Forward-thinking fleet managers are being asked to coordinate company-wide travel plans to cut carbon emissions.

As part of its Act on CO2 initiative, the Government wants to persuade businesses to consider alternative methods of transport and communications before company drivers use their cars.

And with only a handful of UK companies embracing sustainable travel for employees, there is a real opportunity for fleet managers to make their mark.

Reassess reliance on car

The Department for Transport (DfT) launched the National Business Travel Network inititative in 2006 to persuade companies to reassess their reliance on the car.

Much has been made of video and tele-conferencing. Of those companies that have this facility, 62% say they are using it more often, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Its survey revealed 43% of businesses had increased their use of public transport with fleet decision-makers playing a key role in the cultural change.

However, while PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Company Car UK Report revealed more than a third (35%) of companies now place a CO2 emissions limit on employees’ choice of vehicle, only 6% of companies facilitate sustainable travel for staff, according to the British Chamber of Commerce.

“We need a transport system that can support the movement of people and goods in a growing economy, while ensuring impacts on the environment are within acceptable bounds,” said transport minister Jim Fitzpatrick. 

“Travel plans provide a means of addressing both of these challenges.”

Companies and their staff can gain a wide range of benefits and savings by employing a travel plan, according to the DfT. In percentage terms, numbers may be low but hundreds of businesses are now using the National Business Travel Network initiative to help them reduce car use.

However, Roslyn Cumming, Fleet Safety Forum manager, stressed that travel plans didn’t need to be anti-car.

“They simply have to ensure the right type of transport is used for each travel requirement and that the requirements to travel are reviewed and minimised wherever possible,” said Cumming. 

“Travel plans promote flexible and sustainable transport solutions, and they can and should be used by all companies, whatever type of fleet they operate.”

In Nottingham, E.ON has implemented an extensive green travel scheme, focusing on initiatives like car sharing and low-carbon company cars.

Chris Woodhall, E.ON’s UK travel plan coordinator, said: “So far, travel planning has saved us more than three million miles and 755 tonnes of CO2.”

E.ON has organised car share and cycle weeks, promoted low CO2 company car options, eco driving courses and increased its car sharing parking bays from 48 to 131.

Business travel should be an integral part of any travel plan and can involve the use of pool cars, car clubs, rental and encouraging staff to use public transport where it is practical and cost effective.

Reducing travel impact

Reducing the impact of business travel was one of the overall goals when Zurich established a travel plan covering its four UK centres at Swindon, Portsmouth, Cheltenham and Fareham.

Video-conferencing proved particularly popular, reducing regular trips between its corporate centres, and helping it cut annual business mileage by more than one million miles, with fuel cost savings of £122,000 and an extra 17,000 working hours being created.

But, while technology may be steadily improving, public transport retains an image problem, despite more people use the railways now than at any time since the Second World War.

However, the Government intends to invest more than £15 billion into the rail industry over the next five years, while more services are to be included on busy commuter routes and a new fleet of faster, longer inter-city trains will be operational on the East Coast Mainline by 2013 and across the wider network by 2015.

Transport Direct – www.transportdirect.info enables fleet managers to compare the same door-to-door journey by public transport and car, with details on times, routes, costs, as well as car park information and relative carbon emissions depending on the time of day and mode of transport.

Green Success

HBOS has developed travel plans at many of its major employment sites across the UK, with walking, cycling, public transport and car sharing playing a major role.
In addition, it introduced a ‘Green Miles’ scheme in 2007 to encourage staff to use video or tele-conferencing as opposed to business travel.

Staff had access to a carbon calculator to show CO2 savings if travelling by air, rail or road, and company car users were offered only diesel or hybrid vehicles.

Detailed information was provided on the company website on how to choose a greener car and how driving style and car maintenance affected emissions.

An incredible 23 million business miles have been saved since the launch of the Green Miles scheme, while HBOS’s average fleet emissions has dropped from 172g/km in January 2006 to 163g/km in December 2007.