Workplace Travel Plans

Over 80% of journeys to work are made with only the driver in the vehicle – so-called ‘driver only’ journeys.

Businesses can play an important role in the promotion of sustainable travel to their employees.

A Workplace Travel Plan is a package of measures covering all aspects of business travel to encourage more sustainable methods of transport and to reduce single occupancy car use.

Measures can be put in place to encourage staff and visitors to walk, cycle, car share, or use public transport for their journeys to and from work along with business trips. Such simple changes can have beneficial effects on staff health and the environment along with personal and corporate finances.

The Travel Plan can also include measures to improve efficiency. The business may consider consolidating deliveries to reduce the number of journeys to the site, or sourcing supplies locally to benefit the local economy and reduce the number of miles that goods are traveling.

The Travel Plan should also seek to decrease the need to travel through the promotion of flexible working, working at home and video conferencing

Many businesses across County Durham are now developing Workplace Travel Plans and are seeking to implement sustainable transport initiatives, a summary of case studies from various organisations is shown below. Clicking on the highlighted text will re-direct you to the relevant case study for the organisation

County Durham & Darlington NHS Trust

The County Durham & Darlington NHS Trust has now developed Travel Plans for all of its major sites. Overseen by a committed working group the Trust continues to host annual travel events and has implemented a successful Transport Protocol for Patient Discharge to reduce the number of unnecessary taxi and ambulance journeys.

3M
As part of their Travel Plan,3M has provided staff with everything necessary to make sustainable journeys; for example, showers, clothes dryers, high quality changing facilities with locker rooms, and cycle parking. There are a core of employees that regularly cycle to work.

B&Q Durham
B&Q took an active role in International Walk to School Month 2006 supporting a Park and Stride initiative with a local school. This supported their own Travel Plan and the School’s Travel Plan. The high profile campaign led to the establishment of a formal Walking Bus in January 2007 with two staff members (along with other parents) acting as the volunteers.

Service Direct
When Service Direct moved to their new premises a Travel Plan was needed as part of the planning condition. Seeing this as an opportunity rather than a paper work exercise, Service Direct compiled a broad range of measures, with the main focus on fleet operations, for its 350 vehicles, and improving the efficiency of services.

Specific case studies can be viewed from various organisations across the area by clicking on the link below.

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The attached PDF file, ‘A Travel Plan Resource Pack for Employers’, provides a comprehensive guide to developing a Workplace Travel Plan. For further information please contact the Travel Plan Team.

Employers resource pack.pdf (174 pages, 2124kb)

For more information on Workplace Travel Planning visit:
Cycling
Walking
Car Sharing
Public Transport
Case Studies