Better Transport for Better Business: How businesses are getting it right

In June, during our Better Transport Week celebration, we were proud to publish our Business Toolkit: Better Transport for Better Business . Launched at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) , our toolkit aims to advise businesses on how to decarbonise transport, from employee commutes to travel between meetings and freight delivery. ?

Zero-carbon commuting isn’t just about getting those green credentials. We wrote this report using the expertise of the business community itself and we aim to show that doing the right thing environmentally can increase productivity, widen the workforce pool available, bring more customers and ultimately increase profits. ?

Simply put, better transport is better for business and better for the economy.?

We packed this report full of case studies showing the success that businesses are experiencing by changing their attitudes to transport. Here’s how others are doing it... ?

Greening the commute?

Commuting is responsible for 5% of the UK’s total carbon emissions and for some companies can account for the majority of their carbon footprint. ?

Travel plans: ?

The NHS employs 1.3 million people and is responsible for around 4% of the UK’s total emissions. As part of its commitment to reach net zero by 2045, it set a requirement for Trusts to produce Green Travel Plans to promote sustainable commuting options to staff and patients. NHS Lanarkshire , which has a 12,000 people workforce across three main hospital sites, used Mobilityways ’ ACEL tool to gain insight into commuting challenges. They discovered 96% of employees had a viable sustainable option available to them. They offered personalised travel plans for all staff, among other measures, and are already seeing improved productivity and wellbeing.?

Car clubs: ?

A branch of 西门子 replaced its 20-strong fleet with 14 dedicated on-site Enterprise Car Club vehicles across its two sites in Lincoln and one in Aberdeen in 2019. Staff use a smart ID card to book the vehicles by the hour or by the day. Within six months, they had cut travel costs by 28%. This was subsequently extended to the Hull, Congleton and Manchester sites, which reduced Siemens’ car fleet by one-third. In 2022, Siemens expanded access to the wider Enterprise Car Club fleet to all its 15,000 UK employees. Enterprise also works with more than 40 local authorities and other partners across the UK. For example, Tewkesbury Borough Council in Gloucestershire introduced six dedicated car club vehicles for staff in 2020. This reduced its road travel emissions by more than four tonnes of CO2 within six months and is estimated to make annual carbon savings of around 8.6 tonnes.?

Supported bus provision: ?

Chef Raymond Blanc self-funded a rural bus service to his Michelin star restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire. The number 46 bus now runs hourly until 2am seven days a week, and Blanc’s funding has enabled the Oxford Bus Company to double the number of buses on the route, extend it, and purchase two new buses. The bus has not only helped customers reach the restaurant, it has also enabled the business to widen its employment catchment pool, and allows staff to travel to and from work at reasonable hours and cost.?

Cycle to work schemes: ?

The Cycle to Work scheme is a salary sacrifice employee benefit scheme, operated by accredited providers such as Cyclescheme . Employees are able to purchase bikes and accessories from a range of retailers and the cost is taken out of their pre-tax salary directly through their payroll, which means they pay less Income Tax and National insurance. This means that most scheme participants save between 32-42% on the cost of their bike and/or accessories during their initial hire period.?

Business travel?

Travel in the course of the working day to meet clients, suppliers or other partners, or to attend work events, can form a significant part of organisations’ travel footprint. For domestic, intercity travel at least, there are frequently equivalent rail options, while online tools are now widely used for many meetings that may otherwise require domestic or international travel ?

Rail first business travel policy:?

For several years, 德意志银行 has operated a travel policy and approval process designed to limit business travel (particularly by air), in order to reduce costs and emissions. Between December 2021 and September 2022, the organisation reduced business road travel by 6.4%, and increased rail travel by 73%. Pre-pandemic, through a disciplined approach to travel, the bank decreased air travel on a year-by-year basis: between December 2018 and December 2019 it reduced flights by 18%.?

Freight and deliveries?

Many organisations rely on the movement of goods, particularly those in the logistics, retail and hospitality, construction, trades and servicing industries. Over recent years, we have also seen an increase in online shopping and, with that, an increase in deliveries to customers’ homes. Between 1990 to 2019, overall van mileage has increased by 124% and lorry mileage by 12%. Vans and lorries each represent 16% of transport emissions. So moving to cleaner modes like rail and cargo bikes where possible, and to cleaner vehicles where it is not, is an important part of reducing emissions from freight and deliveries.?

E-cargo bikes: ?

Cargodale CIC – an e-cargo bike delivery service in rural West Yorkshire – was set up in 2020 as a pandemic response to enable local small businesses to offer home delivery, using a hired e-cargo bike. It has since expanded its delivery area and was able to open and a micro-consolidation hub and delivery booking office in a local market. It now has a fleet of seven bikes and employs four riders, delivering everything from bread and groceries to artworks. Cargodale has demonstrated that e-cargo bikes are effective in hilly rural areas and has directly supported small businesses in reducing their environmental impacts.?

Rail freight: ?

Across the UK, rail freight makes a valuable contribution to the economy and environment. Each tonne of freight transported by rail produces 76% fewer carbon emissions compared with road. Increasing electrification of freight trains means rail freight is becoming progressively lower in emissions. One freight train can take up to 129 lorries off the road, meaning they relieve congestion for businesses that do need the roads. ?

Cardiff-based fashion company Peacocks uses a daily freight train service, operated by Freightliner, from the Port of Southampton to the Welsh capital. Over 2,000 containers of clothes and accessories from around the globe are transported every year directly to Peacocks’ distribution centre which employs around 600 people. This daily service enables Peacocks to locate their major distribution centres near to the rail hub, knowing that the service is reliable and environmentally sustainable.?

Electric vehicles:?

DPD UK , which operates 10,000 vehicles from 84 locations, was one of the first major logistics companies to commit to transitioning to EVs. Between January 2020 and November 2021, it went from 149 to 1,700 EVs. DPD’s Vision 25 commitment to ‘deliver green’ to 25 major towns and cities covering 25% of the UK by 2025 is backed by a ￡111 million investment in EVs. Oxford became its first ‘green city’, with all parcel deliveries made by fully-electric vehicles from its Bicester eco-depot, which has a fleet of 40 EVs delivering more than 15,000 parcels a week. The company operates a range of EVs, from e-cargo bikes and light powered vehicles, to small vans. DPD prioritises its charging regime as home charge first, then public charging and depot charging as a last resort. To facilitate this, the company helps drivers complete the paperwork to apply for the ￡350 home charge grant and it contributes a further ￡350 towards the chargers, meaning the drivers do not typically have to pay anything towards them.?

Sign our pledge

Read our business toolkit to find out how you can be a leading voice for change. If you would like to sign our pledge, and join the nation’s leading business groups, chambers of commerce, transport operators and authorities in supporting our calls for Better Transport for Better Business, please get in touch. ?