A Travel Plan is a package of measures produced, for example, by employers to encourage staff to use alternative travel modes to single-occupancy car-use. Such a plan could include a car-sharing scheme, a commitment to improving cycling facilities, a dedicated bus service or restricted car parking allocations. It might also promote flexible working practices and home working practices by using broadband, remote access and video conferencing.
Increasingly, Residential Travel Plans are called for to reduce car use originating from new housing developments. They support alternative forms of transport and reduce the need to travel in the first place.
School Travel Plans can also be required to reduce single-occupancy car use, address the issue of congestion at the school gates and improve road safety for all users. They provide a framework to help pupils, parents, teachers and other staff change their travel habits.
Travel Plans can offer real benefits, not only to the organisation and its employees but also to the surrounding community. They may help to relieve local parking or congestion problems or improve public transport connections across the area. They may also relieve stress on employees by reducing travel delays, or providing the opportunity to cut their travel commitments by working from home on occasion.
The requirements for Travel Plans are many and varied. A Travel Plan can be used as a business tool to solve parking and accessibility problems, or may be a requirement for securing planning permission.
A Travel Plan is also a means of demonstrating a good corporate environmental image. Government policies and guidance encourage the adoption of Travel Plans throughout the UK. Often Travel Plans are introduced as part of a Section 106 Agreement, secured through a planning condition or voluntarily produced. They are becoming an increasingly common feature of both new and established developments.