1. Help With the Cost of Public Transport
Many employees will see public transport as an added cost, since few will be getting rid of their private car entirely. Encourage your people to switch to public transport by helping reduce the cost to them. This can be straightforward, as many transport providers and local authorities have schemes whereby local businesses can gain discounted or pre-pay passes for their systems. This is usually also very efficient for employers, since being part of these schemes often brings tax benefits.
2. Make Active Transport Seamless
Encouraging active transport (such as walking, jogging and cycling) doesn’t stop once your employees are at the workplace. In fact, infrastructure at the workplace (or lack of it) is consistently found to be one of the main things that are discouraging people from switching to active transport for their commute.
This means easily available places to keep bikes, whether it’s a wall-mounted 4-bicycle bike rack or a complete enclosed bike shed, this means your people will know they always have somewhere to secure their bikes. Showers allow employees to freshen up after a journey, and lockers allow them to keep a change of clothes, a towel, running shoes etc. somewhere without worrying about them being an unpleasant distraction.
3. Provide Shared Transport Memberships
Not all workplaces can be directly or easily served by public transport. Bike-share organisations can help by providing a more flexible pool of bicycles that will be available for employees to use, either for their entire commute or for that crucial ‘last mile’ to or from public transport.
Corporate membership for a car-sharing scheme can also encourage employees to give up their own vehicles for the commute. If the business can provide a car from a car-sharing system to allow for the occasional but inevitable times when cars are indispensable, such as meetings away from the workplace or getting to or from personal appointments or family engagements during the day.
4. Advocate for Sustainable Transport
If the public or active transport infrastructure near your business isn’t good enough to serve your employees’ needs, then advocate for it to be improved. Businesses can be powerful and effective influences on local policy. Causes such as extra bus routes, support for transit such as trams or light rail and the installation of protected bike lines and other bike infrastructure can greatly increase the take-up of sustainable transport. They can also be excellent opportunities for getting your business’ name out to the public in the context of a good cause.
5. Encourage Carpooling
Even the best sustainable transport systems can’t serve every situation or location – some workplaces simply aren’t in places where it’s fair or feasible to expect employees to not come by car. But you can still reduce the number of cars going to and from your business by encouraging carpooling by those who live near each other or on similar routes. This can be as simple as a roster sheet on a noticeboard or a chat group, but there are dedicated apps that can streamline and track the process.
6. Discourage Driving
Some people will need to be ‘pushed’ away from their cars, however good the ‘pull’ of good sustainable transport is. Discouraging car usage can be vital, but needs to be handled carefully as making car-based commuting difficult without viable alternatives in place will just lead to a lot of disgruntled employees and will damage the whole image of sustainable transport.
Moves to discourage driving, such as increasing car park prices, introducing a car park pass system with limited numbers or allocating parking subject to individual need, should be done after other policies on this list have been introduced. If employees can see that increased parking charges are paying for a new bike shed or installing a shower and locker room, all the better.
7. Build a Positive Culture
That can all be part of more generally creating a corporate and workplace culture that is positive towards sustainable transport. Do what gels best with your team – it could be a goal-based competition to reduce the number of cars in the car park, or the miles walked or cycled. You could sign people up to a virtual walking challenge. Or create a team within the company to develop and champion sustainable transport usage.
Broader policies can also make a big difference. For instance, flexible schedules allow employees to avoid rush hour on public transport and also reduce the stress some can feel about having to get to work at an exact time when catching buses or making connections.
