Clackmannanshire Council Online

Travel Plans

Travel Plans

In recent years the number of vehicles using our roads has been increasing, of particular concern is the number of single occupancy trips i.e. cars with only one person in them. This is leading to increased congestion, noise, air pollution and community severance. In order to address this problem Clackmannanshire Council is promoting the use of travel plans.

In a society over-dependent on the car for both long and short journeys, a travel plan is essentially a package of measures aimed at increasing choice whilst reducing reliance on the private car in favour of alternative sustainable modes. The role of a travel plan is to promote travel choice by increasing the awareness and relative advantage of transport alternatives to the car, particularly walking, cycling and public transport.

A travel plan can address all of your organisation’s travel needs or just specific elements. The most common types of travel to be addressed include:

• Travel to work
• Travel on company business
• Travel by visitors/customers
• Company vehicles
• Delivery vehicles

Clackmannanshire Council has a policy of requesting travel plans for all new and refurbished development sites which are considered to attract or generate significant numbers of trips or visits. These travel plans are generally requested as part of the planning permission and may require a Section 75 Agreement and a financial bond. However the Council is also eager to encourage existing businesses to consider implementing travel plans. A travel plan can bring about a range of benefits, including:

• Reduce the need for costly additional parking or expensive maintenance work
• Reallocate parking spaces for other commercial needs
• Encourage more sustainable modes of travel thus improving the health and wellbeing of staff and improving the environment
• Improve accessibility to the site for all staff and visitors
• Improve the local environment for the community
• Reduce road casualties by reducing the volume of vehicles on the road
• Improve corporate image

When preparing a travel plan it is advantageous to determine a clear set of objectives to work towards and actions to be undertaken in order to achieve them. It is also important to set targets against which the success of the travel plan can be measured. For the travel plan to be successful it must be continually promoted, monitored and updated. Therefore support from senior management is essential to the travel plans success. Good practice advice for developing travel plans is available to download from the publications and documents section below.

In order to aid organisations in preparing travel plans, Clackmannanshire Council has put together a list of suggested measures which could be implemented to encourage more sustainable travel. The best travel plans contain a mixture of incentives – the ‘carrots’ and disincentives - the ‘sticks’.

‘Carrots’

• The provision of safe and secure cycle facilities
• The provision of clothes drying, showering and changing facilities for cyclists
• Promotion of local bus / train services
• Car share scheme, requiring use of database of home addresses
• Provision of secure parking and changing facilities for motorcyclists
• Subsidy of public transport season tickets for staff
• Develop a sustainable servicing and delivery strategy
• Safety audits on identified safer routes for pedestrians
• Travel information for visitors
• Timing of local bus services to suit work hours
• Rerouting of bus services to service the developments main sites
• Flexible working hours
• Implement home working where appropriate
• Make available low cost or interest free loans for the purchase of bus passes or cycles
• Provide pool cars or cycles for business travel
• Introduce mileage payments for cycling on company business
• Make available a payment for the surrender of a parking space
• Set up a travel user group
• Physical infrastructure improvements on walking and cycle routes to the development
• Incentives for diesel or small fuel efficient vehicles

‘Sticks’

• Restricting provision of staff car parking spaces
• Introducing parking permits or parking charges
• Removal of essential car user / company cars

All local businesses are welcome to link to the TripshareClacks web site, using the link below. Alternatively businesses can arrange to purchase a private Tripshare scheme for their employees.