Travel Planning for Visitor
Attractions and Leisure Facilities
Travel Plan Guidance for Organisations with Visitors
Produced by the Sustainable Travel Team
February 2012
1
Introduction
Transport for Buckinghamshire’s (TfB) Sustainable Travel Team promotes all
forms of sustainable travel to businesses, organisations, schools, developers
and residents.
The aim is to reduce single occupancy car use and encourage more
sustainable forms of travel.
There are a number of benefits to travelling sustainably, including:





Helping to reduce congestion
Improving health through active travel
Reducing costs (petrol for commuting and business travel)
Improving your carbon footprint
Aid business continuity planning (enabling home working)
This document has been developed to provide information for developing
Travel Plans for visitor attractions and leisure facilities.
2
What is a Travel Plan?
A Travel Plan is a document which brings together site specific measures to
help promote sustainable travel and reduce single occupancy car use. A
Travel Plan might be developed for a school, business, and residential
development or in this case for a visitor attraction or leisure facility.
There are a number of benefits of having a Travel Plan in place including:









Reduced cost on employee expenses, travel, car parking
Efficient use of Company Vehicles, i.e. Car share
Reduce time staff spend travelling
Happier more productive workforce
Improve staff health
Less congestion – reduced travel time for staff and less congestion on
the roads around your site.
Corporate Image - environmentally friendly status
Better relationship with community – less parking issues and noise of
traffic.
Reduction in need for visitor parking.
How do Visitor/ Leisure Travel Plans differ from other plans?
Visitor attractions or leisure facilities may have different travel considerations
than organisations whose employees come and go at regular hours. For
example, staff may be required early or late in the day or work shift patterns to
accommodate opening hours of the attraction.
In addition, visitors travelling to the site may not be local to the area or may
need more information about how they can travel to the site in a sustainable
way.
Including staff travel in your Travel Plan
Ideally staff travel should be included in a Travel Plan for a visitor or leisure
attraction. As with most businesses staff members will be commuting to work
and may live closer to the site than visitors, enabling them to travel by
sustainable means.
How to develop a Visitor Travel Plan
A site should have a named co-ordinator for their Travel Plan. This is
someone who will drive forward the plan. However, ideally the co-ordinator
will have a group of people to help deliver and promote any initiatives out in
place to encourage sustainable travel to the site.
Transport for Buckinghamshire has a short Travel Plan template which sites
can use to complete their plan and bring together any planned initiatives or
promotional work.
3
Surveys
As part of your Travel Plan you should undertake a travel survey of staff.
Transport for Buckinghamshire has a Travel Plan monitoring system called
iTRACE. This online system allows a company/ attraction to survey the travel
pattern of their staff members easily and analyses the data automatically.
You may also like to survey visitors as to how they have travelled to the site.
You could do this in the following ways:
 Sample surveying – for example, ask any visitors how they travelled to
the site and if there is anything which would encourage them to travel
sustainably over the course of a two week period. Alternatively you
could ask every 20th person (dependent on how busy the site is) how
they travelled and what would encourage them to travel sustainably
over a longer period of time to account for seasonal variations.
 In depth surveys – for attractions wishing to look at a particular aspect
(for example, if installing cycle racks would be successful or if a shuttle
bus would be well used) then a more in depth survey of visitors would
be beneficial.
 Tally charts – for busy sites that are not able to ask visitors face to face
about their travel habits undertaking a count of travel habits over the
period of a day or week would give an indication of the levels of visitors
travelling by each more of travel.
 Travel activity or game – for sites which attract a lot of children a travel
activity or game may be set up in the reception area. For example, you
could set up a graph which children could add their mode of travel to
when they enter the site. Another activity you may like to have is a
‘greening the tree’ activity, through which children could add green
paper leaves to a cardboard tree to show they have travelled
sustainably or a brown paper leaf if they have travelled by car (not car
share).
Visitor or leisure attractions should keep in mind that usage of the site will
differ during different points of the week. Travel during the weekend, evening
and weekday work hours are likely to differ. All three time periods should be
considered in surveys.
Annual Reports
It is a good idea to produce an Annual Report in order to highlight your
progress and monitor the targets you have set. The Annual Report will also
allow you to complete an action plan for the coming year. A simple Annual
Report template can be supplied upon request.
To gain access to the Travel Plan template or to the iTRACE Travel Plan
monitoring system please email [email protected]
4
What measures could be included in your Visitor Travel Plan?
There are a number of initiatives which can be put in place to encourage
sustainable travel.
Sustainable travel promotion
The provision of sustainable travel information is important to any site but it is
especially important to leisure or tourist attractions because those visiting may
be new to the site and therefore more likely to search for travel information.
Information about how to travel to the site sustainably could be included on:
 Your website
 Leaflets
 Your internal staff web pages
 In newsletters.
You may also like to join in with national sustainable travel campaigns and
promote these weeks at your site.
Providing incentives to those who travel sustainably
For visitors
Providing incentives to those who travel sustainably is on way of trying to
encourage those who could travel sustainably to give it a go. Incentives could
include:
 Providing a discount in your restaurant or café or even a free drink!
 Providing a discount on entrance fares
 Providing free parking for those who car share.
For staff
 Providing occasional casual dress for those who cycle or travel in
sustainably.
 Provide sustainable transport allowances for staff who surrender car
parking permits
 Offer cash incentives for staff willing to give up parking permits
Initiatives to help promote walking to your site
Walking has a number of benefits associated with it, including:




Encouraging a healthy lifestyle
Helping to reduce congestion
Being environmentally friendly
It is free!
Here are some actions you could take to promote walking to visitors and staff.
5
For visitors
 Providing lockers for outdoor clothes.
 Separating visitor and vehicular entrance to the site
 Making sure walkways at the site are well lit.
 Opening up short cuts for pedestrian access across your site
 Highlighting local leisure walks in the area
For staff
 Take part in annual campaigns such as Walk to Work Week (usually
during May). For more information about Walk to Work Week visit the
website www.livingstreets.org.uk
 Providing maps of walking routes within feasible distance of our workplace
 Opening up short cuts for pedestrian access across your site
 Providing showers and changing rooms
 Providing lockers for keeping a change of clothes
 Providing drying room/facilities
 Promoting parking away from the office and walking the remainder of the
journey (park and walk).
 Troopers – Troopers is a walking initiative which is aimed at businesses
and organisations. It is an innovative way of encouraging staff to fit a bit
more walking into their everyday life. For more information about Troopers
please visit the website www.buckscc.gov.uk/transport
 Walk It – www.walkit.com is an urban walking route planner. Both
Aylesbury and High Wycombe have now been mapped on the website.
Initiatives to help promote cycling to your site
There are a number of benefits associated with cycling including:
 Getting fit
 Reducing your carbon footprint
 Helping to reduce congestion on the county’s roads.
Here are some ways to help promote cycling to visitors and staff members.
For visitors
 Provide sufficient covered, well lit cycle parking to meet needs
 Provide lockers for cycle equipment
 Provide links to cycle information on your website
For staff
 Provide maps showing cycle routes to the workplace (information about
Aylesbury Gemstone cycle routes maps and county wide cycle maps
please visit www.cycleaylesbury.co.uk)
 Provide showers and changing rooms
 Provide lockers for keeping a change of clothes
 Provide drying room/facilities
 Provide sufficient covered, well lit cycle parking to meet needs
 Ensure cycle parking is clearly visible or well signed
6






Provide pool bikes
Pay a cycle mileage allowance
Provide insurance cover for those cycling on work business
Provide interest free loans for sustainable transport purchases e.g. bikes
and their accessories
Use cycle couriers for local deliveries
Take part in national Bike Week ( http://www.bikeweek.org.uk/ )
Initiatives to help promote car sharing
In order to promote car share the following benefits could be
highlighted:





Sharing the costs of petrol and wear and tear on vehicles.
Help reduce congestion
Reduce carbon emissions
Having company on your journey
Take part in national Liftshare Week (
http://www.liftshare.com/business/liftshareweek.asp )
Here are some ways to help promote cycling to visitors and staff members.
For visitors
 Incentivise car sharing – for example, providing car parking free or at a
reduced rate to car sharers.
 Provide preferential car share spaces nearer to the site entrance.
 Promoting Bucks Car Share data base on your website. Bucks Car Share
is a lift sharing data base which helps match people travelling with those
from a similar direction. The website is www.buckscarshare.co.uk
For staff
 Provide a guaranteed lift home for car sharers (ie. a taxi home service if a
staff member is let down by their car share partner).
 Allocate priority parking spaces for car sharers
 Hold a postcode breakfast to introduce staff members who travel from a
similar direction.
 Promoting Bucks CarShare ( www.buckscarshare.co.uk ). Bucks CarShare
is a web based car share database matching those making similar
journeys.
Initiatives to help promote public transport
For visitors
 Provide links to relevant public transport timetables on your
website as part of the visitor directions to the site.

Provide links from web site to public transport journey planners
e.g. www.traveline.org.uk
7

Working with local transport providers on promotions. For
example, for anyone who travels to the site with a certain
transport operator will get 50% off ticket price.
Provide a mini bus service from local train stations.

For staff







Provide relevant bus and train timetables at work
Encourage public transport use for business travel
Subsidise public transport passes
Provide a company bus that links with existing public transport
services e.g. a shuttle bus between work and railway station
Provide an interest free loan for sustainable transport purchases
e.g. season bus pass or Park and Ride tickets
Provide links from web site to public transport journey planners
e.g. www.traveline.org.uk
Promote public transport use as a Travel Choice during
dedicated promotional weeks such as Green Transport Week
(http://www.eta.co.uk/green_transport_week ) or European
Mobility Week (http://www.mobilityweek.eu/ ).
Car parking
Management of car parking is another element which should be considered in
a Travel Plan. Car parking may also be a contentious part of a Travel Plan but
it is important for consideration be given to car parking.
You could:





Identify priority users of car park e.g. people with disabilities,
shift workers, car sharers
Re-allocate car parking spaces for cycle parking
Provide sustainable transport allowances for staff who surrender car
parking permits
Offer cash incentives for staff willing to give up parking permits
Remove reserved car park spaces for senior management
Working practices
Flexible working practices can:
 Help employees achieve a better work life balance
 Cut down peak time traffic
For staff

It may more difficult for staff members at visitor sites or attractions to
work from home than those who are based, for an example, in an
8
office. However there are ways in which travel for meetings could be
cut down. This includes
o Tele-conferencing
o Video-conferencing
Promotion
Promotion is an important element of any Travel Plan. Without informing your
staff or visitors about any events, campaigns or initiatives they are unlikely to
be successful. Ways in which you could promote your plan include:













Using existing in-house newsletters to keep staff up to date with
progress on the plan
Preparing a leaflet detailing the travel plan for all new staff
Preparing a sustainable transport display or stand
Preparing a “how to get here guide” promoting sustainable
transport choices tailored to the site
Organising a promotional event such as a bike to work day or
car free day
Promoting health benefits of regular walking or cycling
By demonstrating senior management/union support e.g.
participating in cycle to work days or relinquishing parking
privileges
By introducing a Travel Plan working group
By providing a dedicated travel plan notice board in areas for
both visitors and staff for posters
By alternating the focus of Travel Plan campaigns to prevent
them becoming stale
By creating dedicated web pages from the travel plan (internal
for staff and external for visitors)
By offering links to Traveline etc to all staff and visitors for
personal travel plans
Promoting National Sustainable Transport weeks and/or events
You may also have other means of communicating and promoting initiatives
to staff members or visitors, please feel free to use these avenues of
communication to promote your travel planning work.
9
Area specific sustainable travel projects
TfB works not only with leisure facilities or visitor attractions to promote
sustainable travel but also works with businesses, commuters, residential
developments and schools to try and reduce car use. The projects below
relate to initiatives which have been aimed at specific areas or communities.
We would like to encourage visitor attractions and leisure facilities to become
involved in these area wide projects and engage with the local community to
try and reduce congestion and promote a healthy lifestyle in your area.
Action for Aylesbury
Action for Aylesbury is an area wide project encouraging everyone to take
‘Action for Aylesbury’. This includes thinking about what we do with our waste,
reducing energy, using local producers where possible and thinking about
how we travel. An Action for Aylesbury pack was developed as part of the
project and this can be found on the web address
www.buckscc.gov.uk/transport
Walk Wycombe
Walk Wycombe is a project designed to embed walking in the daily routine for
those who live and work in High Wycombe, as a foundation to a healthier
lifestyle.
Other features of Walk Wycombe include Walkit.com, an easy to use urban
walking route planner where you can get a route map between any two points,
including your journey time, calorie burn, step count, and carbon saving. You
can visit the website at www.walkit.com
We also have a pull up banner which sites in High Wycombe are able to
borrow for any sustainable travel promotion. If your business or site wished to
promote Walk Wycombe please contact [email protected]
Change for Chesham
Change for Chesham is a campaign focussed on encouraging people to
recycle more, use their cars less, think about the impact of their actions on the
local environment and make permanent changes to their lifestyle to help make
a Change for Chesham.
10
Useful websites
Here is some useful website you might like to promote to staff:
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ - Sustrans is a sustainable travel charity
promoting walking, cycling and public transport.
http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/change-for-life.aspx - Change for Life is
a national campaign encouraging people to make a change in their lifestyle,
whether this is to eat more healthily or to get active. Walk4Life and Cycle4Life
are part of the Change for Life project and these subsections can be selected
from the Change for Life website.
http://www.wfh.naturalengland.org.uk/ - information about leisure and
organised walks in your area.
http://walkit.com/ - an urban route planner website (Aylesbury and High
Wycombe) have been mapped on this system.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/topics/sustainable/ - A Department for Transport page
which gives background to sustainable travel.
http://www.transportforbucks.net/Transport-and-roads.aspx - Transport for
Buckinghamshire homepage. Transport for Buckinghamshire web pages
includes information about sustainable travel as well as information about
road works and public transport.
http://traveline.info/ - Public transport information.
http://talesoftheroad.direct.gov.uk/ - Child road safety information and games
http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/ - Road safety advice and information
Contact us
For more information about sustainable travel please visit the website
www.buckscc.gov.uk/transport or email [email protected]
11