Case Studies
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 .
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.
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