A queue of cars lined up in front of school gates is nothing new, but what if it could be something long forgotten? With a tried and tested travel plan in place, you’ll be ready to educate your students, staff, and visitors to transform the way they get to school for good.
Travel plan
A queue of cars lined up in front of school gates is nothing new, but what if it could be something long forgotten? With a tried and tested travel plan in place, you’ll be ready educate your students, staff, and visitors to transform the way they get to school – embracing pedal power, public transport, and their own two feet instead.
What is a travel plan?
A travel plan can revolutionise how your students, parents, and staff travel to and from your school. It’s a long-term strategy for reducing the number of car journeys, encouraging more sustainable modes instead.
A well-considered travel plan, put together by experts, can make all the difference in inspiring your school community to walk, scoot, cycle, car-share, or take public transport, instead of driving to the school gates. This evolving strategy helps you better understand the journeys your students and staff make, and how to transform them for the better. For it to be most effective, it should be reviewed regularly and updated to take any new circumstances into consideration.
Why do I need one?
A bespoke travel plan can:
1.
Improve health and wellbeing of students, parents, and staff – through active and sustainable travel choices.
2.
Improve air quality around your school – good for people and the planet.
3.
Increase student alertness and reduce childhood obesity by encouraging walking and cycling.
4.
Increase student awareness of road safety.
5.
Increase quality contact time between parents and their children.
6.
Make your school community safer and less congested with fewer cars on the roads around your site.
7.
Reduce the number of vehicles in your staff car park, freeing up limited spaces for those who need them the most.
8.
Improve school links to the wider community, including parents, police, local residents, and local authorities, by working together to improve the journey to school.
9.
Contribute to other school policies, targets, or global programmes, such as Eco-Schools.
Our solution
We have the insight, experience and working relationships to take on your travel plan, delivering an in-depth strategy to reduce traffic, support alternative forms of transport, and make getting to school so much better.
Your bespoke plan will target all key stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, and local business; identify predicted traffic volumes; and recommend a combination of measures to maximise and encourage sustainable modes of transport to and from the school gates. We’ll also provide all the necessary resources to help you educate your audiences and ensure your school stands out from the crowd when it comes to smarter travel.
What’s included in the service?
We’ll liaise with local planning and transport authorities and other stakeholders, and you’ll benefit from our longstanding relationships.
We can advise on any available funding opportunities to boost your budget.
An audit of available transport facilities, the travel plan objectives, targets and indicators, as well as the actions and measures that need to be taken.
Parent and staff travel survey to understand current behaviour and develop strategies for encouraging change.
A dynamic travel plan document that’s unique to your school. We can also reinvigorate an existing plan.
Our wide range of walking and cycling initiatives, events and promotions, and resources can help put your plan into action, including:
Travel plan champions: get students involved by appointing a small number of ambassadors to help promote road safety and sustainable travel to their peers.
National awareness days: targeted activities, including parents, staff, governors, and students, on national awareness days, including: Big Pedal, Walk to School Week, Clean Air Day, World Car-Free Day, and Be Bright Be Seen.
Parking promise: targeting new students, smart journeys will invite parents to sign a parking promise, informing them about parking policy from their first day.
Zones and patrols: creating a no-parking/parking zones and encouraging students to carry out incentivised weekly patrols.
Is it time your school travelled smarter?
If you want to find out more about how a smart journeys travel plan could get your school on the road to sustainable success, please fill out the form, and we’ll be in touch soon.
