for employers Action kit Shared : an action kit for employers Introduction

Scotland has a legally binding target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045. However, there is a long way to go to get there. Employers and businesses have huge power to effect change and an important role to play in tackling climate change.

Prior to the pandemic, over two thirds of It also highlights examples of best Scotland’s commuters drove to work by practice from a range of organisations or van, and 66% of all car journeys in who have used shared transport to Scotland were single occupancy trips. Over address a number of challenges. the past year we have seen big changes in the commute to work because of Covid-19 For example, Highland Council saved with more people working from home. £900,000 in one year by introducing However, travel by has fallen a car club for business travel while in and the proportion of trips made by car has the case of Arup, the company reduced increased. This presents a worrying shift. parking pressures at its site in Solihull by introducing a series of ‘carrot and stick’ As the Covid-19 restrictions ease and more measures designed to change behaviour - people return to the workplace, there is an and it worked. opportunity to do things differently. We hope this guide will inspire others to This Action Kit will help capitalise on this take action and create change in their opportunity by giving organisations the tools workplaces for the benefit of employees, to re-think business and employee travel to communities and the planet. help cut emissions, cut costs and benefit employees.

02 www.como.org.uk About this action kit This action kit can be used by any organisation from small start-ups to large corporations, and is applicable to the private, public, and third sectors. The information and guidance can be used by finance, HR, sustainability, fleet, and procurement professionals.

It gives organisations the knowledge and Contents tools to effect change and get started on their journey to more sustainable ways of 04 Step by step guide to using this travelling. action kit

It has been produced by CoMoUK with 07 What is shared transport and what are input from Cenex. the benefits for your organisation?

CoMoUK is a charity that promotes the 14 Taking action and changing behaviour: environmental, economic, health and understanding current travel patterns social benefits of shared transport. It raises and guidance on how to encourage the awareness of shared modes through the use of shared transport collation of best practice, and gathers 20 How-to guide: collecting data from grey evidence to support the growth of the fleet claims and staff travel surveys sector. 22 Further help and support Cenex is an independent, not-for-profit research technology organisation with expertise in lowering emissions through innovation in transport and energy infrastructure.

03 www.como.org.uk How you can take action!

Here is a step by step guide to help you rethink your business and employee travel, and take action to effect change.

Step 1 – Identify your goals Identify the issue you want to address. Be as clear as you can be on what problem(s) you are trying to solve and what your aims are. Examples may include reducing on-site parking pressures, reducing grey fleet mileage claims, and/or encouraging staff to travel more actively and sustainably.

Step 2 – Assess current travel patterns Once you’ve identified your goal, you should assess current business and employee travel so that you have a greater understanding of current travel patterns and behaviour. The detailed ‘How-to’ guides contained on page 20 in this action kit explain how to collect and analyse data from grey fleet claims and staff travel surveys.

Step 3 – Choose your shared transport intervention(s) An overview of shared transport modes (car share, bike share, ride share and demand responsive transport) and the benefits to organisations is covered in the first section of this action kit from page 7. CoMoUK is on hand to offer implementation and procurement advice, and we can put you in touch with shared transport operators who may be able to offer you a trial before making a commitment to their services.

Contact [email protected] to arrange a free trial.

Step 4 – Choose your behaviour change intervention(s) Simply selecting your shared transport mode(s) is not enough to make change happen and change entrenched patterns of behaviour. That is why this action kit contains detailed advice on the behaviour change interventions that an organisation can take to effect change from page 14. Interventions include those that target the individual, those that target the social/cultural sphere, and those that target the material/physical environment.

Step 5 – Stakeholder mapping and engagement Once you’ve identified which shared transport intervention(s) and which behaviour change intervention(s) you would like to pursue, you should consider who the key stakeholders are in relation to those particular interventions. You can use the stakeholder analysis matrix included in this kit on page 15 to identify key stakeholders, help develop a communications plan, and ensure your shared transport initiative gets off to a flying start!

Contact [email protected] if you would like any further help or advice from our team of shared transport experts.

04 www.como.org.uk Case Study Highland Council

Highland Council saved £900,000 by switching to a car club

1.6 million Challenge Impact fewer grey fleet Highland Council staff work from multiple Since the partnership began, Enterprise Car miles offices across the Highland region. The Club and pool has contributed large area and lack of public transport to an estimated 649 tonne reduction in meant staff generally used their own CO2 emissions in the Scottish Highlands by for business trips and reclaimed transferring grey fleet mileage onto their costs from the council. Analysis by Highland fleet of hybrid and electric vehicles. The Council found this was costing significant majority of the fleet are plug-in hybrids amounts of money, as well as having a which are available to book by the hour £ negative impact on attempts to reduce or by the day by employees who would emissions. previously have used a personal car. Along with the 37% reduction in carbon emissions £900,000 Solution since 2018, there has also been a 28% drop reduction in Working with Enterprise Car Club, Highland in business mileage and a reduction in travel costs Council deployed 60 shared vehicles at 21 business travel costs of over £900,000. offices for use by staff. Most of these are hybrid, with EVs available for shorter trips. Reasons for success The scheme was launched in 2018 with all The factors that helped make this scheme funding coming from the council itself. work were:

• In-depth data gathering by Highland Council on travel behaviours to help select the best option 649 • Good communication with employees to tonnes of

support deployment, including Q&A days CO2 saved in offices

05 www.como.org.uk Case Study Arup, Solihull

“We are extremely pleased with how the Liftshare system is constantly evolving and improving to provide us with more and more valuable data The whole Arup tackled parking problems at its Liftshare scheme has been a huge site by introducing a ride sharing scheme success for Arup and very much helped to Challenge Impact alleviate our car At Arup’s Solihull office, limited parking The scheme has had a significant positive park issues. We at the site meant there were daily issues impact for Arup: would be more with access to spaces and double parking. • 83% of the staff at the Solihull site are than happy to

Arup worked with Liftshare to assess signed up to Liftshare recommend their the potential for increasing ride sharing services to other “ amongst employees. It then dedicated • 56% of staff members have shared a businesses. a third of the parking bays on site commute (approximately 100 bays) for the exclusive Arup • Parking problems are resolved, with no use of ride sharers. double-parking incidents reported since After launching in March 2017, the scheme July 2019 started to lose momentum, with staff • An estimated 6.5 million miles of car feeling others would abuse the ride share travel have been avoided, which Liftshare parking incentive, which the company’s estimates has saved staff around £1.6m parking team were unable to enforce. in fuel costs Solution • Emissions have been reduced by an 83% The scheme was relaunched in 2019 using estimated 1,500 tonnes CO2 and 6.6 tonnes of staff at the Liftshare’s Smart Parking technology. This of NOx site signed up connects Arup’s Liftshare scheme, parking • Feedback from visitors to the site has been to Liftshare permits and trip authentication together positive, finding the site more welcoming as into one package, assuring the company a result and its employees that commute trips are being shared. • An unexpected benefit has been the mixing of staff from different parts of the Arup can access a dashboard to see at organisation while ride sharing, opening a glance how many authenticated trips opportunities for new employees and have taken place, which members have graduates to mingle with longer term and authenticated a trip, and when and where 56% more senior staff they have done so. of staff members have shared a Reasons for success If employees share a lift they are commute The factors that helped make this scheme guaranteed and prioritised a parking space work were: over a single occupancy . • Prioritisation of parking for sustainable Single occupancy vehicles take the risk that travel there will be no parking available to them when they arrive on-site. • Buy-in from senior management, with a willingness to look at the long term vision Arup also introduced a number of other rather than the short term shared transport options for staff including Parking problems • Clearly communicating changes to parking an on-demand shuttle from a nearby resolved, no policy to all staff, and allowing opportunities train station to the site. double-parking for feedback and discussion via an open incidents forum training event

06 www.como.org.uk What is shared transport and what are the benefits for your organisation?

Car sharing

Car clubs are pay-as-you-drive schemes Pool are a fleet of vehicles provided What is which allow members (individuals or by an organisation for use by staff for grey fleet? organisations) to book vehicles for the time work trips. Car club operators can provide that they are needed, from as little as one vehicles to be used as pool cars during Grey fleet is hour, and pay only for the hire time and business hours. Depending on the model where employees the distance driven. Members typically pay chosen, the vehicles can be available use their own an annual fee to join the scheme and a per for both the organisation and the public cars for business hour and a mileage charge to hire a vehicle. to book, or they can be block booked travel and get Scheme operators cover running costs throughout the working week for reimbursed for such as insurance, tax, fuel, cleaning, and corporate use. the mileage, servicing. Businesses can become corporate typically at members which allows their employees to 45p per mile. book car club vehicles for work trips.

Benefits of car sharing

• Organisations can improve the efficiency, • Providing a car for work journeys can cost, and safety of employee travel by help to encourage employees to leave encouraging use of car club vehicles or their own cars at home and travel more pool cars in place of ‘grey fleet’, where sustainably to work, which can help to employees use their own cars for business reduce on-site parking pressures and travel and get reimbursed for the mileage congestion

• Car club vehicles are typically newer and • CoMoUK’s research consistently shows have lower emissions than the average that shared transport accelerates modal privately owned car shift: since joining a car club scheme 16% of members walked more, 10% cycled more and 26% cut their private car use1

07 www.como.org.uk Benefits of car clubs

• Mileage reduction • Breakdowns and repairs Switching to a car club can reduce If a car has to be taken off the road for business miles driven as staff only use any reason, members of the car club a car when needed for business use. scheme can access other cars until it This can reduce or eliminate grey fleet is returned or replaced. It is also the miles and mileage payments, responsibility of the car club operator and help to cut an organisation’s to repair or find a replacement. carbon emissions. • Selection of car types • Reduced number of vehicles Car clubs have a variety of sizes and With a typically higher number of types of cars and vans so members can users per car, car club vehicles tend to select the vehicle that most suits their have a higher utilisation rate and more needs. rational use per vehicle. This can result in a reduction in the overall number of • Access to a network of cars vehicles required and cost savings for Members of a car club can use any car the business. in the scheme’s network. For example, an employee could get the train to the • Newer, fuel efficient vehicles nearest train station then pick up a car Car club vehicles are typically newer club car to do the final part of their and have lower emissions than the journey, rather than driving all the way. average privately owned car. Car • Duty of care club cars produce 37% less CO2 from tailpipe emissions than the average UK All employers have a duty of care car, and 60% of the car club fleet in over their employees, which includes Scotland is either electric or hybrid. travelling for business purposes. If employees are using grey fleet then • Convenient locations an employer should conduct annual Car club cars are typically located in driver’s licence and MOT checks. on-street bays meaning members have By using a car club, all checks for only a short walk to collect a car, rather vehicles and drivers are done by than having to go to a central depot. the car club operator. Businesses may also be able to have dedicated car club vehicles on-site. • Reduced administrative burden All bookings are processed by the • Car maintenance car club operator, which reduces Car club cars are cleaned and administration for the employer, and by maintained by the car club operator. using a car club instead of grey fleet, This means an employer doesn’t need it eliminates the need for employers to to do MOT checks on private cars that process mileage claims. are being used for business travel, or have to maintain their own fleet of vehicles.

08 www.como.org.uk Ride share

Ride sharing, lift sharing or carpooling Research from Integrated Transport (hereafter described as ride sharing) simply Planning commissioned by CoMoUK, refers to sharing a journey – usually by revealed that ride sharing prevents an car – with at least one other person. In a additional 1.1 million vehicle kilometres and workplace context, this can be used for saves more than 118 tonnes of CO2 each commuting journeys and business trips. working day in Scotland. It is also estimated that more than 20% of employees of large Ride sharing is often organised informally organisations could ride share with the between employees who share a similar right programme of incentives in place. commute to save money and for social benefits. However, there are ride sharing There is a huge potential to increase the platforms that can be used by organisations impact of ride sharing in Scotland. CoMoUK which now make it easier for people to estimates that almost 50% of all commuter find and share rides with colleagues and car trips in Scotland could be shared. neighbours. This would reduce CO2 emissions by 135,000 tonnes per year.2 Ride sharing, increases car occupancy levels using existing assets, existing journeys and existing infrastructure, which has a positive impact on reducing carbon emissions.

Benefits of ride sharing

• It can reduce on-site parking pressures as • It can improve staff recruitment and fewer parking spaces are needed when retention: by offering sustainable travel employees share the journey to work options it means employers can recruit from a greater radius and from locations • It can help cut congestion around the site that might not be served by public and reduce the environmental impact transport of businesses by cutting commuter emissions to and from work • It can improve employee health and wellbeing - it is estimated that ride • It is estimated that regular ride sharing sharing the commute to work can reduce can save users around £1,000 per year stress in over 40% of people3

09 www.como.org.uk Bike share

Bike and e-bike sharing schemes work There are many benefits to businesses from in similar ways to car clubs and pool car introducing shared bikes and e-bikes into schemes. They provide users with access the workplace including improved health, to bikes when they need them, for the time reduced sickness, improved journey times, they need. As with cars, an organisation and less need to provide parking spaces. can either provide staff with membership E-bikes are rapidly increasing in popularity of an existing shared bike scheme run by as range on a single charge increases a private sector operator, or it can procure and costs come down. They can open up and manage its own fleet of bikes. cycling to users who may otherwise not feel confident riding on the roads, and allow longer trips to be made on two wheels.

Benefits of bike share

• Cycling, even for short distances, can • Cycling to work can improve commuter have a very positive impact on employee journey times and reduce stress in health and wellbeing and reduce sickness. employees In Scotland, two thirds of bike share members report physical health benefits • Encouraging more people to cycle to from using a scheme and 41% report work can reduce commuter emissions and mental health benefits4 cut on-site parking spaces

• Organisations can improve the • Bike share schemes boost public transport efficiency and cost of employee travel use. CoMoUK’s research shows that by encouraging the use of bike share or it is used interchangeably with public pool bikes in place of grey fleet, where transport - 27% of bike share members employees use their own cars for business use it in conjunction with the bus, and 5 travel and get reimbursed for the mileage 25% with the train

10 www.como.org.uk Demand responsive transport

Demand responsive transport (DRT) Benefits of DRT services provide on-demand transport using fleets of vehicles scheduled to pick • It can provide an alternative to single up and drop off passengers in accordance occupancy car journeys for commuting with their needs. It is an intermediate form and reduce demand for car parking of transport, offering some of the mass spaces transit benefits of a bus, but with flexibility • It can provide a convenient, low-cost and convenience closer to a taxi service. solution for users, and lowers total The key feature of DRT is the flexibility of emissions by reducing the number of routing and timetabling in response to vehicles on the road user demand. • It can help to solve recruitment challenges by providing low-cost journey options where there is a lack of other public transport provision

Implementation and procurement

The approach to implementing a More information about our shared transport scheme or procuring accreditation scheme and a list of a service will vary for different accredited car club and bike share organisations. Some companies will operators can be found on our website. be able to implement services directly from a single supplier, whereas public Costs of establishing schemes also sector bodies will need to undertake a vary depending on the requirements of competitive procurement exercise. the organisation. Shared transport operators may also be able to offer a CoMoUK has an accreditation scheme trial of their services before making for car clubs and bike share schemes, a longer-term commitment. Contact which can help as it provides standards [email protected] for more for operators and gives local authorities information and operator contacts. and businesses assurances when procuring services. CoMoUK has also developed detailed procurement guidance for car club and bike share schemes to help local authorities and other public bodies with the process. More information can be found on our website.

11 www.como.org.uk Case Study Siemens

Siemens cut travel costs by 1,200 28% by introducing a car club vehicle trips made in the first Challenge Impact 12 months of Siemens approached Enterprise Car Club The vehicles have been used for nearly deployment to help it meet four objectives: reducing the 1,200 trips in the first 12 months of size of its pool car fleet, cut costs, improve deployment. Siemens estimates this has vehicle utilisation, and enhance its use of saved 28,000 miles from its delivery and digital processes. collection business units, cutting travel costs by 28%. Solution Siemens and Enterprise Car Club worked Other benefits include reduced costs together to undertake detailed analysis of associated with delivering and collecting 28,000 employees’ travel plans. Poorly utilised pool vehicles from their sites, and a reduction miles saved vehicles at Siemens’ Lincoln and Aberdeen in use of daily rental vehicles. from Siemens’ sites were gradually replaced with car club delivery and vehicles managed by Enterprise. 20 pool Reasons for success collection vehicles have been replaced with just 14 The factors that helped make this scheme business units car club vehicles. work were: • Siemens had a clear understanding of the nature of the problem that it faced

• Enterprise Car Club has helped it move from a non-managed system to a £ managed approach, making it easier to monitor vehicle utilisation and report cost 28% savings cut in travel costs

12 www.como.org.uk Case Study The Pump House, Nottingham

The company brought in a fleet of e-bikes to reduce car use for short journeys and help staff “I find using the e-bikes are travel safely during the Covid-19 pandemic better than using company vehicles which Challenge Impact are not helping Pump House supplies ancillary products Initially there was uncertainty about how the environment. to the global heating, ventilation, air staff would respond to the scheme and The e-bikes are conditioning and refrigeration markets. The whether it would be regularly used. The very helpful for company has 40 members of staff based company’s records show that bookings getting from site at two locations in Nottingham: a head increased by around 50% through 2019- to site and save office and a 60,000 square foot warehouse. 20 as staff became more familiar with the time and energy. Though only a short distance apart, staff e-bikes and more confident using them. In This helps us to were using company fleet vehicles or their the third quarter of 2019-20, there were a be greener as a own cars to travel between the two sites. total of 137 bookings made for an e-bike. company. Solution The Covid-19 pandemic and associated Adam Brown,

In 2018 the company signed up to restrictions forced the company to pause Warehouse

Nottingham City Council’s Ultra Low its ride share scheme, and travel in its pool Operative at the Emission Vehicle (ULEV) Experience vehicles also fell significantly. However, Pump House “ programme, which aimed to help the e-bikes were used every day. Some businesses reduce their transport carbon staff started to use them for their regular emissions. This included a business travel commute as they were uncomfortable using review; funded trials of electric vehicles; public transport, providing an unexpected and grants for infrastructure to support additional benefit. shared and active travel. Reasons for success Results from the review and a staff travel The factors that helped make this scheme “ The electric survey were used to support an application work were: vehicle trial has for funding from the ULEV Experience been something • The shared transport initiatives are programme for the acquisition of plug- that our staff strongly supported by the managing in vehicles, chargepoints, and shared have embraced director, who is passionate about reducing e-bikes. The e-bikes are available as pool positively, and the company’s carbon emissions and bikes for use by all staff. Pump House also having EV charge other environmental impacts implemented a ride share scheme to reduce points on site emissions from commuting journeys. • Extensive engagement and data has made it easy analysis undertaken as part of the ULEV to implement. Experience programme to decide which As well as other measure would be most effective and measures to help appropriate our staff travel to and from work • The company has a strong team ethos in a greener which has helped secure employee way, we are now buy-in for its low carbon initiatives considering how we can adopt an electric van to transport goods from our warehouse. Dave Bass,

Pump House

Managing Director “

13 www.como.org.uk Taking action and changing behaviour

The information in this toolkit can help organisations get started on their journey to more sustainable ways of travelling.

There are many potential benefits for comibination of these measures led to employers who introduce alternatives to 83% of staff signing up to the Liftshare single occupancy car use for business and platform and over 50% regularly sharing commuting travel. The most obvious is cost, the ride to work. particularly for grey fleet travel, for which employees are typically reimbursed at 45 Before considering shared transport pence per mile. options, organisations may want to gain a greater understanding of how employees There are other factors too including are currently travelling for business trips reducing the demand for on-site parking. and commuter journeys. In the case of Arup, which is detailed in a case study earlier in this guide, they There are different ways to do this but introduced ‘carrot and stick’ measures two common starting points are analysing to bring about the desired change in current grey fleet travel and conducting a behaviour and reduce parking pressures staff travel survey. at their site. They provided incentives to Appendix 1 of this guide provides further employees to share the ride to work, giving information on what data to collect, how priority parking spaces to ride sharers and to collect and analyse it, how to use the offered a taxi home to employees in case findings, and common barriers and how of an emergency but they also significantly to overcome them. restricted parking for lone drivers. The

Changing behaviour

The first section of this guide set out the This section of the Action Kit explains what shared transport options available to organisations can do to make a successful organisations to make business travel and behaviour change campaign work employee commutes more sustainable. including: But simply providing alternative forms of transport will not be effective. Without 1. Planning for change: Questions help to make the switch, employees are organisations can use to help define and likely to stick to current ways of travelling. target a specific behaviour Some organisations try to overcome this 2. Intervention suggestions: Ideas for by providing information, such as leaflets, measures organisations can implement posters, and communications at team across three areas: individual behaviour, meetings, in the hope that this will create the social environment, and the material the desired change. This can be a good or physical environment starting point, but studies have shown simply providing information is rarely 3. Stakeholder mapping: Identifying and effective. evaluating the influence and interest of groups and individuals

4. Evaluation: Tips for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions, using the baseline metrics (financial, environmental, and individual)

14 www.como.org.uk 1. Planning for change

Organisations should start by being clear a significant impact on how employees about the target behaviour(s) that they choose to travel, particularly for want to address. Make this as specific commuting. Consider promoting active as possible, as this makes the rest of the travel in the spring and ride sharing in the process more straightforward, reduces the winter. Local business journeys may be risk of competing priorities, and allows for made by e-bikes in the summer, but this better impact evaluation. will be less attractive in colder months. Often the decision on how to travel for Key questions to help identify a specific business is made when the site visit or target behaviour on which to focus. meeting is booked, so it is important to influence decision making at this point. • What needs to change? Think about the behaviour and not the outcome. • Who will the intervention target? More sustainable travel is an outcome, Campaigns could be focused on so consider what different behaviours groups such as new starters, a specific or actions will lead to an increase in department, or employees that live sustainable travel. within a certain radius of their place of work. Another consideration could • Where is the behaviour performed? be employees’ access to other forms Is it location specific? Consider what of travel, such as travel options are available already. For or private car ownership. People’s organisations with multiple locations motivations and ability to change will be these will need to be considered different depending on their personal separately to ensure that interventions are circumstance. For example, a single appropriate to their local travel context. person who lives alone will have different • When is the behaviour performed? travel requirements than a parent who Does the time of day or season affect does the school run on their way to work; choices? Commuter travel journeys are the former is likely to be more open to generally made at consistent times of day. considering alternatives to driving. It is Organisations can use this to influence vital to account for such differences when people’s decisions first thing and at planning interventions. the end of the day. Seasons may have

2. Intervention suggestions

There are a wide range of interventions available to organisations to support the deployment of shared transport. The Scottish Government has adopted an ISM (individual, social, and material) behaviour change model to help practitioners seeking to enact behaviour change. In this guide we set out the individual, social and material interventions that organisations could deploy to effect change.

Scottish Government ISM behaviour change tool

15 www.como.org.uk Individual: suggested interventions for targeting individuals

Overview of intervention Intervention examples

Disruption to normal behaviour • Email updates to employees to make them aware of local travel disruptions and suggest alternative • Travel choices are hugely ways of travelling. influenced by habit. This is particularly true for commuting • Include information on shared transport in the as this is a frequently repeated induction process for new employees, including activity. instructions on joining and using the service. • Changes to working patterns • Trial shared travel days or a week of action to due to the Covid-19 pandemic encourage people to change for a short period provide an opportunity to can help a longer-term switch. Note that more change ingrained habits. than a couple of days will usually be required to Other forms of disruption such change habitual patterns. as roadworks could also be • Make using shared transport the path of least leveraged to change habits. resistance, for example through automatic or opt • Habits can be most effectively out membership of shared transport such as the disrupted when there is a organisation’s pool car scheme. change in circumstances. • Discourage the use of private single occupancy Targeting employees who vehicles, for example requiring employees to are new to the business apply for a parking permit. or have moved location is recommended.

Commuting time • Recruit a sample group of employees to log their driving journey times for a week, and • Commuters consistently compare them to the expected journey time by choose to travel by car if it is bicycle, e-bike, or public transport. Share results the quickest option ‘on paper’, with other teams or departments via internal even though congestion communications channels. frequently means it takes longer – and is more stressful – • Use incentivisation techniques such as feedback, than an alternative mode. rewarding, and monitoring to encourage other staff to undertake their own analysis of journey • Behaviour change interventions times and experiences. could target this and encourage more analytical decision • Consider developing a simple cost and time making. calculator in Excel or hosted on the intranet to promote these exercises. • Organise follow-up workshops or ‘test days’ to induce long-lasting change.

Quality and provision of suitable • Provide a mechanism for employees to share alternatives positive and negative experiences, supported by troubleshooting of problems and provision • Access to alternative forms of support to staff as required. of transport falls under the material environment (see • Help employees to create ‘if-then’ plans to table below). However, it overcome barriers. If-then plans commit is vital to also identify and individuals to taking a certain action in a overcome perceived barriers specific situation. For example, ‘if I accept such as access, cost, time, and an external meeting request, then I will refer emotional response. to the organisation’s travel hierarchy to identify the most sustainable ’.

16 www.como.org.uk Social: suggested interventions in the social environment

Overview of intervention Intervention examples

Organisational culture • Develop communication campaigns to create an identity for the organisation as a place that is • Organisational culture shapes sustainable and where using shared and active and influences individual travel is promoted. This can be done through behaviours and attitudes. publicity but should be reinforced with action Employees are more likely and investment. Campaigns should aim to to adapt their behaviour and normalise the use of shared transport. travel more sustainably if they see this is aligned with the • The use of shared travel for business travel can organisation’s attitudes and create a culture in which using alternatives to the social structures. car for commuting is seen as more normal as well. • Culture is partly driven by • Ensure senior management or executives are the perception that senior aware of measures to reduce car use and that they staff are leading by example. are making changes themselves. Create internal publicity around such changes to maximise impact, such as through case studies.

Travel policies • Publish a travel hierarchy requiring – in preferential order – the use of active travel, public transport, • While creating the right culture or shared transport (such as an e-bike or pool car can help influence change, scheme) for business travel. Ensure that use of grey policies may be needed to fleet is seen as a last resort option. mandate desired behaviours. • Where grey fleet must be used, ensure policies are in place to encourage ride sharing, control reimbursement, and mandating minimum standards for vehicles.

Material: suggested interventions in the material environment

Overview of intervention Intervention examples

Ensure suitable shared transport • Review current levels of access to shared is available transport and supporting infrastructure. Engage with staff to find out what investments they • Provision of appropriate shared think the organisation should make to encourage transport is vital to encouraging increased use of shared transport. employees to reduce private car use. • Review the alternative modes available on the market and procure vehicles or a service from the • Vehicles or e-bikes must be relevant supplier. available, reliable, clean, and provide a good user experience. • Set up relevant supporting infrastructure, such as The same applies to any chargepoints for electric pool cars, secure bike supporting infrastructure such storage, showers and changing facilities, and a as Electric Vehicle chargepoints booking system. or booking systems.

Parking allocation • Provide preferential parking, such as bays near the workplace entrance, for employees sharing trips or • Restricting access to parking vehicles. spaces can be effective in discouraging commuting by car. • Reduce the total number of parking spaces, with guaranteed space for ride sharers and a restriction • This must be implemented on the number of days per week that someone in conjunction with provision can park on site if not ride sharing. of alternatives and careful employee engagement. It can be something of a blunt instrument and may be resisted by employees.

17 www.como.org.uk The tables above outline some • Are there risks of unwanted impacts or interventions that can be implemented, safety considerations? It is important to and there are many others. Choosing the consider what side-effect or unintended right options is organisation-specific, but consequences may occur from the the questions below can help inform the intervention, and how to mitigate these. decision making process. For example, providing familiarisation training for EVs, or safety training and Key questions to help behaviour equipment for e-bike riders. change decision-making: • Is it equitable? Will it impact anyone • How practical is it and how effective unfairly? Consider whether the will it be? An intervention must be intervention may reduce or increase appropriate to and accepted by the target equity between your employees, across audience and be a good fit with their day areas such as finance, health, wellbeing, to day ways of working and travel needs. and access to opportunities. It also needs to be deliverable within any resource constraints, such as availability This provides a framework to review of staff time, or physical space on site. possible interventions and determine which to pursue. • What is the cost and is it affordable? The intervention must be affordable within an agreed budget. Consider whether it needs to provide a financial return on investment, or instead whether it is acceptable to increase costs while substantially reducing GHG emissions. This will depend on internal organisational priorities.

3. Stakeholder mapping and engagement

After choosing an intervention(s), • Influence is the power a stakeholder has organisations should then consider who to effect an outcome, including through the key stakeholders will be in relation to influencing the attitudes or actions of a particular intervention, and assess the others. For example, in public sector extent to which they might influence or organisations, unions may have significant have an interest in the proposed change. influence over the implementation of a proposed measure. • Interest is the level of importance each stakeholder is expected to place on a Assigning a score to each stakeholder particular intervention. For example, can be used to develop a stakeholder employees who drive to work will place matrix, like the example shown in Figure 1 high importance on a scheme which aims below. The results can be used to inform to discourage this option. a communications plan and help prioritise resources.

Figure 1: Example Stakeholder Matrix

18 www.como.org.uk 4. Evaluating interventions

Organisations should measure and monitor • Individual: Assess employees’ satisfaction behaviour change interventions against with the availability and use of shared financial, environmental and individual transport for business trips and metrics to understand the effectiveness and commute journeys. cost-effectiveness of different measures. Financial and environmental costs and This should comprise: benefits should be modelled at the outset, and then updated with real-world data • Financial: Calculate the capital and when it is available. Setting targets for operational cost to the organisation for cost savings or emissions reductions can providing shared transport, and compare help guide regular progress monitoring these to costs previously incurred. Note and provide a structure for reporting and that many investments, such as for a judging success. fleet of e-bikes or electric pool cars, may take months or even years to provide a Bear in mind that there will likely be some financial return. secondary benefits which are more difficult to quantify, but qualitative work should be • Environmental: Recalculate the GHG undertaken to collate them, and the results emissions associated with business travel disseminated. These include reputational and commuting journeys. Emissions benefits, improvements to customers’ from plug-in vehicles, including e-bikes and shareholders’ perceptions of the and e-scooters, can be calculated using organisation, and opportunities for conversion factors published by the UK external PR. government, combined with data on electricity consumption.

19 www.como.org.uk How-to guide: collecting data from grey fleet claims and staff travel surveys

This section provides information for employers on what data to collect to measure current travel patterns and behaviour, how to collect and analyse it, how to use the findings, and common barriers and how to overcome them.

Collecting data The below shows which data items could be collected to gain a good knowledge of how employees travel.

Data source Items (essential and desirable) Reason

Individual trip mileage To calculate emissions from the grey fleet and understand travel patterns Trip date and time To ensure trips are logged for the correct financial year and to observe seasonal variations in grey fleet use Trip cost To check HMRC rates are being correctly applied: 45 pence per mile up to 10,000 miles per year and 25 pence per mile thereafter Employee details (name and To understand which departments department) and employees are claiming the most Grey fleet mileage, so they can be approached claims to understand the reasons Vehicle details (vehicle/fuel Employee vehicles are often older and type, vehicle age, fuel economy) more polluting than modern vehicles, so vehicle data should be used to calculate GHG and pollutant emissions Trip start and end location To create a heatmap of grey fleet activity, to help select the most appropriate alternative mode of travel Reason for trip To understand how important trips are and whether they could be avoided altogether Employee information Employees’ home addresses can (department, vehicle details, inform development of personal travel home address) plans with information on appropriate transport modes for commuting. GDPR policies need to be in place before collecting any personal data Business trip patterns (mileage, This data will complement the grey trip reasons, locations, etc.) fleet claims if some of the data in the claims is not available or incomplete Staff travel surveys Commuting patterns (mileage, This data is not present in the grey frequency, locations) fleet claims and therefore needs to be collected via a survey Attitudes towards alternative To understand how keen and modes of transport capable employees are to use these technologies and the reasons for this Attitudes towards remote To understand the ability and desire working of employees to work from home to reduce the overall need for travel

20 www.como.org.uk Grey Fleet Claims – Additional Guidance Staff Travel Surveys – Additional Guidance

• Employees typically complete grey fleet • Staff surveys should be hosted via an claims forms several days after a trip online platform, rather than via hard copy was made, or even at the end of the or undertaken verbally at team meetings month when expenses are due; this delay plus the manual data entry can lead to • Surveys should be brief, ideally taking inaccuracies fewer than 15 minutes to complete to keep respondents engaged through the • Claims are often rounded up to the process nearest five or ten miles, causing inflation of up to 25% in the value • Distribute surveys via team leaders or of the submission managers as the response rate is likely to be higher if the survey comes from someone the employees know and work with regularly, rather than a central department such as HR

Analysing data and using findings

Grey fleet data and employee survey results • Financial: Calculate the current costs to should be analysed against three metrics the organisation and to employees of to allow a comparison to be made once business travel and commuting journeys. alternative forms of transport have been deployed: • Environmental: Estimate the GHG emissions associated with business travel and commuting journeys. Emissions can be calculated using conversion factors published by the UK government, combined with mileage and vehicle fuel type information.

• Individual: Assess employees’ satisfaction with the current situation, such as the length (in time) for their current commute and attitudes towards business travel options.

Common challenges

The table below shows typical challenges that organisations encounter, and suggestions to overcome them.

Challenge Solution

Inflation of grey fleet claims Use mileage capture or ad hoc manual checks using trip start and end locations to audit a sample of claims

Incomplete grey fleet data Ensure enough fields in claims forms are mandatory for completion

Complex data on trip purpose Provide drop-down lists in claims forms and surveys to standardise responses

Low survey response rate Communicate that the survey is in part to help with employee wellbeing and improve transport choice. Distribute the survey via team leaders

21 www.como.org.uk Further help and support

CoMoUK At CoMoUK we are proud of our team of shared transport experts. We have several members of staff who have knowledge and experience of shared transport modes and can provide bespoke advice. In addition, there are team members who can help with project management, research, planning and policy. All of this ensures that we can offer the best support and advice across the shared transport sector.

Get in touch

Email: [email protected] Web: www.como.org.uk Twitter: @Como_uk

Other useful sources of information

Organisation and Resources Website Link

Energy Saving Trust: independent advice to www.energysavingtrust.org.uk help employers reduce business transport costs and lower emissions including advice on grey fleet mileage reduction.

TravelKnowHow: an online resource which www.travelknowhowscotland.co.uk offers organisations across Scotland free, easy access to a wide variety of travel planning solutions to develop and implement workplace Travel Plans, and to engage with employees in order to start changing travel behaviour within organisations.

Way to Work: an online resource for Scottish www.waytoworkscot.org employers and employees with information on walking, cycling, car sharing and public transport.

22 www.como.org.uk Find out more about CoMoUK and Collaborative Mobility online at www.como.org.uk

Registered office: CoMoUK is a registered Thorn House, charity in England and Wales 5 Rose Street, (no. 1093980) and Scotland Edinburgh, EH2 2PR (no. SC044682).