blog: Championing sustainable travel
Thursday 8th August 2019
Here at ITP, we’re advocates of sustainable travel and we strive to be a part of the sustainable world that we’re helping to build. We’re proud to share the results of our latest travel survey, which demonstrates our enthusiasm for healthy and sustainable transport choices.
Earlier this year we asked our team how they were travelling to, from and during work to understand the more about their travel patterns and the incentives the company could provide to support employees to travel sustainably. The results of the survey were used to refresh our company travel plan, which we review every three years, to give us an updated view on travel patterns.
The travel survey revealed that 89% of our team are travelling to and from work by either walking and cycling, public transport or car sharing. Furthermore, as a company, 78% of our last business trips were made sustainably, with 8% made by active travel and 70% by public transport. Although some of our business trips were made by car, our local car club offers hybrid and electric vehicles, which could mean that even more of our trips are sustainable.
Reflecting back to our last employee travel survey in 2016, 77% of the team said they were commuting sustainably, compared to 89% in 2019, which is a 12% point rise in the number employees travelling sustainably. Whilst the type of transport used to make these sustainable journeys has varied slightly over time - with active travel modes increasing by a 2% mode share in 2019 - we’re proud to have maintained such a high level of sustainability, demonstrating that sustainable travel is not just a short-term trend at ITP.
Despite the geographic dispersity of our offices, the number of our team commuting to work by active modes is far greater than the national average of 17%, with 36% of staff either cycling or walking to work.
Similarly, we have a really high level of public transport use (52%), compared to the national average of 15%. Our public transport users don’t just commute by train and bus. They also use the tube and the tram to get to work.
We’re always working hard to find new and creative ways to encourage sustainable travel. We’ve already introduced:
- Audio conferencing facilities to reduce the need to travel,
- Public transport season ticket loans,
- The cycle to work scheme,
- A car club membership – providing access to electric vehicles,
- Folding bikes at some offices for business travel.
Our staff are proactive at all levels when it comes to inspiring each other to incorporate sustainable travel / activity into their working days. To support our commitment to health and welling, in the past we have offered:
- Lunchtime cycle trips on Cycle to Work days,
- Lunchtime running clubs in Nottingham & Birmingham,
- Lunchtime yoga classes in Nottingham,
- Weekly fruit deliveries to our Birmingham office.
We are always looking to improve and will be taking on board suggestions made by staff in their survey responses this year when reviewing office facilities, memberships and salary sacrifice schemes. This helps us to identify initiatives which will have the most impact on reducing single occupant car use and improves staff satisfaction.
For more information on what it's like to work at ITP or to join our team, please click here or get in touch.