Buckinghamshire County Council Travel
Plan 2014-15
Updated by Sustainability team in
June 2014
Buckinghamshire County Council Travel Plan
What is a Travel Plan?
A Travel Plan is a working document which encourages the use of sustainable travel
and in turn helps reduce single occupancy car use.
Buckinghamshire County Council’s Travel Plan considers the following main aspects:




Commuting on the journey to work
Reducing business mileage
Promotion of sustainable modes of travel to visitors/customers
Deliveries to Council Offices
The benefits of having a Travel Plan in place are clear. A Travel Plan helps to:
 Reduce congestion
 Improve health through promotion of active travel
 Reduce costs of travel through a reduction in amount spent on mileage claims
and petrol costs
 Improve the environment through a reduction in CO2 emissions
 Reduce time spent travelling
History of Buckinghamshire County Council’s Travel Plan
Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) began considering travel planning with the
aim to reduce congestion and to help the environment in 1998.
From the outset the project was designed to provide an example of what could be
achieved to other businesses in Buckinghamshire so that they could be asked to
adopt similar policies.
In the early stages of the process the consultants TTR were employed to undertake
an initial staff survey and advice on strategy. They completed a Travel Plan in 1999
and handed over to BCC staff who have continuously maintained and developed it
ever since.
In 2008 a 10 year review of the Travel Plan was undertaken.
This document is the current BCC Travel Plan.
Introduction
BCC employs 2506 in BCC services (non school staff, correct at May 2014).
The Travel Plan covered staff at the main office sites initially and gradually spread
wider. Originally only the figures for the staff at the Aylesbury site were recorded and
reported on. The benefits were quickly extended to staff across the county including
those based in schools. Schools were however encouraged to write and take
ownership of their own Travel Plans.
The Travel Plan was designed and promoted to staff as a benefit that would save
them money and reduce congestion. A series of initiatives were developed from car
share to pool bikes to encourage staff to participate and a budget was allocated
enabling the Travel Plan to be managed ‘in house’ without the use of consultants.
The benefits to staff were branded as ‘Travel Choice’ and are now mainly managed
by the Sustainability Team in conjunction with the Public Transport Development
Team.
A strap line of ‘Do it Once a Week’ was devised for the early version of the Travel
Plan. The underlying reason for the strap line was that if every member of staff used
an alternative sustainable mode of transport or worked from home one day per week,
the reduction in car use would be 20%. The most recent Travel Choice promotional
material includes a strap line ‘Your travel, your choices – Reduce congestion……help
the environment……save money…….get fit’.
Since the beginning of the Travel Plan single occupancy car use has fallen from 71%
in 1999/2000 to 38% in 2012. In 2014 the figure stands at 46% (this increase has
been mostly due to changes in area office working). The success of the Travel Plan
was achieved through the implementation of the initiatives detailed in the next
section.
Over recent years, BCC has continued to outsource many of its’ Services to
Contractors, many of whom have staff that are based within BCC offices. It is
intended that these companies adopt the BCC Travel Plan as part of their contract,
however this is currently an informal agreement and there is still work to do in order
to formalise this. A report regarding ‘Travelchoice’ as a staff benefit is going to Chief
Officers Management Team in the near future.
In addition, it is worth noting that staff resource dedicated to sustainable travel has
fallen in recent years. This has led to fewer promotions and less staff time to focus on
the development of a programme to look at reducing business mileage.
Travel Plan co-ordinator and contact details
It is important for a Travel Plan to have a named co-ordinator so there is a point of
contact for any queries relating to the plan.
BCC’s Sustainability team currently manages the BCC Travel Plan.
Co-ordinator contact details: Sustainability Team, BCC
Contact details: travelchoice@buckscc.gov.uk
Aim and Objectives of the Travel Plan
AIM
 To reduce the number of BCC staff members (and those visiting BCC) travelling
by single occupancy car use for commute and for business. To promote the use
of sustainable modes of travel.
OBJECTIVES
The aim will be achieved by the following objectives:

By increasing the numbers of employees commuting through sustainable
modes (including walking, cycling, using public transport and car sharing)

By encouraging flexible working practices (including reducing the need to
travel)

By promoting Travel Choice to employees

By highlighting the benefits of using sustainable travel for business use

By promoting the use of sustainable travel for customers/visitors
TARGETS
Staff Travel (commuting)
Single occupancy car use in 1999 for BCC employees located at County Hall was
73%, by 2014 the figure for BCC employees over its sites (excluding schools) has
fallen to 46%.
The following table and graph show the modal shift and its split from 1998 to 2014
confirming the effectiveness of the Travel Plan not just in reducing car use but in
encouraging staff to use more sustainable modes of transport generally.
Mode
Reported Car
Use
Car Share
Motorcycle
Car passenger
Bus
Train
Cycle
Walk
Work at Home
Mode
Travel to County Hall Year on Year
1999/2000 2001/2002 2003/2004 2005/2006 2007/2008
73%
0
0.60%
7.70%
5.50%
2%
2.10%
10.80%
0.00%
56.40%
0
0.40%
8.60%
10.20%
3.60%
3.20%
16.90%
0.60%
49.40%
7%
0.60%
5.10%
9.40%
2.40%
3.90%
20.60%
1.70%
44%
12%
0.00%
3%
11%
4%
4%
18%
4%
36.30%
13.10%
0.50%
6.60%
14.70%
5.80%
5.80%
16.50%
3.70%
2009
49
2010
42
2011
38
2012
38
2013
43
2014
46
7
7
5
13
4
6
0
1
<1
1
0
0
5
5
6
5
6
5
9
13
14
13
20
12
1
1
4
4
3
4
3
5
10
4
4
5
23
23
20
21
18
21
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
1
0
1
1
3
1
Reported Car Use
Car Share
Motorcycle
Car passenger
Bus
Train
Cycle
Walk
Work at Home
Other
Although, as the tables show above all modes of travel are considered in the annual
staff travel survey it has been decided that currently a target will be set for reducing
single occupancy car use only for staff commuting.
The table below shows baseline data and historical trend of single occupancy car use
and the target for the coming year.
Car use (single
occupancy) %
Baseline (Staff
travel survey 1998)
Staff travel survey
2001
Staff travel survey
2003
Staff travel survey
2005
Staff travel survey
2007
Staff travel survey
2009
Staff travel survey
2010
Staff travel survey
2011
Staff travel survey
2012
Staff travel survey
2013
Staff travel survey
2014
2015 Target
71.3
56.4
49.4
44
36
49
42
38
38
43
46
43
The target will be monitored against the annual staff travel survey (June 2015).
It is worth noting that the staff travel survey used to be carried out once every two
years. Originally only the figures for the staff at the Aylesbury site were recorded and
reported on but in more recent years staff from across different office sites have been
included in the staff travel survey.
In 2009 a Travel Plan monitoring system called iTRACE was introduced. This meant
that a survey could be sent to staff to complete online with analysis carried out
automatically. In addition between 2011 and 2014 we were unable to send a link for
the survey to all staff meaning response rate was slightly lower than usual. This is
likely to continue
Business Travel
Although sustainable modes of travel are promoted for business use (through the
Travel Choice card benefit) there are currently no targets set for the reduction of
business mileage. This is aspirational area of work we hope to look into in the future.
Customers/visitors
We aim to promote sustainable travel to visitors to Bucks County Council. It would be
extremely difficult to gain data for visitor travel to all offices. Therefore, no target will
be set. Instead we aim to promote sustainable travel to the offices.
Deliveries
There are currently no baseline figures or targets set for the deliveries which are
made to County Hall. A system of monitoring deliveries would have to be devised in
order to work towards a target for these journeys. Research into current monitoring of
deliveries needs to be investigated. This is a long term aim and will not be addressed
this year.
Agile working
Buckinghamshire County Council promotes hot desking and is rolling out an agile
working programme. Where appropriate to job role staff are able to work in an agile
manner meaning staff may be travelling to an office nearer to their home or be able
to hot desk at an area office if they have a meeting in the vicinity of an office
equipped for hot desking.
Initiatives – current initiatives
Buckinghamshire County Council already promotes a variety of modes of sustainable
travel. Below are some of the initiatives associated with each mode of travel.
Walking

Infrastructure Lockers are provided in County Hall, Aylesbury. There are approximately 90
lockers available. Although these lockers are mainly used by cyclists they are
also available to walkers. Currently almost all these lockers are being used.
Initiatives/ promotional activities –
 Walk to Work Week - Buckinghamshire County Council also takes part in the
annual Walk to Work Week. In 2014 there was a walking challenge for staff in
BCC and in workplaces across Milton Keynes and Buckinghamshire on the
website http://www.workplacechallenge.org.uk/bucksandmk/
 Lunchtime walking Group – a lunchtime walking group takes place once a
week starting from County Hall, Aylesbury.
 Walk It – The Walk It website (www.walkit.com) is an urban walking route
planner. Both Aylesbury and High Wycombe have been mapped as part of
the programme. The website is promoted at sustainable travel events and is
going to be included as a link on the Walking page of the Travel Choice
intranet pages.
Below is the breakdown of figures for employees
Mode
Walk
Mode
1999/2000
10.8%
2009
2001/2002
16.9%
2010
2003/2004
20.6%
2011
2012
2005/2006
18%
2013
2007/2008
16.5%
2014
Walk
23%
23%
20%
21%
18%
21%
Cycling
Infrastructure –



Showers – Aylesbury Complex showers have been re-furbished as
part of refurbishment of County Hall
Covered secure cycle parking
Lockers (for cyclists and walkers)
Initiatives/ promotional activities –
The following are promoted to encourage cycling to work and during work hours to
meetings:
 Pool Bikes – there are currently 30 pool bikes available.
 Cycle Mileage for Business Travel
 Cyclescheme (tax free bikes scheme for BCC employees) currently open April and September
 Discounts at cycle stores
Mode
Cycle
1999/2000
2.1%
Mode
Cycle
2009
3%
2001/2002
3.2%
2010
5%
2003/2004
3.9%
2011
10%
2012
4%
2005/2006
4%
2013
4%
2007/2008
5.8%
2014
5%
Car Share
Infrastructure –
 Dedicated car share parking spaces available in staff car park.
These are located closest to the walk way to County Hall giving car
sharers a preferential car parking spot.
Initiatives/ promotional activities –

Bucks CarShare (www.buckscarshare.co.uk) – a free web based
service matching drivers and passengers with others travelling in the
same direction. This is available to anyone in Buckinghamshire.
Through the system people can find matches with others who work
the same hours as them, even if these are irregular, and also with
people who live and work in the same locations, even if not for the
same organisation. During 2014/15 we changed Liftshare providers
and are now working with a local Bucks based company Carbon
Heroes.
We promote Bucks Car Share at BCC as appropriate throughout the
year.
Examples of Bucks CarShare promotions and promotional material
The following table gives an indication of the year on year increase in car sharing to
County Hall, Aylesbury since 1999 taken by the staff travel survey.
Mode
Car Share
1999/2000
0
Mode
Car Share
2009
7%
2001/2002
0
2010
7%
2003/2004
7%
2011
5%
2012
13%
2005/2006
12%
2007/2008
13.1%
2013
4%
2014
6%
Bus use
Discounts –
 Arriva and Carousel offer 50% discount on services with use of a
Travel Choice card (terms and conditions apply – see Travel Choice
intranet pages for terms of use and when discount can be applied).

Holders of Chiltern Railways monthly or longer season tickets can
travel for free to and from Aylesbury train station on Arriva buses
within their Aylesbury zone plus Silver rider (Z & S International),
Water rider (Redline Buses) and Purpleroute 7 (Z & S International).
Here is the year on year breakdown of bus use to work by BCC employees
Mode
Bus
Mode
Bus
1999/2000
5.5%
2009
9%
2001/2002
10.2%
2010
13%
2003/2004
9.4%
2011
14%
2012
13%
2005/2006
11%
2013
20%
2007/2008
14.7%
2014
12%
Train use
Discounts One of the discounts associated with the Travel Choice card is a
33% discount on Chiltern Rail trains (terms and conditions apply).
Staff should consult the Buckinghamshire County Council intranet
for further details about the Travel Choice discount (school staff can
find details on the schools web). This discount was negotiated with
Chiltern Rail with the aim of reducing business mileage and reducing
single occupancy car use on the work commute by staff members.
Please see BCC intranet site for details about how to purchase
tickets.

Season ticket loans – a season ticket loan is available to apply for
through the Buckinghamshire County Council intranet page.
Promotion Inclusion of train travel in appropriate promotions throughout the year, for
example Chiltern Railways join promotions for sustainable travel once a
year at BCC.
Mode
Train
Mode
Train
1999/2000
2%
2009
1%
2001/2002
3.6%
2010
1%
2003/2004
2.4%
2011
4%
2012
4%
2005/2006
4%
2013
3%
2007/2008
2.9%
2014
4%
Flexible working and home working
Flexible working can help reduce congestion on the County’s roads through
reducing the number of people travelling at peak time.
Initiatives



Working from home – BCC staff can find information about working from
home on the BCC intranet site under ‘Working from home – flexible/
mobile/ remote working
The take up of this initiative depends on the nature of the post staff
perform and the organisational needs of the team they work in.
New Ways of Working – the Sustainability team is currently involved in the
promotion of New Ways of Working across BCC. The aim is to encourage
behaviour change and the uptake of people hot desking and working
flexibly across the authority.
Reducing the need to travel – staff are encouraged to use
teleconferencing and videoconferencing facilities in order to avoid the
need to travel (therefore providing more efficient use of work time and
reducing costs).
The following table gives an indication of the year on year take up of working from
home by staff based at County Hall, Aylesbury from 1999 until 2007/08. Home
working has not been recorded through the staff travel survey since this time.
Mode
Work from Home
1999/2000 2001/2002 2003/2004 2005/2006
0
0.6%
1.7%
4%
2007/2008
3.7%
Travel Choice Cards
Travel Choice cards gives discounts on local public transport (see BCC intranet for
terms and conditions and where discounts apply). These discounts have been
negotiated with local providers. The discounts aim to provide an incentive for staff
members to choose sustainable options rather than travelling by car. This applies to
both the staff commute and business mileage
The card was initially produced in 2000 and were simply handed out to staff,
however, from 2006 a more formal issue system has been in place. Staff members
now apply through the Travel Choice intranet page and all cards given out are
logged. The team also receive emails when staff leave the authority to enable them
to send reminders to staff to return their cards.
In 2008 schools were made responsible for issuing all provided with sufficient cards
to issue their own to their staff.
The Travel Choice card is used in conjunction with a staff ID card (or a travel Choice
UD card for schools based staff who do not have a BCC ID card). This is further
proof that a staff member is entitled to a card.
Information about Travel Choice cards and discounts is kept up to date on the BCC
Travel Choice intranet pages and on the schools web.
Annual Campaigns
In addition to the ongoing promotion of sustainable travel Buckinghamshire County
Council participates in a number of annual campaigns such as Walk to Work Week,
Green Transport Week and Commute Smart Week. These are promoted in the
Aylesbury complex and Wycombe Area Office.
During 2013/14 fewer sustainable travel promotions were carried out due to limited
resources in this area. Sustainable travel is promoted where possible across the
council.
Partnership working
Public Transport Operators
Chiltern Railways, Arriva and Carousel all offer discounts on public transport as part
of the Travel Choice scheme.
It will be important to maintain the existing good relations with Chiltern Rail to ensure
the continuation of the staff subsidy and other joint initiatives such as 3 for Free (see
www.chilternrailways.co.uk).
Passenger Transport Team
Members of the Sustainability team meet with the Passenger Transport team
promotions officer once a month to share opportunities for joint working and
promotions.
ACT Travelwise
A national Travel Plan network, which shares ideas and good practice. Ideas for
Travel Planning for each participating authority is shared at meetings
iBASE
iBase are providers of the travel plan monitoring system iTRACE . The BCC Travel
Plan is monitored through the iTRACE system.
Business Travel
The Sustainability team aims to reduce single occupancy car use whilst on business
travel therefore cutting down costs BCC spends on mileage claims. Originally the
plan focussed on the commuting element of travel by as Buckinghamshire County
Council, however in the future more emphasis needs to be on reducing business
mileage.
A business mileage page has been set up on the BCC intranet site. This page
contains a business mileage hierarchy staff should consider when travelling on
business.
Carbon Management Plan
In 2012/13 Buckinghamshire County Council developed a Carbon Management Plan.
The plan sets a framework to assist Buckinghamshire County Council in managing and
reducing its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the use fossil fuels and transport fuel
across its activities.
Our plan covers:


Council buildings’ energy consumption (including schools and
Academies);
Street lighting and traffic signals;



Mileage and fuel use of fleet vehicles (excludes vehicles used by
schools), staff using their own cars for business (excludes
commuting), and TfB;
Home-to-school transport as provided by the Council;
Waste to landfill from the Aylesbury central complex of office buildings
Our target is to achieve a 10% absolute reduction in CO2 by April 2017 compared to
2011/12.
There is a target in the CMP to reduce personal mileage through behaviour change
projects by 5%.
We continue to collect business mileage data year on year.
Visitor Travel and Deliveries to County Council Premises (excluding
schools)
Visitor Travel
In previous Travel Plans visitor travel has only been touched upon briefly. During the
financial year 2013/14 we have worked with Pindar Creative mapping company to
develop a sustainable travel map covering 5 of the most visited sites. These have
been distributed to each site and can also be found on the BCC intranet and internet.
Deliveries
BCC’s Travel plan has never explicitly considered deliveries to county premises and
the proportion of deliveries made by cars, vans or lorries. We have yet to undertake
initial work or discover baselines for how many deliveries are carried out to county
council offices (excluding schools). This will be a long term aim of the plan. It will not
be addressed in the coming year.
Future Plans/Initiatives
The team has a number of future aspirations as well as maintaining the initiatives as
described in the previous section of this plan. The plans may alter with future reorganisation of the team.

Continue to promote to all campaigns in area offices, especially Wycombe
area office.

Further promote flexible working through appropriate technology (videoconferencing, teleconferencing etc). This will be undertaken as part of the
agile working programme.

Staff inductions – Continue to present at staff induction meetings.

Business Travel – business mileage data continues to be collected year on
year.
We hope to promote the following campaigns within Bucks County Council this year.
This is considerably shorter than previous work plans. This is due to shifting work
pressures. The work plan will include business mileage in coming years. These
projects are to be determined this year.
Month
May
October
November
2014/15
Walk to Work Week
Liftshare Week
Commute Smart Week
Publicity and awareness
Since the inception of the travel plan it has been continuously promoted to staff as it
is realised that by changing ‘hearts and minds’ a reduction in single occupancy car
use be obtained and sustained. Currently promotion of sustainable travel events or
initiatives takes place through the following:





Bucks Fizz
Swan Vision (internal screens displaying news)
Intranet pages
Promotion on desktop screens
Face to face promotions (where appropriate)
Travel Choice has its own dedicated intranet pages that are kept up to date with the
most recent developments and initiatives. There are separate pages promoting each
mode of travel and giving information about Travel Choice discounts.
Monitoring
Staff surveys
Staff travel surveys have been carried out since 1999. Until 2008 surveys were
carried out bi-annually. Since surveys have been carried out on a yearly basis using
the iTRACE systems (see below).
iTRACE
Buckinghamshire County Council uses an online Travel Plan monitoring system
called ‘iTRACE’ to monitor our Travel Plan. This programme allows us to gather data
in a quick and efficient way, with all analysis being completed automatically by the
iTRACE system. The Buckinghamshire County Council staff travel survey (excluding
school staff) takes place on an annual basis. We use an iTRACE ‘snapshot’ survey
and audit to survey staff (paper copies of these surveys can be found in appendices
2.
Initiatives monitoring
We are able to monitor the success of some promotions or initiatives not only through
the annual staff survey but also through monitoring such as online monitoring of, for
example, the success of Walk to Work Week.
Action plan
An action plan for the coming year has been included in appendix 1.
Conclusion
Buckinghamshire County Council’s Travel Plan has gone from strength to strength
since its original development. One of the keys to its success is the recognition that
in order to change travel modes it is necessary to make changes in the hearts and
minds of the staff. Throughout sustained promotion to staff we aim to keep
sustainable travel at the forefront of employee’s minds.
We will continue to embed the Travel Plan into the working of Buckinghamshire
County Council. In order to evidence this, a report on the progress of the Travel Plan
and its initiatives will be produced annually following the completion of the annual
staff surveys.
We will work to ensure that any contracted BCC Services sign up to the Travel Plan
so that all staff associated with BCC are travelling sustainably, reducing the need to
travel and therefore minimising single occupancy car use and cost.