Manchester Airport PLC currently employs around 350 staff. The site operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

In 1997, Manchester Airport PLC produced the ‘Ground Transport Strategy’ to promote use of public transport and reduce the impact of car travel to the site. Following on from the Ground Transport Strategy was the ‘Green Commuter Plan’, written in 1998 to encourage employees to use alternatives to driving alone by car.


Green Commuter Plan

As the Airport is such a large and complex site, two Travel Co-ordinators were initially appointed to develop the Green Commuter Plan, designed to take forward the initiatives and gain the support and involvement of the other companies onsite. This document is now simply known as ‘Manchester Airport’s Employee Travel Plan’.

The Travel Plan contains targets that:

• 25% of all passengers and employees journeys to be made by alternative forms of transport by 2005 and that;
  
• 30% of all employee journeys to and from Manchester Airport are to be made by alternative forms of transport to the single occupancy car by 2005.

Measures

To achieve these targets, a ‘Green Commuter Plan Toolkit’ has been produced, containing 8 types of measure:

• Travelling by Rail
  
• Travelling by Bus
  
• Travelling with Others
  
• Travelling by Car
  
• Travelling on Two Wheels
  
• Travelling on Foot
  
• Changing the Way We Work
  
• Business Travel

The 8 components of the toolkit that were initially suggested in 1997 are still appropriate for today’s Plan. As initiatives have developed, they have been reviewed and adapted to meet employee requirements.


Travelling with others

Manchester Airport has recently introduced an updated car sharing system that combines both paper and computer based approaches. Employees from all companies at the Airport can register either as a passenger or as a driver. The scheme is free to join and employees can take part as often or as little as they want. Surveys show that 12% - 15% of employees car share on an ad-hoc basis, highlighting that employees clearly recognise the benefits of opting to car share.


Travelling by car

Manchester Airport PLC operates a car club scheme. In the early days of the Travel Plan a trial van-pooling scheme was run to pick up clusters of staff, but this proved too expensive. Now, two ‘Demand Responsive Transport’ schemes bring employees in from North Manchester.


Travel by bus

75% of Airport staff are shift-workers, and public transport is difficult to access early in the morning and late at night. By working with three local bus operators and GMPTE, Manchester Airport now has its own brand of buses (‘SKYLINE’) running a number of routes. Discount tickets and special offers are available to employees on all SKYLINE buses.


Travel by rail

Manchester Airport is well served by trains, especially from Manchester Piccadilly, and special discounts on season tickets and ‘carnet ‘ single trip tickets have been negotiated for staff.

Manchester Airport’s Ground Transport Interchange is currently being built at the site of the Manchester Airport train station. The Interchange, the first of its kind in this country, will integrate rail, bus, coach and eventually Metrolink, and will include the relocated cycle centre.

Travel on two wheels

On the Airport site there are a total of 17 cycle parks with nearly 300 spaces and 4 motorbike parks. Several companies provide showers and lockers for their employees.

Manchester Airport’s Cycle Centre has now been established for two years and offers employees and visitors cycling information, showering and locker facilities, and a bike rescue service for maintenance and repairs. A cycle loan scheme is also in operation to enable members of staff to purchase a bike.


Travelling on Foot

To try and encourage staff to walk to work leaflets have been produced highlighting walking routes to and from the Airport.


Changing the Way We Work

Manchester Airport PLC currently operates a flexible working system, and other companies onsite are being encouraged to do the same. This allows people to start and finish work at times that link in with public transport services.


Promotion and awareness

As the Travel Co-ordinator has found out, it is essential to constantly remind employees about promotions, initiatives and discounts. To promote the Travel Plan, the team:

• Produce posters and leaflets
• Publish regular articles for the staff magazine
• Send group emails promoting new initiatives
• Has ‘green commuter notice boards’
• Arranges ‘road shows’ in the main terminals

A Service Partner Commuting Forum is held quarterly and attended by approximately 20 of the other companies onsite. This provides a chance to inform everyone of new initiatives and provides an opportunity for feedback.

Monitoring and results Manchester Airport has a very active monitoring system and carries out monthly staff surveys with the aim of sampling 10% of staff each year. This is important as the Travel Co-ordinator can determine how effective different marketing techniques and promotions are, and whether staff have changed the way they travel to work.

At present, 23% of employee journeys are made using alternatives to single occupancy vehicles.


Future

The Travel Plan Team has a number of up and coming projects including:

• The Bicycle Users Group (BUG) will be developed further to increase the number of staff who cycle and a pool bike system will soon be put in place
  
• An 8km orbit cycle route around the Airport is near completion, which will allow cyclists to cycle all the way around the Airport on either off-road or on-road cycle friendly routes
  
• Completion of the Ground Transport Interchange
  
• Further promotion of car-share and demand responsive initiatives
  
• Increased frequency of buses on key routes
  
• ‘Leapfrog’ branding will be used at bus stops, cycle facilities and on other promotional materials to raise awareness and link all the different initiatives together. This will link employee and passenger travel.