To support sustainable travel at new residential developments, West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) provide a residential metrocard scheme; an opportunity for new residents to travel for free for one year on all forms of public transport. Funded by the developers of new sites the scheme has seen thousands of tickets issued over recent years to sites across the county.
Due to the limitations of the ticket technology when first introduced (pre-dating smart cards) there was no data on ticket use, journey types, favourite modes or impact on travel patterns; something that increasingly became a concern of both Local Planning Authorities and developers alike.
TPS was therefore asked to undertake a comprehensive review of the scheme, to quantify its impact and effectiveness. Critically we were also asked to provide guidance and suggestions on steps that could be taken to strengthen the scheme based on our first-hand experience and expertise of residential travel plan implementation.
We undertook a market research exercise with over 2,200 residents from sites across the county to better understand the use of the tickets, the benefit that had been derived and critically to assess the extent to which the scheme had reduced single occupancy car trips.
We presented the findings of the survey to representatives of the LPA’s in West Yorkshire and made a number of recommendations to address both the ongoing monitoring/analysis of the scheme and also the day to day promotion, marketing and delivery of the scheme.