travel plans

What are travel plans?

In the UK several thousand organisations have developed (green) travel plans - packages of measures to reduce car driving (particularly sole occupancy), and support alternatives. The trick is to find the right mix of measures to suit individual circumstances.

The Department for Transport has undertaken a research study, featuring 20 UK organisations, and has found that as a result of their travel planning, organisations achieved between 15 and 18% reduction in the proportion of commuter journeys being made by car. These employers included hospitals, local councils, schools and colleges and both major and small companies.

Among the measures used to reduce car dependence were: developing a car sharing data base, encouraging walking and cycling, working with public transport operators to negotiate changes more suited to staff, restricting on-site car parking spaces, providing financial incentives to those who arrive without a car, giving preferential parking to car sharers and supporting alternative work practices which reduce the need to travel.

Conference speakers: Anthea Nicholson (DfT) , John Elliott (Pfizer), Richard Armitage & Stephen Joseph (Transport 2000)

What's happening in Guernsey?

STEPS has been at the forefront of trying to introduce travel plans to the island. In October 2003 STEPS organised a conference on Travel Plans, bringing over from the UK 4 key speakers. The conference was financially supported by the Traffic Committee and the Board of Health. Over 50 delegates took part from all walks of Guernsey life.

In June 2004 a seminar on travel plans was held as part of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) lunch time seminars and STEPS arranged for Consultant, Richard Armitage, to speak directly to HR professionals. STEPS has continued to help organisations develop travel plans.

Richard Armitage & David Jeffs survey the car park

Princess Elizabeth Hospital

Director of Public Health, Dr. David Jeffs was the first to convene a travel plan group at the hospital and Pat Wisher was invited to join the group.

One of the greatest complaints from visitors to the hospital was the fact that they couldn't find anywhere to park and this prompted the need to develop a travel plan.

The hospital has already plotted the home addresses of staff on a digimap to see whether there are possibilities for car sharing, and a new bike shelter has been installed right near the front entrance of the hospital to encourage more cyclists. However, the building of the new car park at La Corbinerie has rather put a spanner in the works!

Congestion outside Vauvert & Amherst Primary Schools

Schools travel plans

In the UK the government has ploughed money into schools to encourage them to develop travel plans in order to reduce the impact of the school run. There is a real concern that that fewer children are walking and cycling to school, leading to serious health problems in terms of lack of exercise and a growing proportion of children who are overweight.

Since the publication of the Government's Green Paper "Every child matters" STPs have been playing an increasing role in the Ofsted inspection process. "Every child matters" specifies five "outcomes" the government wants to achieve for children. These include "being healthy" and "staying safe". Schools will need to demonstrate what steps it is taking towards these outcomes. A STP will be a key element in contributing to the outcomes.

La Houguette - 90% of the children arrive by car

La Houguette Primary School

La Houguette School is the first school in Guernsey to take the plunge. The catchment area for students is very wide - from the Forest, through Torteval and St. Peters and St. Saviours and so the decision was made to concentrate on encouraging more use of school buses.

A questionnaire was sent to all parents to find out how many would be prepared to use the school buses. Pat Wisher helped the school analyse the results and then plotted the location of those interested on a digimap. The results showed 76 actual or possible bus users and a request was put to Environment for extra resources to cater for the new users. Unfortunately at the moment resources are not available but we are hoping that La Houguette will be one of the schools invited to take part in Environment's pilot school bus programme.

St. Martin's Primary School - dangers of walking home in the lanes

St. Martin's Primary School

Rob Gregson and Pat Wisher met with Cate Mason, Headteacher of St. Martin's in January 2005 to help the school develop a travel plan. The school had already taken steps to improve safety during the afternoon pick up time by giving preference to those parents and children who were walking or cycling. A number of initiatives were suggested such as "Park and Stride" (parking 5 minutes from the school and walking the rest of the way), designating a "5 minute walking zone" (within which children would be encouraged to walk) and the "10,000 step challenge" (using pedometers to encourage children to walk - setting, say, a 3,000 step challenge. The travel plan would be developed as part of the Healthy Schools initiative.