currently available at your premises and to carry out a staff travel survey online.
iTrace will use the results to provide you with a draft travel plan and a number of reports with graphs and charts to help you to write a travel plan for your organisation.
To get a log-in to access iTrace, please contact South Tyneside Council's Work Place Travel Plan Officer on 0191 424 7662.
Achieving the Travel Plan
Clear targets are important for a successful Travel Plan.
Organisations can help to achieve these targets by:
- providing information about public transport options to your site
- promoting walking and cycling
- encouraging staff to car share
- providing staff with smarter driving lessons
- adopting flexible working practices
- introducing videoconferencing facilities
- introducing internal schemes like a cycle to work scheme or corporate travel schemes
For more information on Travel Plans or to request a Smart Move Travel Plan Business Pack please contact South Tyneside Council's Work Place Travel Plan Officer on 0191 424 7521.
Smarter Choices
The Smarter Choices website can help you to make better choices about the way you travel around Tyne and Wear.
Visit the Go Smarter website
See also Cycling.