Commuting bus use doubles as car use drops at Fosse Park
Staff at Fosse Park, one of Britain’s biggest out-of-town shopping and leisure destinations, are making a big switch to sustainable travel for their commute. In the latest annual staff commuter survey, single car occupancy journeys are down by almost a quarter and bus use has doubled since 2018.
GO Travel Solutions undertook the latest travel survey as the Travel Plan Coordinators for Fosse Park. The results are based on responses from 525 staff, representing 45 retailers at the retail park. The survey also asked staff for initiatives they would like to see introduced to improve sustainable transport provision.
To help achieve these results, a range of sustainable transport initiatives, including discounted bus tickets, have been provided to staff as part of the ‘Getting To Work’ scheme. Launched in 2021, the initiative works with the retailers to encourage staff to consider alternatives to the car, whilst also supporting those that already use more sustainable methods.
The Getting To Work scheme is part of the Fosse Park Sustainable Travel Strategy. This was created as part of the planning obligations with the extension of Fosse Park in 2021. In partnership with Leicestershire County Council and Blaby District Council, the Strategy aims to lower the number of vehicles on the local road network and improve air quality.
Phil Saunders, Getting To Work Project Manager at GO Travel Solutions, commented, “These findings reveal a positive change in travel behaviour by staff at Fosse Park and a continuation of the trends seen in the previous staff travel survey. It really goes to show that if suitable support is available, people are willing to make changes to their travel behaviour.”
Adrian Young, Centre Manager at Fosse Park, said “It’s very positive to see that survey results indicate that staff who work at Fosse Park are becoming more aware of commuting alternatives and are becoming less reliant on cars. Now we need to proactively support those staff and widen the choices available to them for their commute. For example, we’re really excited about the cycle initiatives we have planned for the next few months and believe that commuting to work by bike is a valid, attractive, sustainable, and deliverable alternative to commuting by car.”
The main bus operator, Arriva used feedback from the surveys to implement service changes in 2022 to better align with evening staff shift times. This has led to a ridership increase of 30% at Fosse Park on those evening services. Toby France, Head of Commercial at Arriva, explained “Our network is shaped by customer demand, so it’s been fantastic to receive clear insight from Fosse Park to help us optimise our evening services. The increasing number of customers choosing to use these services is a testimony to great partnership working”.
Monitoring staff commuting choices forms part of the ongoing work by The Crown Estate, landowners of Fosse Park, and Savills UK, the real estate services managing the retail park. “The Crown Estate is committed to improving the sustainability of all our sites around the country and Fosse Park is really leading the way with its Getting To Work scheme, which has been funded as part of the £168 million development of Fosse Park West and Food Central.” said Nicole Campbell, Senior Asset Manager at The Crown Estate.
Jonathan Jessop, Director at Savills added “It is so important that we take every step we can to reduce the carbon footprint of all aspects of schemes we manage. It’s great to see the progress being made at Fosse Park by staff switching to more sustainable forms of travel.”
For more info on GO Travel Solutions, visit www.go-travel-solutions.com
