History
Celebrating 25 Years of Modeshift: Our Journey from 2001–2026
Celebrating 25 Years of Modeshift: Our Journey from 2001–2026
In 2026, Modeshift proudly celebrates 25 years of enhancing everyday journeys. Since our beginnings in 2001, we have grown from a small regional forum into the UK’s leading organisation supporting active and sustainable travel across schools, businesses, communities, and the public sector.
This is our story.
2001-2006 | The start of our journey
Modeshift’s origins go back to 2001, when local authorities in the Midlands came together to share best practice in School Travel Planning. This early collaboration led to the formation of the UK Local Authority School Travel Forum (UKLAST).
- 2003: The Department for Transport and Department for Education launched the Travelling to School Initiative (TTSI), establishing 150 School Travel Advisor posts nationwide, and setting a target for every school in England to produce a School Travel Plan by March 2010.
- 2004–2005: UKLAST membership expanded rapidly following the TTSI announcement, transforming the forum into a national network.
- During this time, the organisation introduced its first AGM, national awards, and a best practice sharing website.
This marked the foundation for what would become a national movement for improving everyday journeys.
2007-2011 | A New Identity & Supporting School Journeys
In 2007, UKLAST rebranded as Modeshift, reflecting a stronger, more modern identity.
Key milestones included:
- 2008: Launch of our Travel Plan accreditation scheme, Modeshift STARS for schools that excelled in delivering their Travel Plans as part of the TTSI.
- Modeshift transformed from a volunteer-led forum into a structured organisation offering expanding Member services.
- As the TTSI neared its end, many School Travel Advisor posts were lost, prompting the Modeshift Board in 2011 to restructure the organisation and focus on growing membership.
Modeshift began to position itself as a national leader in School Travel Planning and travel behaviour change.
2012-2016 | Growing Our National Impact
The early 2010s marked an era of innovation and rapid expansion.
- 2012: Modeshift grew to a 10 ‑Member Executive Board and launched an upgraded membership offer, refreshed website, regional meetings, and a bigger and improved annual Convention for Members.
- A £9.5k Awards for All grant enabled Modeshift to redevelop the STARS scheme into a fully online platform, relaunching as STARS Education.
- 2014: The Department for Transport awarded Modeshift £184k to make STARS Education free for all schools in England from 2015 and deliver the National STARS School Travel Awards.
- With a growing membership base, Modeshift expanded its best practice sharing focus to other types of journeys including commuter, higher education and leisure
- 2015: Modeshift expanded to 13 Executive Board Members, and secured funding through the Department for Transport’s Access Fund with Living Streets to recruit a National STARS Officer to further develop engagement with local authorities and schools.
By the mid 2010s, Modeshift was firmly established as the national accreditation body for School Travel Plans
2016 - 2020 | Expansion of Accreditation
Accreditation continued to scale across the England.
- 2016: STARS was extended to cover Workplace and Residential Travel Plans and launched as the STARSfor scheme.
- The first National STARS School Travel Awards – School of the Year ceremony took place at Portcullis House, Westminster.
- By 2017, STARSfor had fully launched and was adopted by organisations and authorities across England.
- 2019: Modeshift STARS was restructured into three strands:
STARS Education, STARS Business, STARS Residential.
This period cemented Modeshift STARS as the UK’s flagship Travel Plan accreditation scheme.
2020-2024 | Reaching New Audiences
Modeshift continued to support Members and champion everyday journeys.
Key achievements included:
- 2020: Integration of Education, Business, and Residential accreditation into one unified Modeshift STARS system.
- 2022: Launch of the Active Travel England funded Active Travel Ambassador (ATA) programme and the acquisition of ACT-TravelWise, including the well known TravelWise Week, part of European Mobility Week
- 2024: Modeshift expanded into the events and venue sector and launched STARS Healthcare with NHS England for NHS healthcare settings.
2025–2026 | A New Era for Active Travel
Modeshift’s innovation continued:
- 2025: TravelWise Week transitioned into Mode Shift Month, a new national campaign held each September.
- 2025: Launch of the Active Travel Inspectors scheme.
- The 2025 Convention in Leeds welcomed more than 370 delegates, the largest to date with over 100 speakers contributing to sessions.
- 2026: Modeshift celebrates 25 years of impact, partnerships, and progress.
By this point, Modeshift has approved more than 9,000 STARS accreditation applications and trained over 1,200 student ambassadors, who engaged more than 111,000 peers in healthier travel habits.
Today | Team Modeshift and the Future
Now celebrating our 25‑year milestone, Modeshift continues to grow as the UK’s leading network travel and transport practitioners.
Our mission remains clear:
We believe that communities are healthier, wealthier, and more inviting when people are given the opportunity to walk, wheel, ride, and use public transport for their everyday journeys.
We will continue expanding our STARS and ATA programmes, supporting industry partners, empowering young ambassadors, and championing behaviour change across the UK.
Here’s to the next 25 years of making everyday journeys better.
