Case Studies
Travel Hierarchy/Decision making Tree
Here's a great tool to help your employer reduce business mileage costs and, at the same time, promote all available travel options to your staff. The chart shows a hierarchy of the most appropriate way to conduct business from no travel to sustainable travel options!
Cambridgeshire County Council has produced a simple and comprehensive flow chart to inform its staff of all the sustainable meeting options. Adopted by management and incorporated by HR within the travel and subsistence scheme Jan 2011 - we await outcomes of cost and time savings.
Why not download Cambridgeshire CC's Business Journey Travel Hierarchy and adapt for your employers' use incorporating options available to staff - pool bikes, car share. Then get senior managers to agree as your business' travel policy.
Let TfW know if you already use a similar travel hierarchy and feedback on benefits/outcomes.
20 May 2011
Paddling pair swap A14 traffic for low-carbon commute
EEI's Matt Rand and John Dow (pictured above) have swapped their A14 commute for a cross-country paddle to work, canoeing to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
East of England International staff, Matt Rand and John Dow, made their journey to EEI’s Quayside office by canoe last Thursday, swapping their usual drive along the A14 for a cross-country paddle from Upware. Their efforts raised money for Cancer Research UK.
Fuelled only by Mars Bars and Red Bull, Matt and John set off at 5.30am, before it was light, to travel the River Cam to work. As well as paddling, the pair had to carry their boat round three separate locks. They were greeted by other EEI staff and onlookers at Quayside, Cambridge, shortly after 9am.
The canoe occupied pride of place in the EEI car park until John and Matt felt ready to do the whole thing all over again, at the end of the working day.
Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research. To make a donation please click the link below.
http://www.giveincelebration.org.uk/celebrations/mr3643
About East of England International:
EEI delivers UK Trade & Investment services and supports regional businesses seeking to win a share of the global market. It also gives free and confidential help to overseas-owned companies setting up or expanding in the UK.
Matt Rand provides system support across the organisation and John Dow is a sector specialist, working with incoming medical technology companies.
See also:
Organisation: www.eei-online.com
Tricycle & Recycled Trailer Help Council Cut Emissions
Council officers David Bradford and Vicky Kelso, with Andy Tompkins from Trailer Trash and the new bike and recycled trailer.
Cambridge City Council is promoting pedal-power to get around the city on council business.
The council already has a fleet of 16 very well used pool bikes spread across its offices, which are available for use by staff. But two new additions – a tricycle with cargo compartment, and a trailer made from recycled materials - will allow staff to use bikes even when they need to transport loads.
David Bradford, Cycling and Walking Officer for the council said, “The Tricycle can carry loads of up to 100kg enabling some staff to cycle on work related journeys transporting loads they may otherwise have had to take by car. Some journeys around the city will actually be shorter and quicker using the Tricycle than they would have been by car and there is the added benefit of helping to tackle congestion and maintain good air quality.”
The recycled trailer was made by local outfit Trailer Trash and was specially designed to transport display materials and leaflets. Vicky Kelso from the City Council’s recycling team said, “We will be using the trailer to take our recycling message about the new blue bins out into neighbourhoods around the city for small events. As well as being easy to park anywhere, it helps to reinforce our message because the trailer is made from scrap materials – part of it is even made from an old sign we replaced at one of the council’s recycling points.”
As part of the City Council’s Travel Plan council staff have also been offered Adult Cycle Training suitable for beginners and existing cyclists, teaching cycle skills to help staff who would like to commute to work by bicycle or use a bike for work related journeys.
For general information on cycling, walking and recycling in Cambridge visit www.cambridge.gov.uk
Posted 20 Aug 2009
Pledges to the Science Park Area Travel Plan
CSP ATP!
An Area Travel Plan (ATP) can be a very good way of bringing businesses together to share resources and ideas in promoting sustainable travel to work.
TfW recognised that the Cambridge Science Park (CSP) could benefit from this approach. The park has over 90 small medium sized and large businesses with a total of over 5,000 employees. And whilst car parking is currently not an issue, getting there to park is; the science park sits on one of the busiest stretches of the A14 trunk road.
Highways Agency
TfW highlighted the park to the Highways Agency (HA) for inclusion in the agency's Influencing Travel Behaviour (ITB) programme which aims to pump prime initiatives that can encourage more sustainable travel to and for work, than driving alone.
TfW has been working with the HA, its consultants JMP, companies at the park, Bidwells property agents (for park landlords, Trinity College) and Cambridgeshire County Council, to develop and launch Cambridge’s first Area Travel Plan.
Pledge to do well
Pledges were signed on Wednesday, May 9, by the organisations committing them to helping to meet the aims of the plan. “The plan’s main focus is to encourage more cycling, walking, public transport use and car sharing over the next three years. A number of initiatives will be implemented to help commuters access more transport choices,” said David Abbott of the Highways Agency, which funded the travel plan development stage.
Signing the pledge
Success so far
The plan has been developed over the last year 2006-07). During this time awareness of sustainable travel options among the 5,000-plus employees has increased. “There was a fantastic reaction to last year’s travel for work survey,” said Mark Webb of the Travel for Work Partnership. “The response rate leapt from 3.3 per cent of employees in 2005, to 21.8 per cent, about 1,100 people, in the latest survey.”
Mark added, “We have been undertaking road shows on the park to highlight what’s available, and to listen to commuters’ concerns. The additional number of staff registering with CamShare, our county-wide car sharing scheme, during the last promotion push, was a credible 54 per cent of new registrations for the whole of Cambridgeshire!”
Steering the process
An Area Travel Plan Steering Group has been working together since April last year to promote travel to and from the Park by means other than driving alone, thereby reducing congestion on the A14.
The Science Park has its own Area Travel Plan website (www.travelplanclusters.co.uk/Cambridgeshire) to inform people about the Plan and traveling to the area by sustainable methods
Commuters to the park – Cycling Julian Cromarty (Kodak European Research) and Walking Alex Murphy (CSR).
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Company Presentations
June 2007 Network Breakfast (at the British Antarctic Survey)
At the TfW Breakfast we heard from the British Antarctic Survey, Papworth Hospital and BEMS (Business Environmental Management Scheme).
NB the Power Point slides may take a couple of minutes to download.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) employs around 400 people and undertakes research to enhance our understanding of the Antarctic. Please click to see British Antarctic Survey's presentation . Power Point version
Papworth NHS Foundation Trust, with around 1300 employees, is a specialist heart and lung Hospital based in the village of Papworth. Please click here to see Papworth Hospital's presentation.
BEMS is a project run by PECT (Peterborough Environment City Trust) to assist Small and Medium sized Enterprises in Cambridgeshire to implement Environment Management Systems. Please click here to see the BEMS presentation.
February 2007 Network Breakfast (at Cambridge Airport)
At the TfW and Chambers of Commerce joint breakfast meeting in February 2007 two very different companies told us how they went about travel planning.
NB the Power Point slides may take a couple of minutes to download.
Mott MacDonald, a national consultancy with 400 employees in offices near Cambridge railway Station has been a member of TfW for four years. Click here to see Mott MacDonald's presentation
Marshall Group of Companies is based at its Airport site on the eastern fringe of Cambridge, employing over 2,500 people. Marshall's location, size and type of work could not be in greater contrast to the Mott MacDonald scenario. Click here to see the Marshall presentation.
NB - If you would like to use any of the presentations in any way (other than viewing on your computer) please contact TfW for permission.
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Travel initiatives are all about positively influencing the behavior of people. It therefore makes sense to involve your people in the process.
Focus groups may have got a bad name, being over-used by political parties, however business can find that they are very useful tools in getting employees involved in the travel plan process.
Focus groups allow employees;
- to influence decisions that will affect them
- to take ownership of 'problems' and to participate in providing solutions
- to provide new thinking on travel issues.
Invariably employers producing a travel plan find this process rewarding.
Helpful advice about Focus Groups can be found on-line under Section 2 Roles and Responsibilities 2.5 Working Groups A Travel Plan Resources Pack for Employers by Transport Energy Best Practice.
TfW tip:
Always keep your focus groups happy:
- provide good meeting space
- provide refreshments
- in working hours
If possible have someone other than the people directly responsible for the travel plan facilitate the group. Often HR departments will have someone who is trained in running such sessions.
Always feed back to the groups - and the rest of the workforce - on the findings of the focus groups. As initiatives are launched refer to the input of the focus groups.
Acknowledge publicly - and in the travel plan - the assistance of the focus groups.
How to do it
In March 2006 Cambridgeshire County Council undertook a series of focus groups to look at the re -writing of the Shire Hall travel plan.
Tim Carter, past travel plan co-ordinator at the County Council, has put together a short paper on the process he went through.
Click here to down load the edited Focus Group document.
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Set up a bus service?
University, Councils and Stagecoach combine to produce the citi 4
The citi 4 bus service in Cambridge is a prime example of a Travel for Work partnership solution, with three funding bodies working together and incentivising use.
Introduced in November 2003 the citi 4 runs between the Madingley Road Park & Ride site and Addenbrooke’s Hospital, taking in the University’s West Cambridge, Grange Road, Sidgwick Site, Trumpington Street, Botanic Garden and Hills Road locations , and many colleges en route.
Required by a Section 106 planning obligation for the development of the West Cambridge site, the service is delivered through a partnership arrangement, with operating costs subsidised by equal contributions from the University and the County/City Council. The Stagecoach-run service is free to all University staff and students on production of the University Card.
Popularity of the service has grown to the effect that four buses operating Monday to Friday carry up to 12,000 passenger trips a week, and carried 430,000 passenger trips in the year to September 2005.
TfW tip:
Your company may not be big enough to set up a bus service! But you could perhaps do more to help your people access the buses that do serve your site to your employees. TfW can help you with this.
If you get together with other employers nearby perhaps you could combine resources to promote and provide incentives to bus travel.
If you discover that the bus stops are in a bad state or that the service to your sites could be improved you could, with your neighbours, and with TfW help, negotiate with the bus companies/ councils to see if improvements could be made.
Click here for information on promoting buses
See links for further information on buses.
Grey Fleet Mileage - driving for work should be managed like any other part of the business
‘Grey fleet travel’ refers to the millions of miles driven each year in employee owned vehicles – an aspect of business travel often overlooked by both employers and employees.
The management of grey fleet travel plays an important part in supporting three key policy areas: environmental sustainability, health and safety, and
business / finance efficiency. Its focus is the reduction of unnecessary mileage, and transference of travel to more sustainable and cost effective alternatives such as public transport, as well as reducing personal risk associated with grey fleet use.
Based on the experiences of OGC and Environment Agency, a 20%
reduction in organisational grey fleet mileage of 10 million miles could
generate an annual net saving of over £1 million.
Case Study – Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
• A number of public sector organisations have already taken steps to restrict
the maximum number of miles employees are permitted to drive in their own
vehicle in a single round trip or in a single financial year. These organisations
include DWP, Environment Agency, Rural Payments Agency, OGC and DfT.
• In the case of DWP, this means:
- a daily limit for grey fleet usage of 100 business miles
- an annual limit for grey fleet usage of 1,000 business miles per financial year
- for all journeys that exceed the mileage limits, prior written authorisation must
be obtained from a senior manager, and the reasons for granting permission
clearly documented and copied to the DWP Travel Team.
For more information download the
- Grey Fleet Sample Business Case, OGC (June 2008).
- Grey Fleet Initiative: Saving money on ‘grey fleet’ travel, OGC (undated).
Posted 9 Feb 2010
Promoting Cycling - ‘Bosom Buddies’ July Jolly – Marshalls Cycling Event
Fun is the main aim of the “Bosom Buddies” – London to Cambridge Cycle Ride team, from Travel for Work employer, Marshalls. The annual ride has been led by Athena Wu who enrolls her team with Bike Events, organiser of fund raising and recreational cycle rides such as London to Cambridge. Athena has led the ‘Bosom Buddies’ for the last 10 years with over 100 Buddies making the 60 mile trip.
Besides the ‘fun’ the ride helps improve staff fitness and has increased the number of staff commuting to Marshalls by bike. The company has also received good publicity because the event raised a staggering £6,431.40 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity, winning the top fundraiser trophy in 2008.
More staff cycling to work, more often and further
The event is supported by regular cyclists, some of whom commute by bike every day. TfW spoke to some of the ‘Bosom Buddies’ and most we spoke to said they cycled more often and/or further to work. Peter Poole, was encouraged to start cycle to work “The 20 miles each way was excellent training and I managed it on average three times a week.”
Almost unanimously the Team members wanted to take part in another cycling event being organised by their employer.
Event Organising
Athena, explained how to enter ‘Bosom Buddies’ on the London to Cambridge Bike Ride, a marshaled route held annually in July. “The first year we took part was 1999 and there were around 36 riders taking part that year. My team is open to friends and family of employees as well. Some years I have had to turn people away as I have a maximum number with the transport I organise to take riders and bikes to the start line. Marshalls Group kindly funds transport costs and team t-shirts. I also got sponsorship from Hampsons this year - we hire trucks from them for the event. As thanks - I put their logo on our team t-shirt with our company logo.”
“Team members get the t-shirt for free but pay transport fees at a rate £5 below the official organised transport for the event. I donate this sum and the team discount from Bike Events (entries more than 10 in a team I think) to Breakthrough Breast Cancer every year.”
Now You Can Run Event Too
“If other employers want to encourage a team such as ours they need volunteers who organise:
Team entries to Bike Events
Sponsorships pledged to the team (just giving is a great tool www.justgiving.com)
Transport - bus for participants, truck for bikes
Team T-shirts
Communication with the team before / after the event
Encourage sponsorship + team spirit
Driver for the truck
Communication with the areas of company providing support
Communication with the company overall before / after event
It is hard work. After 10 years - we have a regular pattern and it is part of a 'fixture' now. Excepting new recruits there are very few who haven't heard about it. This helps tremendously when getting a team together.”
Team Preparations:
“Our team has been called Bosom Buddies since 1999. Sometimes I make it known to our team that I am doing other charity rides and encourage them also to take part. [See www.bike-events.com] The Stroke Association run a London Bridges ride that is around 30 miles and that can be considered a practice ride. Similarly the London to Cambridge event can be used as a practice ride for the 90 mile Oxford to Cambridge event for British Heart Foundation.”
Attractions:
“I think the event sells itself now. People know about it - there are no unknowns and some people have adopted it as an annual event to look forward to. It's very straight forward to take part and good fun on the day. This year we won the top funds trophy so I think that helps with 'publicity' too.”
Athena Wu, Marshall’s Event Organiser would be pleased to help readers interested in setting up their own ride and can be contacted on Athena.Wu@marshallaerospace.com
To find out more about London to Cambridge and other cycle rides by UK’s biggest organiser of fund raising and recreational cycle rides see www.bike-events.com
Caption: Marshalls Group Cycling “Bosom Buddies” London – Cambridge July 2008
Bicycle Maintenance Demonstration at Workplaces by 'Outspoken'
(June 09)
One of the biggest excuses for not cycling to work is "my bike has got a flat tyre and I haven't got round to taking it to the bike shop". Rob King of 'Outspoken' a cycle training, cycle maintenance and courier company, has been offering commuters free cycle maintenance demonstrations at their CAMBRIDGE based workplaces every lunchtime during Bike Week. Rob says "
It was great fun to be with all the businesses offering their staff maintenance demonstrations. We want cyclists to be more independent and to have confidence doing simple maintenance and repairs".
Sally Butterfield of MRC CBU spoke about their 'Outspoken' event held during bike week, "Rob King and Jack from Outspoken gave their cycle fault-finding and maintenance demonstration in the garden here yesterday. The event was a great success: their organization and presentation were flawless - lots of useful information, efficiently and clearly presented. It attracted the maximum number of participants. Even the weather was good!"
Click details to view the 2 part course run by Outspoken (with costs). The first part is essentially just a demonstration which was undertaken with Cambridge businesses during Bike Week. Rob explains, "participants were probably most interested in how to mend a puncture although I think they were all really pleased to gain a better understanding of their bike, having gone through all the different parts in detail, finding how they work, recognising wear and tear and seeing how to fix simple problems. Of course, like anything, if you don't get a chance to take part practically in some of the things like puncture repair and adjusting brakes, you don't remember it as well! So the second session would be more hands-on, whereby participants will actually repair a puncture and adjust brakes.
At the end of this course, participants will be able to do a thorough check of their bike to ensure it is roadworthy, make simple adjustments to brakes, gears & handlebars and be able to fix a puncture. They will also gain an understanding of how bike parts wear and what they need to do to keep their bike running smoothly.
Employees with basic bike maintenance skills are more likely to cycle to work because they will have the confidence to mend or adjust simple problems to keep their bicycle on the road.
For further details contact Rob King on 01223 719594 e-mail team@outspokentraining.co.uk and view www.outspokentraining.co.uk
Picture Caption: Rob King of Outspoken gives cycling maintenance advice to Cambridge based employers. Rob advising Sepura staff during Bike Week June 09.
Petrolheads save the planet (March 09)
Staff and Councillors at South Cambridgeshire District Council put on green L-plates to drive the Energy Saving Trust instructors round the bend, as they learnt how to cut fuel costs and reduce their carbon footprint by driving more efficiently. After his session on the Travel for Work’s Smarter Driving training days Tom Barrance is a convert. “For me the main thing was to look further ahead than before. If you anticipate and act, it gives you more time, and so you don't have to over-react. Driving smoother is safer, and more efficient. It can also be faster, as it’s less start-stop.” John Koch added, “Driving in this way works on the premise that there is nothing to be gained from arriving at your destination five minutes earlier and that you should allow slightly longer for your journey time.”
National figures show that driving smarter can make an average 15% cut in fuel consumption. That’s a saving of £250 on the yearly fuel bill. Cllr Dr David Bard was enthusiastic about his training session and has already done the maths on his savings. “My consumption improved from 33.5 to 46.2 MPG on the trip home – all done by controlling breaking, acceleration and timing gear change. On my average mileage this means a potential saving of just under one tankful a month.” The most efficient driver was Cllr Jaime Dipple, “ After the tuition I almost doubled the number of miles per gallon! I would thoroughly recommend this training to anyone interested in making savings and reducing their carbon footprint.” Course organiser Cerise Bradford is planning smarter driving initiatives and an award ceremony for SCDC’s participants.
Tips on saving fuel include:
- get your car serviced regularly
- cut down air conditioning
- keep tyres inflated to the correct pressures
- leave the roof rack at home and close the windows
- control your right foot - acceleration costs you serious money
- avoid unnecessary gear changes - they waste fuel
- idling uses more fuel in ten seconds than turning the engine off and on
- watch your revs - move up a gear before 2,500rpm in a petrol car and 2,000 rpm in a diesel
- watch your weight too - empty your boot
- avoid short trips - a cold engine is twice as thirsty
- get a motorbike
For more information on organising a similar event for your company take a look at:
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/business/Business/Transport-in-business/Smarter-Driving
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