Our Travel Plan

The University of Sunderland has had a travel plan in place since 2010. This was developed in response to the planning policy agenda, placing greater significance on providing and promoting sustainable travel opportunities.

Significant investment has been made since then to support the uptake of sustainable travel choices including dedicated bus services, cycle storage, and improved pedestrian accessibility across our Sunderland campuses.

Recently, it was identified that a full review of the 2010 Travel Plan was required. Like any large organisation within a city centre setting, we face the tension between seeking to reduce further single occupancy car travel, at the same time as ensuring sustainable access to the University is delivered in an efficient manner. This and other challenges are explored within this plan.

Fortunately, the setting of our Sunderland campuses provides great opportunities for many to travel to and from our locations in a sustainable manner. Having excellent public transport links and an extensive cycle network supported by limited on-campus parking, means many of the factors which can discourage sustainable travel choices aren't prevalent here. Furthermore, based on our most recent survey findings, it's very positive to note many staff and students live close enough for sustainable modes of travel to be a realistic option for them.

To provide a complete picture of our travel impacts, the student survey considered both daily travel to and from campus and journeys made from and to homes at the start and end of term. For our staff, we also looked at how travel behaviours have changed since the pandemic.

This identified a key area for us to reflect upon. Locally, 27% of student journeys and 67% of staff journeys to and from campus were by single occupancy car. We'll focus our efforts on measures to encourage more of these local single occupancy car journeys to be made sustainably.

The staff survey results also showed marked changes in the frequency of days staff are coming into the University. All these findings will be factored into our future engagement and promotions to ensure those coming in three days a week or more opt to do so sustainably.

From these findings, we've been able to assess the combined emissions from all local travel to and from campus – 7,844 tonnes CO2e per year (comprising 2,006 tonnes CO2e from staff and 5,838 tonnes CO2e from students).

For the first time, we've moved from an overarching target based on reducing the proportion of trips by car to one based on carbon reductions.

Through this new Travel Plan, we'll seek to make the necessary investments to target a reduction in these travel related CO2e emissions of 4% per year to 2028.

This will result in a 19% overall reduction in our emissions over the next five years and make a significant contribution towards the Sunderland Low Carbon Framework aims.

This will be delivered across a range of actions, measures, and incentives covering a variety of transport options including cycling, public transport, walking, and sustainable car use. Additionally, a new Travel Plan Working Group will be established across the University, supported by the appointment of a dedicated Travel Plan Coordinator, who'll undertake regular monitoring and engagement activities through various channels of communication.

How our Travel Plan links into the priority areas set out in Sunderland City Council’s Low Carbon Framework and Action Plan:

Priority area	Examples of our actions
Behaviours	Through engagement activity and the actions within this Travel Plan, we'll ensure students, staff, and visitors are made aware of their travel options and support available.
Policies and operational practices	We'll align this Travel Plan with our agile working policy to encourage use of sustainable travel no matter how many days people are travelling to/from our campuses.
Energy efficient built environment	We'll monitor and manage demand for Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure as a 'destination charging' location, considering suitable business models to deliver additional charging infrastructure as and when user demand requires us to do so.
Renewable energy generation and storage	Through our Environmental Sustainability Plan 2025, we'll increase the proportion of renewable energy generation which will supply our EV charge points.
Low carbon and active transport	The full range of measures within our Travel Plan align with this overarching priority to encourage greater sustainable transport use to/from our Sunderland campuses.
Green economy	Through appointment of a dedicated Travel Plan Coordinator, we'll engage and collaborate with the city and other key stakeholders to work towards environmental sustainability targets.
Consumption and waste	We'll introduce tool stations at key locations enabling cyclists to make minor repairs (for example, punctures), helping minimise the need for new parts.

The University first developed a Travel Plan for its Sunderland campuses in 2010 (running from 2010–2013) in response to changes in the planning policy agenda, which placed greater significance on the need to provide for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport users over those travelling by car. It was also undertaken to support the broader sustainable transport movement in the Tyne and Wear region, taking advantage of many of the initiatives which were, at that point, available through the GoSmarter programme, which continues to be delivered through Transport North East.

Significant investment has been made in recent years to support sustainable travel choices including the delivery of dedicated bus services to link campus locations, cycle storage facilities across campus, and improved pedestrian accessibility to the city centre and beyond.

In recent years, however, the delivery of the Travel Plan has been less formally recognised and a full review was required.

For this reason, we've developed an entirely new approach to travel planning for the University. It reflects an organisation-wide commitment to promoting sustainable travel choices.

Like any large organisation, we face a balancing act in seeking to reduce single occupancy car travel whilst ensuring the travel needs of staff and students are met. We fully understand our Travel Plan needs to reflect the varying travel requirements for everyone, particularly in this new world of hybrid working.

Addressing climate change and the wider challenge of greening the transport sector remain prominent within both local and national initiatives.

We must ensure all staff, students, and visitors appreciate why we have to make this shift away from single occupancy car use – where it's feasible and practical to do so. Nevertheless, we need people to get to the University in an efficient manner (both in terms of time and cost).

This Travel Plan has been developed and informed by the recent travel surveys, post-pandemic working and travel trends, and local transport strategies. We seek to strike the right balance between recognising the need for travel by car and to provide, incentivise, and support sustainable travel options.

We understand for some journeys – including commuting to and from the University –car travel offers the only realistic option. Our approach is, therefore, not intended to be anti-car, but rather to promote choice and raise awareness of the journey options available, with a view to encouraging behavioural change, where appropriate.

We seek to strike the right balance.

Many of the issues and concerns raised by staff and students focus on the availability of parking.

The findings of the travel survey were clear – many commute to University via single occupancy car journeys and expect to park within the campus car parks. However, on-campus parking provision is of finite size and is likely to decrease in the years ahead. The survey also demonstrated many people are open to considering other means of commuting, which we'll encourage through the Travel Plan.

There are a number of challenges and dilemmas which, when considered together, give rise to well-known car parking pressures, and these will only persist without encouraging behavioural change. We recognise these issues in our Travel Plan and will use them to inform our action planning as we move to capitalise on this collective willingness to make a change in travel habits.

The push towards sustainable motoring is evident with a growing number of electric and hybrid vehicles on our roads. Whilst this contributes towards wider sustainability and cleaner air initiatives, it doesn't reduce the total number of staff and students seeking to park their vehicles on campus.

Managing overall demand at various times of day is an ongoing pressure, impacting the availability of spaces as well as occupation of the University’s EV charging points.

Variable lecture timetables, teaching commitments, and a move towards agile working schedules creates uneven demand on parking both throughout a day and between individual days of the week, but our parking capacity can't expand to accommodate every peak in demand. Having this expectation of being able to park on campus to suit individual work patterns and preferences isn't sustainable now and will be less so in the future.

The University’s car parking tariff has remained unchanged since 2016 and is priced well below the cheapest public transport fares (bus) and considerably cheaper versus a local Metro journey, even with “seasonal” or student discounts. This generates further demand for parking and reduces the incentive to use public transport as the first choice. The cost of on-campus parking and expectation of spaces being available are disincentives to move away from single person commuting.

There's ample parking provision across the city, and Sunderland Council’s pricing approach is tiered to be in line with their wider transport and sustainability agendas. It's also aligned with destinations such as NHS hospitals. This approach is uncompetitive in comparison to our on-campus rates, when seeking to ensure capacity for those who have longer distance commutes or later start times.

Introducing car park management initiatives designed to address these challenges can inadvertently put additional pressure on spaces. Creating spaces for dedicated uses (for example, car sharing) reduces the number of general spaces which, without being supported by wider behavioural change, will only increase current parking concerns and pressures. Likewise, implementing car parking policies designed to moderate demand such as differential tariffs and moving towards rates in line with the wider city are also dependent on individuals changing their behaviour.

An increase in the cost of parking to align with local rates, whilst unpopular, may be necessary, not least because of the wider financial pressures on the University. Parking revenues will help offset costs and contribute to sustainability initiatives.

While the Travel Plan is a stand-alone document, it has clear links with both the University-wide strategy and the supporting Environmental Sustainability Plan. It also has a role to play in the University’s capital development programme as it clearly demonstrates an active approach to managing the demand for travel in the context of future development and parking requirements.

All future investment we make in new facilities for active travel must be proportionate to the level of staff and students who could cycle to work and wish to do so. We understand this will be a particular 'demand versus supply' scenario, whereby people choose not to cycle if appropriate routes, secure parking, and attractive changing facilities aren't available. However, developing a strong user base and demonstrable demand for active travel helps justify making such an investment, but this does take time to achieve.

The Travel Plan outlines a range of tangible targets as we seek to reduce reliance on the car without inhibiting choice. For the first time, we've moved from an overarching target based on reducing the proportion of trips by car to one based on carbon reductions.

The Travel Plan will focus on the measures and initiatives that we're committed to delivering over the five-year period to meet these ambitious environmental targets.

Through this Travel Plan, we firmly believe in encouraging our staff and students to make small individual changes which contribute towards a larger, collective difference for the benefit of everyone. Key to the success of any such plan is effective partnership working. Therefore, the measures outlined – as well as monitoring the progress of the Travel Plan – will be delivered in partnership with the Students’ Union. In doing so, we'll ensure student travel issues are at the heart of our approach, reflecting changing student travel needs over time.

Overarching aims

Through this Travel Plan, we’ll:

• Actively promote the health and wellbeing benefits of all forms of sustainable travel and encourage their use
• Discourage unnecessary travel through the implementation and promotion of alternatives
• Reduce carbon emissions arising from all transport connected to the University – journeys to campus, business travel, and student travel
• Cooperate with key stakeholders and the wider community to further these aims.

Measuring our impact

Targets for organisation-wide travel plans have traditionally focused on reducing the proportion of commuting trips that take place by single occupancy car. Since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, patterns in travel behaviour have significantly changed (nationally and within the Higher Education sector). It's reassuring that the survey responses in 2021/22 indicated that there hasn't been a significant shift to car use as a result of the pandemic. Typically, there have been big reductions in the use of public transport and car sharing due to concerns about the safety of these modes during the pandemic period.

From a sustainability perspective, a key outcome of the pandemic has been a reduction in the number of commuting trips people typically make, with more emphasis on flexible/agile working for those in roles which can be delivered remotely.

Overarching target

The overarching target for the five-year period of the next Travel Plan is linked to reductions in carbon emissions as a whole.

Year	Total carbon (travel) in tonnes CO2e	Percentage reduction
2022	7,844	Not applicable
2023	7,530	4%
2024	7,229	4%
2025	6,939	4%
2026	6,662	4%
2027	6,395	4%
2028	6,140	4%

Achieving ongoing reductions in CO2e from travel would result in a 19% overall reduction over the five-year period of the Travel Plan delivery.

This reduction will be achieved through promoting sustainable travel choices when people come onto campus. Setting a target based on carbon reductions also ensures technological advances (such as increases in EV ownership, computer upgrades, and public transport emission reductions) all contribute towards achieving the target set out.

For example, one tonne of CO2e is equivalent to:

• 2,500 miles driven by an average petrol-powered vehicle
• A 3,000 mile single passenger return flight.

Action-based targets

The overarching target to reduce carbon emissions will be supplemented by quantifiable action based targets to measure the effectiveness of the ongoing delivery of the Travel Plan.

Action	Target	Timescale
Reduction in car parking demand	Minimum of 10% reduction in peak period parking demand	By 2028
Increase membership of the bike user group	5% of staff	By 2028
Requests for personalised journey plans	100 different requests	Per annum
Take up of cycle to work initiative (salary sacrifice)	50 members of staff	Per annum
Use of discounted public transport ticketing	95% of regular public transport users accessing a discount period ticket	By 2028
Demand for cycle storage	Baseline current then achieve 10% annual increase in cycle parking	Per annum
Car share membership increases	Further to the creation of a car share scheme – increase membership to 250	By 2028
Increase take up of EV and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles	To 25% of all staff cars (and 100% of fleet cars)	By 2028

The locations of our campuses in the heart of Sunderland provides great opportunities for staff, students, and visitors to access our facilities by sustainable modes of travel.

With excellent public transport links to local, regional, and national destinations, an extensive cycle network, and limited on-campus parking provision, many of the factors that typically encourage unsustainable travel choices aren't prevalent at the University.

Over a number of years, the University has delivered initiatives to support sustainable travel, from the phased pedestrianisation of key routes through campus, to cycle storage and public transport infrastructure upgrades. The University also provides a range of options for staff and students to promote sustainable travel from salary sacrifice for cycles to discounted public transport ticketing.

We recognise that travel choices aren't only dictated by the destination; they're also influenced by where our staff and students travel from and how this may limit their travel options. A positive though is many staff and students live close enough to benefit from being able to travel by sustainable travel choices.

To inform the development of this travel plan, we undertook a full staff and student travel survey in April and May 2022.

The survey was delivered via a bespoke webpage and was promoted to staff and students, using a variety of media. Participation was incentivised through a prize draw for two iPads (one for the student and one for the staff survey). A total of 449 members of staff and 547 students completed the survey. This ensures we have statistically reliable data with which to assess travel habits and environmental impacts. It also gave us a basis on which to consider the most appropriate measures for the years ahead.

The student survey not only considered how students undertake daily travel to and from campus, but also journeys undertaken at the start and end of term, and trips made home during the year. This was done to ensure when reporting on the carbon impact of travel, we didn't miss the significant impact of arrivals and departures.

For the staff survey, we didn't have relevant historic travel survey data to compare the results with previous years, so we included a number of questions to explore how travel behaviour has changed since the pandemic began.

Student travel patterns

Journeys to and from students’ permanent/family homes contribute a significant amount to our total carbon emissions. This is especially true of our international students where 80% of trips at the start and end of term are by plane. We must ensure the University remains open and accessible to all. Once students are with us in Sunderland, we'll focus on measures to encourage more local journeys to be made by sustainable means.

The survey also illustrated that the majority of students only attend campus two or three days per week.

A key challenge for the Travel Plan will be to reduce the proportion of students who travel by car which, at 27%, is high in the context of the Higher Education sector and for a city centre campus.

There are a number of opportunities to encourage and support sustainable travel, however:

• 35.6% of our students live within 5km of their campus location – allowing for cycling and walking for many
• Of those who currently drive, 14% already travel by sustainable travel options on an occasional basis.

The key is to increase the frequency of those occasional trips.

• 60% of car users would consider using public transport
• 18% would consider cycling
• 14% would consider walking.

On a typical day, as many as 950 students travel to the University by car.

Staff travel patterns

As with the student survey, the pandemic has had a significant impact on the frequency of trips to campus.

The University’s Agile Working Policy (AWP) states a minimum campus attendance of three days which will be reflected in the Travel Plan.

Interestingly, however, and in contrast to many similar organisations, there hasn't been an increase in the proportion of trips by car (alone). There are opportunities to increase cycling and support more car sharing.

As with the student travel survey, there were lots of opportunities identified to increase the proportion of staff commuting by sustainable modes of travel:

• 23% of staff who responded live within 5km of their main place of work
• 25% of car drivers also occasionally travel by another mode.

Of those who come by car:

• 41% would consider car sharing
• 24% would consider cycling
• 58% would consider using public transport.

The Travel Plan will pay due regard to these findings, ensuring that the marketing of specific Travel Plan measures is undertaken in a manner which balances the travel needs of staff and students with the need to reduce our dependence on the private car.

In addition to identifying the travel habits of staff and students, we've used our travel survey data to assess the carbon impact of our travel.

This has been undertaken for daily commuting. Using the latest Defra conversion factors (2021), the following headline figures apply:

Mode	Student Co2e – tonnes	Staff Co2e – tonnes
Car alone	4,007	1,870
Car share	228	16
Bus	811	56
Bus and train	113	5
Train	405	20
Metro	238	36
Motorbike	0	1
Taxi	35.55	1
Total	5,838	2,006

The assessment has shown that 74% of total emissions (5,838 tonne CO2e) come from yearly day-to-day commuting from students, with the remaining 26% (2,002 tonne CO2e) coming from University staff.

To achieve the aims, objectives, and targets of the travel plan, a package of travel plan measures has been identified.

Many of these are already in place and will receive ongoing support. Others are reflective of the outcomes of the latest travel surveys and the subsequent review of the effectiveness of measures to date.

Walking and cycling

9.6% of staff and 21% of students currently walk or cycle to the University. There's significant opportunity to encourage more people to cycle given the proximity of home locations to the main campus locations and the range of facilities already in place.

Measures already in place to encourage these active travel modes include:

• Promotion of safe cycling, including sales of discounted equipment through the Students’ Union shop
• Delivery of a salary sacrifice scheme for staff wishing to take up cycling
• Ongoing delivery of secure cycle storage around the principal campus locations.

To supplement the above, the following actions will be taken forward as part of the Travel Plan:

• Review of cycle storage provision, security, and usage with a view to determining where additional facilities/enhancements might be appropriate
• Reinstate focus groups held previously in order to engage with pedestrians and cyclists and the relevant external providers (e.g. City Council)
• Introduce cycle 'fix it' tool stations at key locations – enabling cyclists to make minor repairs (e.g. punctures) free of charge
• Prepare an up-to-date map of cycle parking, showers, and changing facilities that can be used by pedestrians and cyclists
• Implement a high-profile marketing campaign surrounding pedestrian and cycle safety – including a series of personal safety sessions, provision of free personal alarms, and high visibility vest
• Provide 1-2-1 cycle training to help address concerns around fitness and personal safety.

Public transport

Currently, public transport accounts for 14.7% of staff trips and 45% of student trips to the University – many of which are on the University funded services to connect the campus locations to each other and the city centre.

With significant interest amongst car drivers in changing to use public transport, especially given the current high cost of fuel, promoting existing opportunities is critical.

Measures currently in place that'll continue to be supported and reviewed include:

• Delivery of dedicated network of services to connect campus locations ('Connect Bus')
• Staff discounts on the cost of Stagecoach and Go North East tickets.

The following will also be introduced as part of the Travel Plan:

• Prepare a ticketing guide for staff and students that explains the different options available
• Provide real-time information for stops/stations local to the University (bus, rail, and Metro) on the University’s travel webpages, enabling staff and students to more effectively plan their journey
• Provide pre-arrival information for both students and new members of staff on the range of discounts that are available
• Undertake a review of the existing investment in bus services and consider alternative options including a more demand responsive model for non-peak period operations
• Promote personalised journey planning and online journey planning tools
• Host public transport-focused roadshow events to showcase existing services and ticket options.

Sustainable car use

The travel survey results suggest that 4.9% of staff and 17% of students currently car share to the University. Encouragingly, 41% of staff and 69% of students that currently travel by car alone would consider car sharing.

Given the increase in flexible working and the broader impact of the pandemic on travel behaviour, promoting car sharing will be focused on encouraging occasional travel by this mode and for one-off journeys (such as student travel at the beginning and end of term).

The following will be delivered over the travel plan period:

• Provide priority parking spaces for staff car sharers on campus as an incentive to car share
• Prepare postcode maps to demonstrate the ease with which car share partnerships could be made (on a geographical basis)
• Carry out a high-profile marketing campaign (posters, tent cards, use of online resources) regarding the benefits of car sharing
• Hold an eco-driving event/promotion, aimed at encouraging those that drive alone to consider how they might lessen their impact on the environment.

The role of EV and emerging technologies

A key means by which carbon emissions will be reduced over the coming years will be through advances in technology which ensure travel can be less polluting (at a local level). 42% of staff who currently drive to work are considering switching to an electric or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) in the next three years.

Support for electric car use

The University doesn't have a formal EV charging policy. Staff and students can make use of existing public provision in the local area with the University hosting two charge points on the public 'Charge Your Car' network at City and St Peter's campuses. It’s anticipated over the coming years that there's likely to be a significant increase in demand for EV charging infrastructure, so we’ll monitor and manage demand as a 'destination charging' location.

The following will be delivered over the travel plan period:

• An assessment of existing and future demand and the development of an EV charging strategy
• Consideration of business models to deliver additional charging infrastructure –continued participation in the broader public scheme, a private scheme, or hybrid arrangement
• EV provision to support any plans to convert University fleet vehicles to EV power
• User policy and consideration of reasonable charges to use EV points on campus.

Accommodating micromobility travel options

Another emerging tool in the sustainable transport sector is that of micromobility, most notably e-bikes and e-scooters.

The University recognises the role that both e-bikes and e-scooters can make in encouraging people to switch from car travel. Whilst there are no e-scooter schemes running in Sunderland at the moment, this is something the University will support should a new e-scooter scheme be implemented.

The following considerations will be addressed when available, to be delivered over the course of the Travel Plan:

• Delivery of dedicated e-scooter secure storage
• Development of a 'best practice guide' for e-scooter riders
• Consideration of the provision of charging facilities for both e-bikes and e-scooters
• Consideration of extending the financial limit on the cycle to work initiative to support the purchase of e-bikes.

Encouraging travel by powered two-wheelers

Motor scooters, motor bikes, and emerging technologies such as e-scooters, all have a role to play in helping reduce car parking demand, local congestion, and can contribute towards targets to reduce carbon from travel.

The University allows motorcyclists to park free of charge in car parks (excluding formal car parking spaces) and, with the exception of the bike hub, motorcycles can also be parked in cycle storage areas.

The following will also be delivered over the travel plan period:

• Installation of secure storage in designated motorcycle parking areas
• Exploration of opportunities to deliver motorcycle safety training courses – such as Roadwise.

The assessment undertaken of the University campus locations at the outset of the development of this Travel Plan illustrated that there are already many examples of best practice in sustainable travel terms. From infrastructure to support active travel through to a range of discounts to encourage more use of public transport, many of the barriers which typically exist at the outset of a Travel Plan programme have already been addressed. The Travel Plan will therefore be focused on making sure students, staff, and visitors alike are made aware of the options and support already in place.

We currently have a range of resources in place to raise awareness and promote the Travel Plan measures. These include:

• A campus map detailing locations of key facilities for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport users
• Online travel information including the benefits of sustainable travel, a journey planning tool, and details of specific University initiatives.

In addition, the Travel Plan will see the following implemented:

• A 'brand' will be developed which will be used to promote everything relating to travel and transport at the University. This will help to raise the profile of the specific measures and ensure ongoing engagement with key groups
• A guide providing students with information on how to get to Sunderland at the start of term
• A suite of travel guides for each of the campus locations, showing walking and cycling routes and public transport accessibility to/from City and St Peter's Campuses
• Personalised journey planning for new members of staff (via online journey planning tools)
• Installation of travel information points around the University. These would be used to display walking, cycling, public transport, and sustainable car use information.

Internal and external options will be explored for appointing a Travel Plan Coordinator to oversee the development of this strategy into delivery of initiatives and projects on the ground.

Appointment of a Travel Plan Coordinator

In order to have a successful and effective Travel Plan, it's crucial that someone takes responsibility for its delivery, is the point of contact for day-to-day issues, and monitors the effectiveness of the programme.

A full time Travel Plan Coordinator (TPC) will be appointed, potentially in the first instance on a fixed term basis, to oversee the development of this strategy into delivery of initiatives and projects on the ground.

Funding the Travel Plan programme

In order to deliver the measures to support and encourage sustainable travel, the University will ensure the project is supported through a dedicated fund for both the staff appointment and the delivery of initiatives outlined in this section. This will be achieved through the ringfencing of revenue from car parking.

Support groups

It's important that the work of the Travel Plan, its priorities, and the measures delivered as part of it, are developed in consultation with staff. We'll therefore organise the following groups:

Travel Plan Working Group

An operational Travel Plan Working Group will be established, made up of a cross section of the University’s staff and student community. The Working Group will oversee the delivery of the Travel Plan, consider and approve proposed investment in measures to support sustainable travel choices, and monitor the impact of the programme.

Bike User Group

Bike User Group (BUG) will be set and administered by the Travel Plan Coordinator which will meet quarterly to allow cyclists to share issues, discuss opportunities, and feedback suggestions to the Working Group.

In addition to the proactive measures outlined, it's also important to consider how to manage car parking across campus locations in a way which supports those with the greatest need to travel by car.

Car parking at both the City and St Peter's campuses remains an emotive and operationally challenging issue. It's important to acknowledge that there's no solution that'll either provide enough parking on our campuses for both students and staff, or one that will satisfy everyone. Whilst the impact of the pandemic has seen a reduction in peak period parking demand, there are still occasions where parking demand is difficult to accommodate and a need for a long-term strategy that manages access to car parking in a more robust manner.

While most measures in this Travel Plan focus on proactive support measures intended to encourage a shift to more sustainable travel behaviour, there's little doubt that one of the reasons that the University has a high level of travel by car (amongst both staff and students) is due to the ease with which access to car parking can be secured.

A key element to the Travel Plan, to be developed by the Travel Plan Coordinator with senior level support via the Travel Plan Working Group, will be to consider whether or not to introduce car parking eligibility criteria which could include (but not limited to):

• Distance without incentivising people to live far away from both the city and the University
• Public transport alternatives
• Personal commitments
• Mobility issues
• Business requirement to have a vehicle.

Furthermore, a car park management strategy will consider:

• Future increases in car parking costs, to reflect recent increases in public transport charges
• Physical separation of parking areas to accommodate different users (staff, student, visitors, those car sharing)
• Grading of access to car parking – full time, occasional use, and more
• Offering an incentive to those willing to give up their ability to park (other than through Pay and Display) – such as bus taster tickets.

An integral part of the travel plan programme is monitoring process, which seeks to capture data on travel habits and, importantly, the progress towards achieving the target of carbon reductions.

It also offers the opportunity for staff and students to feedback on any travel-related issues that might offer a focus for the University’s Travel Plan moving forwards.

The key actions in respect of monitoring the Travel Plan are:

• A biennial staff and student travel survey will be carried out (as a means to monitor progress towards the 2028 carbon reduction target). This will follow the methodology and timing adopted for the 2022 survey, enabling comparisons to be made over time.
• An annual review of progress against the 'Action-Based Targets' set out in Aims and Targets
• Regular reporting, via the Travel Plan Working Group, on progress against the improvement plan
• Establishing a regular process for capturing and updating relevant information, via other relevant University platforms.

Car park management plan

A tool to manage parking demand by identifying the users of a parking area and planning for their respective parking needs.

CO2e Carbon Dioxide equivalent

The number of metric tonnes of CO2 emissions with the same global warming potential as one metric tonne of another greenhouse gas.

Cycle to Work initiative

UK Government tax exemption initiatives allowing employers to loan cycles and safety equipment to employees as a tax-free benefit.

Cycle 'fix it' tool station

These are public bicycle repair stations that provide a fixed platform for cyclists to reinflate tyres, tune bikes, and make repairs whilst away from home.

EV

Electric Vehicle.

Go Smarter programme

Go Smarter, Go Active is a campaign dedicated to getting more people across the north-east to walk, wheel, or cycle to make everyday journeys. The campaign was first delivered by Transport North East on behalf of the north-east Joint Transport Committee in 2021 to encourage walking, cycling, and wheeling journeys across the north-east post pandemic lockdown.

Isochrone

A map that depicts how far one can get from a specific point within a certain time.

Micromobility

Transportation using lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters, especially electric ones, that may be borrowed as part of a self-service scheme in which people hire vehicles for short-term use within a town or city.

Mode share

The share of people using a particular mode of transport (including cycling and walking) within the overall transport usage.

Multi-modal transport

Includes different ways to travel including public transport, walking, cycling, and car travel.

Personalised journey planning

Targeted information, incentives, and motivation directly to individuals to help them make more sustainable travel choices.

PHEV

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle.

Travel Plan Coordinator

The individual responsible for the day to day running, promotion, and implementation of the Travel Plan, as well as being the person that helps others with transport questions.