Workplace travel plan

Coordinator's guide

Print version: Workplace travel plan: coordinator's guide (PDF, 518 KB, 24 pages)

3. Data collection phase

Table 2: How to compile data that identifies transport issues concerning your workplace

Objectives
The objectives of the data collection phase are to: gather data required for the travel plan analyse the data from the travel survey compile a summary report for the working group.
Steps
Carry out a site and policy assessment. Conduct travel surveys. Conduct focus groups. Compile and analyse the data. Prepare a brief travel report that shows current transport arrangements/data, etc.
Important themes
Gaining and developing the active participation of the whole workplace. Selecting data collection and communication methods appropriate to your workplace.
Indicative timeframe
As a guide, the data collection phase usually takes between two and three months, depending on the size of your workplace.
Completion of data collection phase
The data collection phase is complete when data from audits and surveys has been collected, analysed and summarised.

3.1 Carry out site and policy assessment

The first recommended data collection task is to gain a clear understanding of the transport and facilities available onsite and your workplace's travel policies (or absence of). This will help you identify transport options that could be developed or improved, and provide a benchmark against which to monitor progress and milestones.

Particularly for small workplaces, it may be impractical to carry out an assessment of transport infrastructure and links surrounding your sites. However, your regional or local council may be able to provide this information to you.

3.2 Conduct travel surveys

Land Transport NZ is developing a mandatory workplace travel survey, which will generally be used by workplaces whose travel plans are funded by their local authority. Use of this survey provides Land Transport NZ with valuable data to assess the effectiveness of workplace travel plans throughout New Zealand. In your workplace, the survey will:

• find out how people travel to and from work, and during the working day – this is useful information for developing an effective action plan
• identify barriers among staff to greater uptake of sustainable transport modes and improved workplace access
• provide baseline information against which you can monitor the success of your travel plan.

Decide on the medium for distributing your survey that works best for your workplace (eg email, paper format, intranet, internet). How the survey information is going to be collected and analysed will also influence the choice of media. Delivering surveys electronically where staff have access to a computer and the internet will help ensure high-quality data is collected.

The timing of the survey is important to maximise the response rate (eg avoid peak holiday periods and company deadlines, such as the end of financial year) and ensure travel patterns are as normal as possible (eg winter is likely to mean less walking and cycling).

Talk to your local authority or your Land Transport NZ contact if you wish to add questions relating to specific issues in your workplace.

Encourage a high response rate by using tools such as posters, emails and reminders. Incentives will also help encourage a good response rate (eg prize draws, small gifts for all respondents or a prize for early responses).

Couriers and deliveries

Reviewing the way deliveries and supplies reach you may be helpful in identifying the amount of road and parking space needed. You should also review the costs you generate by sending goods to other people. Gather information over a set period (eg one representative week or month) and record:

• the time of arrival and departure
• the nature of the delivery/contractor visit
• the mode of transport
• where the trip originated (if possible)
• whether it was a special trip or part of a series of calls.

Vehicle fleet

If you have a vehicle fleet, you may want to reference fleet management in your travel plan. Note, however, that fleet management is a sizeable field, so if your fleet is relatively large, it should be run as an area in its own right (and is likely to be the responsibility of facilities management in your workplace).

Travel policy audit

There are several aspects of policy that you will need to explore:

• general conditions of employment regarding travel to and from work (eg help with travel costs, car parking)
• workplace travel rules and guidelines (eg kilometres paid for car use).
• conditions for car use during the course of work, and any car purchase/use allowances
• expectations given to new staff through the recruitment process regarding car commuting and parking
• opportunities to encourage/discourage car use (eg car sharing, attitudes to working at home)
• incentives given to new staff moving into the area (eg relocation packages)
• recruitment policies
• policies affecting, and advice given to, visitors
• procedures for and policy concerning deliveries and collection
• any future changes that will affect travel demand/use of different modes of transport (eg relocation of office).

Focus groups

Ideally, you should undertake a small number of focus groups (or group discussions) to identify other issues specific to your workplace. These are small groups of people (usually about 10) who discuss issues under the guidance of a facilitator (or discussion leader). Focus groups will enable you to:

• identify any issues and questions you may wish to add to the mandatory survey
• raise awareness of your travel plan among staff
• get staff involved at an early stage, ensuring a sense of ownership of the travel plan.

Facilitators should guide the discussion, ensuring participants don't deviate too far from the subject and enabling everyone to have their say. The facilitator needs to have a clear understanding of what the focus groups are trying to achieve, as well as being a good listener. However, they should not influence people's opinions or impose personal views.

3.3 Analyse the data

The next step is to analyse and interpret the results of your surveys. In most cases, spreadsheet software, such as Excel, will be sufficient for your data-analysis purposes.

It's useful to plot staff commuting and other trip data into a geographic information system (GIS). This assists with identifying public transport and car-pooling opportunities for staff. It's also useful for presenting results to the working group and back to staff. Your local or regional council may be able to assist you with data analysis, particularly GIS.

3.4 Prepare a travel report

The travel report details the transport issues identified in the data collection phase. The report should organise the data so it can be easily interpreted and used by the working group to develop an action plan.

The report does not need to be a formal document. Some coordinators will prepare detailed reports, while others will keep the report to just one or two pages. The depth of the report needs to be appropriate to the size of the workplace and the complexity of the transport issues. We suggest the following report format as a guideline:

• Introduction – an outline of the report’s purpose, how the data was gathered and the response rates.
• Modes of travel – a summary of the various modes of travel and percentage of people using these. (Graphs are an effective way of presenting this information.)
• Danger spots/key sites – a summary of the key sites (eg intersections and crossing points), highlighting danger spots and describing the dangers. (Maps and photos are particularly useful.)
• Issues – a summary of road safety concerns, onsite facilities, policy improvements, etc.
• Potential action points – a suggested list of issues for the working party to discuss and recommend actions for.

It's a good idea to circulate this report (or a modified version) back to staff for feedback. (It's likely that many respondents will be interested in seeing the results.)

 

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Last updated: 9 July 2008