Sustainable Travel
What is a Travel Plan?
Transport isn’t just about getting from A to B – it is an essential part of business. By addressing your business’s travel challenges you can improve its performance.
A travel plan is a long term management strategy for an occupier or site that seeks to deliver sustainable transport objectives through positive action and is articulated in a document that is regularly reviewed.
Travel planning makes business sense! Supporting sustainable travel in the workplace will:
- reduce car parking congestion
- improve access to your site for staff and visitors
- aid your staff recruitment & retention
- reduce your business mileage costs
- enable a healthier and more productive workforce
- reduce the amount of time staff spend travelling
- reduce local congestion
- demonstrate sustainable credentials / Environmental Management System (EMS) status.
Travel plans should develop a set of clear outcomes that link to an appropriate package of measures aimed at reducing single occupancy car use and encouraging sustainable travel. Each and every travel plan should be unique as different sites will have different circumstances. Measures should include both “carrots” and “sticks” to encourage changes in travel behaviour; this may require incentives such as travel discounts, and movement restraints such as restricting car parking or charging for its use. Travel plans should be relevant to staff and visitors and encourage them to travel more sustainably more often. Travel plans are “living documents” and to ensure they stay relevant and remain effective they should be updated regularly.
from DfT 2009
- What should be in a Travel Plan?
- Don’t have the time to write a Travel Plan? Have a look at our top ten quick and easy ways to smarter travel.
Useful information
- Good Practise Guidelines: Delivering Travel Plans through the Planning Process (Department for Transport report)
