iTravel York

A good quality travel plan should be specific to an individual site; however, the principles of creating an effective travel plan are the same, whatever the location or nature of your company or organisation.

These include:

• an assessment of existing travel patterns using staff travel surveys
• business characteristics, for example size, location and number of people employed, hours of operation etc
• development of an action plan with agreed targets
• implementation of agreed measures
• monitoring and review of results.

An action plan may include a wide range of initiatives such as;

• walking and cycling challenges, or sustainable travel themed events and promotions
• a commitment to improving cycling and pedestrian facilities such as secure cycle parking, safe site access
• a dedicated bus service
• a car park management using a parking permit scheme, or priority allocation for essential users or car sharers
• a car club scheme as a pool car replacement
• provision of pool bikes
• a car sharing scheme
• use of alternative fuelled vehicles for business travel such as electric vehicles
• a review of staff travel benefits and introduction of new benefits eg bus or rail season tickets; salary sacrifice schemes for the purchase of tax-free cycles (see below); discount schemes for sustainable travel users.
• provision of travel information and campaigns via company intranet, posters etc
• introduction of flexible working practices such as compressed hours, home working
• changes to working practices such as videoconferencing etc
• providing a salary sacrifice scheme for staff to allow them to buy a tax-free bike. Employees can buy a bike and accessories (up to an agreed limit) and pay for it direct out of their salary (before tax is applied) over a period of 12 months, representing significant discounts on the purchase cost. For more information see scheme providers Cyclescheme or Halfords Cycle2Work scheme