University of York hoping for green travel award win

Date: 18/7/2012

The Press Business Awards 2012, in conjunction with i-Travel York, are on the lookout for companies who have displayed their green travel credentials in the city over the past year.

According to the York Press, it is seeking out organisations that have strong examples of regularly helping their members or employees to get out of their cars and travel in a more environmental fashion.

The category in question is the Best Sustainable Travel Initiative and it will look to reward large-scale travel plans from big organisations as well as schemes from small businesses looking to reduce the time their employees spent in cars.

One organisation already to have entered the awards is The University of York.

The university claims to be enthusiastic about caring for the local environment as well as helping to contribute towards healthy living conditions for the surrounding population.

Fiona Macey, travel plan co-ordinator, said that the university had faced a real challenge recently in ensuring that travel to its Heslington campus was, and is, as sustainable as possible, despite rapid growth.

"Initiatives to reduce the proportion of university-generated car borne trips have been particularly successful over the past few years, despite the significant growth in numbers of staff and students on Heslington West," she said.

The university has seen the proportion of staff travelling to the campus by car drop by seven per cent.

What's more, the proportion of students travelling by car has decreased from eight per cent in 2010 to just 6.6 per cent in 2011.

A number of systems and schemes have been put in place to achieve this success including a car share scheme with more than 300 members, dedicated bays and cheaper permits as well as restricted parking spaces to deter the morning rush.

On top of this, staff who give up their car parking permit and then don't renew it are given a £40 voucher to spend at Get Cycling or three months free bus travel.

Posted by Nick Anderson