Encouraging schools and employers to adopt travel plans

A travel plan is a package of measures aimed at reducing the impacts of tra vel to a particular site. Such packages are also sometimes known as green t ransport plans, green commuter plans or mobility management plans. The Depa rtment of the Environment, Transport and the Regions has recently started t o use the term 'travel plan, preferring to drop the 'green' label in order to ensure that these plans are seen as addressing other issues as well as e nvironmental issues. The 'commuter' label has also been changed to reflect the fact that this approach could be used to address many different types o f travel, not just the journey to work. To date, however, the development o f travel plans has concentrated primarily on work journeys and school journ eys and there is an increasing amount of information aimed at encouraging t he wider take-up of travel plans by employers and schools. This paper start s by explaining why these types of journey are being targeted and then goes on to provide a brief history of initiatives for reducing car use on the j ourney to school and the journey to work. It finishes with a summary of rec ent policy developments in this area.