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West Sussex County Council (WSCC) – TravelWise project

Example of:

How good staff travel initiatives can help improve sustainability

Key points:

  • The TravelWise project has introduced a number of initiatives to promote environmentally friendly ways to travel to work.
  • The project has seen a significant increase in sustainable travel to work by WSCC staff.

WSCC has introduced a TravelWise project to reduce individual car travel and to promote more environmentally friendly ways of travelling to work. The key objectives of the scheme were the following. 

  • Increase warrants for rail travel.
  • Increase the number of staff involved in the 10 per cent commuter challenge (a pledge to reduce car mileage by 10 per cent).
  • Increase the number of staff using the pool of council cars on site.
  • Reduce business mileage.

To achieve the objectives, the Council developed several initiatives, including the following.

  • A dedicated web-based car sharing scheme to match potential car sharers.
  • Free car parking spaces at the county hall campus reserved for cars carrying 3 or more sharers.
  • Interest free travel loans for staff.
  • Showers and changing rooms for staff cyclists and walkers.
  • Pool bikes at main offices.
  • Mileage allowance for bike and motorbike users for business travel.
  • Driver awareness training to encourage more economical driving.
  • Flexible working hours to enable staff to synchronise travel times with public transport timetable.
  • In conjunction with local printing firm, the Council has produced a ‘Green commuter guide’ for staff and residents of West Sussex containing cycle and walking routes, highlighting the benefits of walking and cycling and points to other sources of information on green travel.

    The project has resulted in an increase in the proportion of staff using sustainable ways of travelling to work from 46% in 2004 to 50.5 per cent in 2006. Overall, the council has achieved a 16 per cent reduction in staff travelling to work by car alone on the county hall site between 2000 and 2006, with 12 per cent and 5 per cent increases in staff using public transport and cycling respectively.Car sharing alone is estimated to have saved over 56,000 car trips per year, the equivalent to 80 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Overall, the TravelWise scheme has resulted in an estimated reduction of 100,000 lone driver miles.