Travel Planning and Travel Demand Management

Travel Demand Management (TDM) is a collection of actions designed to address congestion issues and deliver sustainable transport solutions. Typical TDM activities focus on: walking, cycling, bus, train, ferry, car pooling, working from home and freight movements.

School Travel Plans and Workplace Travel Plans are being implemented in Waitakere City now.

For more information on School Travel Plans click here

What is a workplace travel plan?

Waitakere City Council has adopted the following definition for workplace travel plans:

A package of measures that aim to reduce the number of car journeys and provide people with greater transport choice.

The aim of a workplace travel plan is to increase the use of buses, trains, cycles and other sustainable transport options and reduce dependency on the car for commuting and business journeys. Travel plans can also help to reduce, or eliminate unnecessary journeys. Workplace travel plans can address all aspects of an organisation’s transport-related activities and in addition to improving the management of commuting and business travel; they can also look at better ways of making and receiving deliveries and managing the fleet.

Waitakere Central Travel Plan: on the go!

The Waitakere Central travel plan was designed and implemented over an eight month period. This travel plan is the first TravelWise workplace travel plan in Waitakere and is one of the first workplace travel plans to be completed in line with the TravelWise process. The travel plan process was completed in September 2006 and is gaining national interest as an example of best practice in workplace travel planning.

A key result of the travel plan is that six months later, eighteen per cent more staff are now using sustainable transport – like carpooling, public transport, walking or cycling – than they did before the travel plan was introduced.

To find out more about the Council’s travel plan, a case study document is available.

The ARTA TravelWise process

The Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) assists workplaces to implement travel plans by reducing the cost to the organisation of delivering them. ARTA provides high value “travel plan tools” such as a business case tool, online surveys (and analysis) as well as a personal journey planning campaign and passenger transport information. Further tools, including Rideshare carpooling software, are being piloted in 2007. Providing these tools enables workplace travel plans to be delivered more cheaply and helps to ensure quality. The TravelWise workplace process was developed to assist with a ‘skills gap’ in designing and implementing travel plans. The TravelWise process is supported by training courses and networking opportunities.

More information on TravelWise can be found at http://www.travelwise.org.nz/Workplaces/