3 Travel plans: using good practice to inform future policy

In Europe, travel plans have been known by many other different names including: ‘Site-based Mobility Management’, ‘Green Transport Plans’, ‘Green Travel Plans’, ‘Green Commuting’, ‘Company Mobility Plans’, and ‘Employer Transport Plans’, while in the USA they are covered by the term TDM (Transportation Demand Management) (Ieromonachou, 2004). UK Government guidance A Travel Plan Resource Pack for Employers (Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme, 2001) defines a travel plan as being: a general term for a package of measures tailored to meet the needs of individual sites and aimed at promoting greener, cleaner travel choices and reducing reliance on the car. It involves the development of a set of mechanisms, initiatives and targets that together can enable an organisation to reduce the impact of travel and transport on the environment, whilst also bringing a number of other benefits to the organisation as an employer and to staff.