Station Travel Plans

Station Travel Plans are similar to workplace travel plans but have a stronger emphasis on both the accessibility of the rail station and also on customer travel to and from the site.  Rail stations do, of course, play an integral role in other areas of  travel planning and developing a Station Travel Plan reinforces this role as well as making the journey to the station easier for passengers and reduces any parking or congestion issues there may be near to the site.

Structure and Content

Station Travel Plans are structured in the same way as other travel plans although there are differences within some of the individual sections.

1. Background Information

This section should provide an overview of the rail station and why a travel plan is produced for the site.  A list of benefits to the rail industry, the environment and to passengers could be included here (for a list of generic travel plan benefits click here).

2. Site Audit and Passenger Survey

The site audit and passenger survey together provide the information to inform the rest of the travel plan.  The site audit provides details on how accessible the site is by various forms of transport and includes both on-site and off-site infrastructure (see examples below):

• On-site infrastructure:

  • No. of car parking spaces (as well as the number of disables and car sharing spaces)

  • No. of cycle parking spaces

  • No. of motorcycle parking spaces

  • On site cycle and walking routes

  • Any other relevant on site details

• Off site infrastructure:

  • Local pedestrian routes

  • Local cycling routes

  • Nearby bus stops with information on routes and services stopping at these bus stops

  • The local road network

Below is an example site audit that can also be completed on-line (please contact the Workplace Travel Plan team for more details).

site_audit.pdf

The passenger survey is used to find out how passengers currently travel to the site.  This information can be used to both judge the success of the travel plan (see the monitoring section) and also to find out which measures would be most effective in influencing travel behaviour at the site.  To be effective a passenger survey strategy should include questions regarding:

• How many people use the station on weekdays and weekends

• The modes used to travel to the station

• Where station users live

• The assessment of travel issues and problems with accessibility to the station

• Evidence of the potential increase in passenger numbers if access to the station was improved

• What time of the day people use the station

• Take up of cycle parking/lockers and motorcycle parking

• The monitoring the use of on site parking spaces and whether there is any overflow parking off site

3. Aims and objectives

Every travel plan should include a series of aims and objectives which are broad statements of intent regarding what it is hoped the travel plan will achieve.  Typically there is one overarching aim followed by several objectives.  An example of an overarching aim of a travel plan would be:

• A reduction of single occupancy vehicle (SOV) journeys to the site

Some objectives will be site or company specific, however some will be generic statements such as:

• Improve the local environment

• Reduce congestion

• Increase the number of passengers and staff using active forms of transport

• Improve road safety

4. Targets

There are two types of target that can be set for a travel plan.  The first is known as an ‘aim-type’ target and is generally based on the percentage share of each travel mode used as ascertained through the staff survey and are measured over a specified time frame.  An example target of this type would be:

           x% reduction in single occupancy car use over y years

These targets can be applied to each main mode of transport and as stated above can be informed by the results of the passenger surveys.  By way of guidance most travel plans aim for a 10-15% reduction in single occupancy car use over three to five years.

The other type of target that is set is the ‘action-type’ target which sets a deadline for a certain action to have taken place.  An example would be:

           Install x number of cycle racks by date y

5. Measures

This section of the travel plan concerns the various incentives and initiatives that can be employed to achieve the targets set in the previous section.  The measures that are implemented will depend on various factors including the results of the survey, the size and use of the rail station, the site audit and the amount of funding available.  Travel plan measures are typically arranged by mode.  

Example travel plan measures

6. Monitoring Strategy and Management Structure

The travel plan also requires a monitoring strategy that sets out to record the overall success of the travel plan as well as how effective individual measures have been.  The monitoring should include:

• A regular passenger and staff survey at intervals of around 2 years.  To aid comparison te surveys should be as similar to the initial survey as possible.  The main question will again be regarding the main mode of transport to the site and the results can be used to judge the success of the plan against the targets already set

• A record of the success of some of the initiatives in the travel plan (where quantifiable) such as the number of members in the car share scheme, how many cycle parking spaces are used or take up of schemes such as interest free loans.

• Reviews to be written at regular intervals using results from the rest of the monitoring strategy and also discussing which measures have been implemented and which haven’t along with reasons for success or otherwise of each measure

Each travel plan should have a Travel Plan Co-ordinator (TPC) who has the overall responsibility for implementing the travel plan.  Depending on the size of the site the amount of time dedicated to the travel plan will vary, although typically the role would be part-time with an existing member of staff taking on the duties.  

It is important to have buy-in from senior management and they should be involved in the development of the travel plan through a steering group.  A travel plan steering group is usually made up of the TPC along with representatives from senior management, HR, the unions and other parts of the organisation.

7. Action Plan

The action plan is a summary of how the travel plan will be implemented and monitored.  An action plan typically lists the measures that are due to be implemented along with details on who is responsible, when they are to be undertaken, how the success will be gauged and which aims and objectives they  relate to.  An example set of headings for an action plan table is:

Objective	Action	Priority Level	Date Due	Responsibility	Target