Importance of Cycle to Work / School Infrastructure

Travel plans for workplaces or schools are a great way to improve your local community, help your staff get fitter, and save money.

Workplace travel plans reduce traffic congestion and improve local air quality, local noise levels and your reputation in the community. Department for Transport studies have shown that staff who walk or cycle to work are in better health and less stressed, making them more productive. With less traffic around your site, fleet operations and deliveries become more efficient.

A travel plan need not be complicated. There are a few simple steps that should be taken when drawing one up. Firstly, establish senior management support and make sure someone takes ownership of the project. Appoint an existing employee as the Travel Plan Co-ordinator.

Take a close look at the ways people can come and go from your site, and survey your staff to find out the methods of transport they currently use, as well as the methods they'd like to use given the opportunity. Most organisations find that a good number of their employees would choose to cycle to work occasionally or regularly if they were given encouragement to do so.

A travel plan will identify realistic changes you can make to encourage more sustainable forms of transport. Measures don't have to be expensive or time consuming. Your survey will point you in the right direction, but here are a few ideas:

A dedicated notice board for sustainable travel schemes brings your ideas to wider attention. Posting public transport timetables can make car drivers aware of services they might not have known about, for example, and regular notices about cycling activities encourage participation.

If your site regularly has visitors, consider including public transport information in the information you make available to them. Including bus stops and train stations in your directions is quick and extremely helpful.

Consider promoting car shares - if every car brought 4 people to work instead of 1, staff would spend 75% less on petrol and 3 out of 4 spaces in your car park would be empty.

There are a lot of ways you can encourage staff to cycle to work. Your local council may be able to help with advice, proficiency training or even funding grants. Organised cycling clubs, where staff coming from the same area meet up and ride as a group, can keep people cycling every day by introducing some (friendly) competition.

If you're considering promoting sustainable travel at work, Glasdon UK can help. We have a comprehensive range of cycle parking solutions to meet all budgets and requirements. Our dedicated sales staff are available to conduct site surveys to help you with siting and specifying your cycle parking, and we can supply specialised signage bollards to help you mark out cycle-friendly routes into your site. We can even provide robust notice boards for promoting your travel plan!

To start your enquiry, contact us on (01253) 600410 or email enquiries@glasdon-uk.co.uk today.