Good Practice Case Study: Travel Office, Newcastle, UK

Website: www.newcastle.gov.uk

Case Study (114 Kb PDF)

Summary

Newcastle City Council opened its Corporate Travel Office on 4th September 2006. Its purpose is to ensure that as many day-to-day journeys made on business are as cost effective and energy efficient as possible and discourage, wherever possible, travel by private car. The activities of the travel office are hence concentrated around raising awareness of alternative sustainable modes and energy saving, and present the target audience (primarily council employees) with a wide range of alternatives to using private cars for business purposes. The Travel Office is funded by parts of the Newcastle City Council £ 2.3 mill travel budget, which is being spent on introducing and marketing sustainable modes of transport. The results generated from this initiative have so far been positive, and 13069 booking have been made through the Travel Office in its first operational year, as demonstrated in Table 1 below.

Results

Although there are no available figures demonstrating the exact kilowatts of energy saved as a result of more sustainable modes, it is evident that the introduction of alternative modes has seen a decrease in private car journeys. This has not only led to economic benefits for the council in terms of less expenditure for mileage claims and taxi bookings. It has also resulted in improvements in local air quality and increased uptake of energy efficient measures. This is further explained in the tables below, which outline the amount of bookings the Travel Office has received within its first operational year, and who is actually making these bookings. Figures presented in these tables indicate that so far, an acceptable amount of the target audience has been reached and persuaded to try alternative modes of transport for business. The environmental benefits of the Travel Office are obvious, as a reduced percentage of cars on the roads evidentially help air quality and pollution. There are however also social benefits attached to this project, as it has created new jobs and increased accessibility for non-drivers.

As shown in Table 1, 13069 bookings have been made through the Travel Office in its first operational year, while Table 2 reflects the usage by each Directorate over the first nine months of the Travel Office. Note: These figures are calculated over the first operational nine months, rather than a year.

Table 1: Number and Type of Bookings the Travel Office received during its first operational year.

Table 2: Who Made Bookings with the Travel Office during its first operational nine months. Usage Patterns September - May 2007.

The first operational year of the Travel Office has seen a steady increase in the number of people accessing provided pool vehicles. Significantly, there is an increase in the number of days when all cars are taken. This indicates the success of the scheme, directly leading to energy saving and environmental benefits.

Lessons learned and repeatability

The strength of the travel office is that is seeks to achieve a reduction in un-necessary journeys. It does so by providing a package of practical measures to reduce staff commuter journeys and provide a more sustainable choice for travel whilst at work. The reduction in staff commuter journeys has however also been advanced by introducing parking restraint, further diminishing the incentive for using single occupancy cars.

The fact that all these measures are developed and operated in-house increases their suitability for replication. In particular the need for wide-reaching marketing campaigns is modest due to a clearly identified target group. This means that any other partner with a designated budget and support for promoting sustainable transport modes can recreate the success of the travel office by introducing clearly structured schemes like car sharing, purchasing SMART cars, offering staff free one day public transport passes and introducing limited parking spaces and bike to work schemes. This does however demand strong partnership working with the regional public transport executive, as they provide free and discounted travel passes, as well as a robust budget and organisational support for completion of the scheme.

The Newcastle Travel Office has encountered a few problems during its first operational year, which have been flagged up through surveys and focus groups. These problems are mainly to do with flexibility, or lack of it. In particular complaints have been raised about the inability to return one day passes at any out locations and the time restrictions of using the SMART cars. This has prompted discussions regarding an extension of out based locations and the current three hour limit for the SMART cars. Through focus groups it has also been noticed that there is something of a lack of recognition for some of the services provided by the travel office, indicating that council employees are not aware of the entire range of services available from the travel office. This has resulted in small in- house awareness campaigns such as information stands in the Civic Centre reception and a further developed web site, ensuring that employees are aware of the services provided by the travel office and how these work. This clearly points out the importance of both marketing and focus groups in the process of setting up an energy efficient and sustainable travel office.

To find similar reports, click on a keyword below:
Biodiesel : Biomass & Bioenergy : Car Use : Energy Efficiency : Hydropower : Liquid Biofuels : Local Government : ManagEnergy : Mobility Management : Regional Government : Renewable Energy Sources & Systems : Sustainable Communities : Sustainable Transport : Urban Transport : User behaviour

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