Travel Plans

What is a Travel Plan?

Travel Planning can be used just about anywhere, including:

• workplaces
• schools
• visitor attactions and
• residential developments.

A Travel Plan is a range of measures aimed at managing the transport needs of:

• an organisation or
• single location shared by several different organisations.

The aim is to:

• reduce the number of trips made by single occupancy car and
• improving accessibility, by promoting wider travel choices and healthier more sustainable travel.

You may find your organisation already has many of the facilities and policies that Travel Plans usually propose.  If so, there is all the more reason to bring together existing practices into a single streamlined policy.

Why should we have one?

Travel Plans can have a wide range of financial, environmental and health benefits for employers, employees, local communities and the wider environment.

Travel Plans can:

• help to overcome parking problems, and help to reduce the need for parking, reduce costs in maintenance and rents
• help to achieve your own organisations's environmental or corporate social responsibility policies
• enhance your organisation's environmental image including working towards ISO 14001
• contribute towards the health and well being of employees and visitors, through more use of walking and cycling, and reducing commuting stress
• assist in recruitment and retention, improving accessibility to your workplace for potential and existing employees and make savings on recruitment expenses
• be required to get planning permission.
• become eligible for the annual West of England Travel Plan awards
• help take advantage of government tax incentives, such as the "cycle to work" scheme.

What's involved

What do we need to do?

A Travel Plan should not be a large document. The most important thing is to have a framework in place to offer employees and visitors a real choice of travel modes to and from your site.

Commonly, the process involves:

• establishing management support and project ownership
• appointment of a Travel Plan Co-ordinator (usually an existing employee)
• a site audit and survey of employees' current travel habits and desired travel choices
• looking at realistic changes that can be made at the corporate and individual level and setting targets for change
• implementation and monitoring.

What sort of measures are in a Travel Plan?

Measures needn't be expensive or time consuming. They range very widely depending on what is identified during the survey, but could include:

• ensuring employees have access to good information about travel and transport, for example, a dedicated notice board
• making sure public transport information is available to visitors before they arrive
• promotion of car sharing
• providing better cycling facilities or holding a cycling event
• supporting 1 - to - 1 adult cycle training sessions with LifeCycle UK
• introducing mileage allowance for cycling and walking
• encouraging rail travel to meetings or teleconferencing to reduce travel needs
• subsidising public transport season tickets or joining City Car Club.
  

How can the council help?

We support organisations who are prepared to establish their own voluntary travel plans. We can offer technical advice and support to organisations who want it including:

• information, maps and timetables
• free electronic staff survey service
• up to 40% match-funded discretionary implementation grants - maximum £5k
• facilitation of access to travel discounts
• help in the provision of economic driving training, cycle training, etc
• a Corporate Park & Ride Season Ticket discount
• free membership of the Bristol Workplace Travel Network, an employers' support network, with quarterly meetings and electronic newsletters
• an annual Big Commuter Count, which can provide your company's individual results to assist your monitoring
• links to other organisations eg National Business Travel Plan Network, ACT/Travelwise, City Car Club, LifeCycle UK
• the opportunity to win recognition through the West of England Travel Plan Award Scheme.

Bristol Workplace Travel Network

What is the Bristol Workplace Travel Network?

The Bristol Workplace Travel Network is a group of employers committed to the promotion of sustainable travel, both to help employers commuting and for business efficiency. The network meets three or four times a year to:

• discuss common Travel Plan issues
• share experiences and
• get up-to-date information about local travel.

The meetings are helped by regular contact through electronic newsletters.

A wide range of topics are included in response to members' needs. Examples include:

• the business benefits of workplace travel plans
• work/life balance policies
• reducing business travel through tele-working
• car clubs and car sharing
• the health benefits of active travel
• bus, rail and ferry service improvements
• strategic planning, such as bus rapid transit, Cycling City
• Cycling City: South Bristol Cycle Routes.

Membership is free.  It's a great way to:

• learn and share best practice and
• meet informally with others.

It is suitable both for those thinking about travel planning for the first time and for experienced practitioners.

We encourage members to apply for our regional West of England Travel Plan Awards, which are presented annually, usually on 22 September, European Car-Free Day. For more information about the awards visit the travelplus website.

Presentations from meeting held February 17, 2011

• 20 is plenty. Safer Streets for Bristol - Emma Steeds, Road Safety Engineering Officer, BCC and Claire Lowman, NHS Public Health Partner (pdf, 6.4 MB)
• Soft Measures, Hard Facts (pdf, 61 KB)
• Travel Plan Awards 2010 to 2011 - Anne Keen, Bristol City Council (pdf, 0.5 MB)
• Cycling City Latest - Martin Fraser (pdf, 3.7 MB)

Minutes and Presentations from meeting held in June 20, 2011

• BWTN minutes - 20.06.11 (msword, 36 KB)
• Workshop outcomes (msword, 29 KB)
• First Great Western (pdf, 33 KB)
• Soft measures (pdf, 1.1 MB)
• Corporate responsibility (pdf, 0.7 MB)
• Summer calendar  (pdf, 1.1 MB)

Minutes and Presentations from meeting held in November 11, 2011

• BWTN minutes - 11.11.11 (pdf, 31 KB)
• Overview on LSTF Project, Sustainable Travel Field Team (pdf, 6.1 MB)
• Dr Bike, Ross Taylor (pdf, 191 KB)
• Lifecycle (pdf, 405 KB)
• Car Club (pdf, 5.7 MB)
• Bristol's Big Commuter Count (pdf, 487 KB)
• WofE Travel Plan Awards (pdf, 3.7 MB)
• UWE - the facts (pdf, 435 KB)
• Free Range Kids, Sustrans (pdf, 1.9 MB)

Presentations from meeting held on 6 March, 2012

• Electric cars (pdf, 0.7 MB)
• Walkable cities: A public health necessity, A Davis (pdf, 206 KB)
• Walk to Work Week (pdf, 389 KB)
• Walking Promotion (pdf, 85 KB)
• Faith Travel Planning Presentation, Alastair Byers (pdf, 2.1 MB)
• 2012 Programme Events (pdf, 99 KB)

How do I join the Bristol Workplace Travel Network?

Email: bwtn@bristol.gov.uk
Telephone Anne Keen:  0117 903 6673

Meetings

The next meeting of the BWTN will be held at Bond Pearce, Temple Quay, from 1 until 4 p.m. on Wednesday 4 July 2012.

West of England Travel Plan Awards

The annual West of England Travel Plan Awards gives organisations, large or small, the opportunity to have their Travel Plan success recognised publicly, and reward those who are making a genuine time and resource commitment to develop and support their travel plans.

There will be some change to our Award Scheme this year, reflecting the importance we attach to Local Sustainable Travel. Details of these changes will follow soon. To celebrate this special occasion this year's Award Ceremony will be held at the iconic M-Shed on Thursday 18 October 2012, in the late afternoon.