Workplace travel planning

It’s a tool organisations can use to look at all the travel generated by their business. Used effectively, it can engage and encourage people in your workplace to try other transport choices for their daily commute.

Find out about biking, walking, taking the bus, and using micro-mobility devices like e-scooters, e-skateboards and e-bikes.

It’s better for our environment, it’s better for people and it reduces traffic congestion and parking problems, due to fewer vehicles being on our city’s roads.

• Choosing active forms of getting around provides an opportunity for people to include healthy exercise into their daily routine.
• Active transport choices (as well as taking the bus or carpooling) are all more environmentally sustainable than driving to work as the sole occupant in your own car.
• Achieving a more sustainable daily commute also helps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Overall, having a WTP in place for your business, organisation and group will save time and money. Here’s how:

• You can repurpose space on your site that was previously used for car parking.
• You can solve issues caused if you’re relocating to somewhere that won’t have as many parks available as your last place.
• You can reduce the cost of renting or maintaining car parking areas for your staff.
• By analysing your travel patterns, you may identify areas where your workplace can save money. For example, many companies don’t realise how much money they spend annually on travel related expenditure, such as fleet fuel costs, company cars, other workplace related travel and car park expenses.
• Being perceived as environmentally friendly will improve your company’s image, making it more attractive to customers and shareholders. It will also make it more attractive to present to future employees as a good place to work.
• You may be able to draw from a wider pool of labour if your workplace is more easily accessible by means other than by car.
• Studies show people who walk or bike to work are more alert and less stressed when they arrive, in comparison with their colleagues who drive.
• Healthy people need fewer sick days and/or time off work. Encouraging your staff to become more physically active benefits their wellbeing and health, while also increasing your company’s productivity.
• Having a WTP can help your company gain environmental accreditation for schemes such as ISO 14001. It’s also an excellent practical step in your sustainability programme and works well for those doing triple-bottom-line reports.

Check out Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s workplace travel planning page. You’ll find plenty of information to get you started on developing your own WTP – including a list of what it should include, a toolkit and what you need to do before you write up your plan.

It’s also a good idea to include links to:

• Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s Journey Planner map
• our transport page for details on ‘Week on our streets’ (includes roadworks and closures info)
• public transport buses and timetables for buses within, and coming into and out of, the city – Busit.co.nz

To help you and your team build safe, sustainable and healthy journeys to and from work, our Workplace Travel Coordinator can work with you on addressing your travel issues and assist with creating a tailored travel plan. We provide high-vis vests free to the public to use when biking and riding a micro-mobility device. Pick up a high vis vest from our Customer Services team:

Hamilton City Council
260 Anglesea Street
Hamilton 3240

If you’d like to discuss your WTP with us, talk to our Workplace Travel Coordinator in our City Transportation unit. Contact our Customer Service team, by calling 07 838 6699 during office hours, emailing info@hcc.govt.nz, or by using the Antenno App (available to download free on the App Store or Google Play).

Any person, organisation or group can benefit from developing and following a workplace travel plan. See benefits above, and those listed on Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s workplace travel planning page.

Schools can develop a workplace travel plan focusing on how their staff travel to and from work, just like any other business or organisation. In this case, schools can follow the WTP model to develop this kind of plan.

However, workplace travel plans are not the same as school travel planning – the latter is a plan that schools put together for their students’ commute to school. They aim to achieve similar safety, health and sustainability benefits, but they’re not so focused on cost savings, in comparison with a WTP.

See our school travel planning page for more information, and find out more about school buses and educating students about active transport.