Residential travel planning is a specific area of work which has continued to grow at TPS, as we’re appointed by a growing list of developers from across the UK to fulfil their travel plan requirements. It is also an area of travel planning which we strongly feel should have a growing significance and importance placed upon it, especially as we consider the changing travel patterns which are emerging as a result of COVID-19.
Whilst increased home working has so far resulted in fewer commuting trips (especially longer ones), emerging evidence would suggest that it is also leading to an increasing number of local trips being undertaken. The journey to work may be less frequent, but the need to undertake journeys for other purposes such as retail, leisure and education, remains. With more people spending time at home, it is only natural that more of these trips are being undertaken close to home.
Whilst this could be seen as presenting a challenge, it also presents a clear opportunity. The travel choices available when considering local trips are wider, with greater opportunities to influence travel behaviours in favour of active travel choices, and more generally a multi-modal lifestyle. And this is where the importance of residential travel planning increases in significance. If travel behaviours aren’t as easy to influence through a destination travel plan (such as at a large employment site), then they need to be influenced from the trip origin … the home.
Through our Travel Choices programme, this is exactly what we aim to achieve on behalf of our residential developer clients. We use engaging communication tools to help inform residents of the travel choices available to them, and through a growing toolbox of tailored residential travel plan initiatives we seek to support and incentivise a positive change in travel behaviours.
Our specialism in residential travel planning has resulted in a vast knowledge of this particular topic area. Below are some key stats summarising the work delivered by our team in 2021 alone.
TPS is a team of transport planners with a sustainable focus. Since 2000 we have supported clients to develop and then implement their sustainable transport strategies, across a broad range of sectors. Explore our residential travel plan implementation services in more detail, or find out how we could assist from the start of the development application process.
If you have a residential travel plan project which would benefit from our range of cost effective solutions and experience, we’d love to hear from you. Our residential travel planning projects are led by:
John Hacker
Saffron Allen