Staff Travel Survey 2008

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Purpose	The staff travel survey was commissioned by the passenger transport service to enable them to further develop the council's staff travel plan for Preston based staff. They were particularly interested in current travel methods and the reasons behind these choices, and what would encourage staff to stop using their cars. The survey builds on results from the 2007 survey.
Subject	Cycle facilities Public transport
Commissioned by	Strategic planning and transport (passenger transport)

Geographic area	All staff
Method	Questionnaire - online
Consultation with	Staff
Date	03/11/2008 - 17/11/2008
Undertaken by	Corporate Research and Intelligence Team, Policy Unit

Results

Number of responses	1241
Key findings	Two-thirds of staff normally travel to work in a car (most travelling alone). Though the proportion of people driving to work alone has shown a 5% drop since 2007, which may be a result of the introduction of parking charges. The most popular alternative methods of transport were the train and bus. Walkers tend to live closer to their workplace, whereas people who travel by train live further away from Preston. Car users generally park on a workplace car park. As in 2007, the main difference in parking location is related to the presence of a workplace car park. People use their cars because it is more convenient, they need it to do their job, it saves time and because they need to use it before/after work. More than half of staff members don't think they live within cycling distance of work. Of the 48% who said they do live within cycling distance the mean distance they live away from County Hall is 2.44 miles. And a third of these people said they would never cycle. The strongest encouragements were to improve cycle paths and facilities at work for cycling (e .g. changing/showering facilities, clothes lockers). A significant proportion of staff said that nothing would make them use public transport, although a quarter said they already use it as much as they can. The biggest incentives for using public transport were to offer discounts on tickets and to make the services easier to use (more frequent and more direct). The most frequently used method of transport for work travel is the staff members own car. Public transport isn't used as frequently though it is the next most common form of transport. Use of work related transport methods tends to match the method people use to travel to work probably because this is the mode of transport they have available or are most familiar with. As was the case in 2007, probably only three in ten car users answer they could be persuaded away from travelling in a car to work (because they need the car for work, outside work or don't have an alternative). The survey results in general are similar to the 2007 findings, perhaps because any changes take time to show an effect, therefore many of the suggestions for encouraging them to use alternatives are still relevant.

Number of responses

1241

Key findings

Two-thirds of staff normally travel to work in a car (most travelling alone). Though the proportion of people driving to work alone has shown a 5% drop since 2007, which may be a result of the introduction of parking charges. The most popular alternative methods of transport were the train and bus. Walkers tend to live closer to their workplace, whereas people who travel by train live further away from Preston.

Car users generally park on a workplace car park. As in 2007, the main difference in parking location is related to the presence of a workplace car park. People use their cars because it is more convenient, they need it to do their job, it saves time and because they need to use it before/after work.

More than half of staff members don't think they live within cycling distance of work. Of the 48% who said they do live within cycling distance the mean distance they live away from County Hall is 2.44 miles. And a third of these people said they would never cycle. The strongest encouragements were to improve cycle paths and facilities at work for cycling (e .g. changing/showering facilities, clothes lockers).

A significant proportion of staff said that nothing would make them use public transport, although a quarter said they already use it as much as they can. The biggest incentives for using public transport were to offer discounts on tickets and to make the services easier to use (more frequent and more direct).

The most frequently used method of transport for work travel is the staff members own car. Public transport isn't used as frequently though it is the next most common form of transport. Use of work related transport methods tends to match the method people use to travel to work probably because this is the mode of transport they have available or are most familiar with.

As was the case in 2007, probably only three in ten car users answer they could be persuaded away from travelling in a car to work (because they need the car for work, outside work or don't have an alternative). The survey results in general are similar to the 2007 findings, perhaps because any changes take time to show an effect, therefore many of the suggestions for encouraging them to use alternatives are still relevant.

Project document(s)

Report(s)

Staff travel 2008 report

Contact information

For more information about this research contact:

Mick Edwardson
01772 530290
mick.edwardson@lancashire.gov.uk

Email: haveyoursay@lancashire.gov.uk