Smarter Travel Campus of the Year - Smarter Travel Workplaces

---

Smarter Travel Campus of the Year University of Limerick

Organisational Targets: The main targets were to create a smarter travel culture on campus; to open people’s eyes to alternatives to single-occupancy driving; to monitor the travel patterns of the campus community; to actively incentivise the use of sustainable commuting modes; and, following extensive research, to work to break down the barriers to smarter travel. To create a smarter travel culture we aimed to:  facilitate the opening of a bike shop on campus;  roll out a range of fleet bikes;  offer a range of incentives to encourage smarter travel through coffee mornings to month-long challenges;  promote road safety and  disseminate smarter travel related information through publications, social media, websites and through face-to-face engagement. Specifically, aims presented in the Campus Travel Plan towards 2017, which outline a trend away from single-car occupancy driving towards sustainable forms of travel, are as in graph:

Results Achieved: Following the signing of a Smarter Travel Charter by the UL President, which committed the University to support the smarter travel, two smarter travel coordinator roles were created. The travel surveys of 2014, when compared with those of 2011, revealed a trend away from car-based travel and towards active travel modes. Refer to modal shift results for staff and students respectively as illustrated in the graphs. Through comprehensive promotion, participation rates for various smarter travel challenges were as illustrated below:  2013 Pedometer Challenge: 78 (UL team won Best Desk-based Team award)  2014 Change Lanes Challenge: 49  2014 Student Cycling Challenge: 81 (UL won awards for Best Campus and Best Campus Implementation Team)  2014 Pedometer Challenge: 69 (UL team won Best Overall Team award)  2014 UL Ladies’ 4-week Cycle Challenge: 12 (Final Year Project).  Other achievements:  Organised the opening of a pop up Bike Shop (January 2015);  Launch of UL Fleet Bikes (February 2014) whereby staff and students can borrow a bike for up to a week;  Launch of Cappavilla Fleet Bikes (August 2014);  Launch of Thomond Village Fleet Bikes and  UL won the RSA Leading Lights award for work in promoting road safety to the campus community (December 2014).

How results were achieved Support from UL President, Don Barry, led to the commitment by the University to engage in smarter travel promotion and the signing of the Smarter Travel Charter in June 2013 is seen as the formalisation of this promise. An Action Plan was developed following comprehensive research: the 2011 and 2014 Travel Surveys were the main sources of information. The Action Plan formed the overall guidance for the implementation of measures categorised below:    

Events e.g. Semester start events (3,500 students visited stall in Sep 2014); NTA Smarter Travel Events; European Mobility Week Cycle Event (2013&2014); UL Green Week Change Lanes Challenge Event (2014); Bespoke Bike Week Festival @ UL (2014); Initiatives e.g. Free Bike Doctor service (3850 bike serviced since Sep 2013); Safety items giveaway (2,950 people served); Fleet Bikes (2014); Bus - Taxsaver Tickets; Cycle Cinema Event (2014); Publications / Online Media e.g. An Focal articles (Campus student newspaper); Pocket-sized UL Journey Planner (7,000 given out annually); 7 Tips for Cycling in UL leaflet (7,000 given out annually); Limerick Smarter Travel Facebook page (32 posts in last 12 months from UL). Physical Infrastructure e.g. new pedestrian/cycling shared paths (1.45km), secure bike parking facilities (44 new stands) and shower facilities (4 new);

How colleagues were involved in reaching the targets: The UL Smarter Travel team was originally formed to investigate the feasibility of implementing smarter travel incentives at the University of Limerick. It is part of the Buildings and Estates Department. The Smarter Travel team is a member of the Green Campus Committee which meets once a month and are at present working to achieve a Green Flag status for the University. ULST collaborates with the ULSU in the promotion of events with the SU providing volunteers to help man stalls and online promotion to their 15,000 Facebook followers. ULST provides the SU with support for events such as providing free bike maintenance lessons to staff and students during the SU-organised UL Safety Week. Every Tuesday a Smarter Travel stall is set up on campus as part of the Farmer’s Market. Smarter Travel, incorporating travel, safety, health and well-being has been introduced to students in their respective curricula particularly by the Civil Engineering programme. For example, in Transport, Planning & Design module, students are tasked with computing the expected modal shift based on the introduction of a new transport system linking UL to the city centre.

How activities above fit into your organisations wider agenda (e.g. CSR, environmental, employee health and wellbeing etc.) In August, 2013 UL president Don Barry signed a Smarter Travel Charter committing the University to promoting and facilitating smarter travel among staff and students with assistance from Limerick Smarter Travel and the National Transport Authority. The University of Limerick is signed up to a Green Charter. This charter is adopted as UL’s Environmental Protocol by the University’s Governing Authority. The University’s Green Charter promotes the following: sustainable use of resources; raise awareness of environmental matters and undertake research. As part of the University’s Green Charter commitment, the UL Green Campus Committee was set up with the aim of securing Green Campus accreditation of which Travel and Transport is a major component. The University of Limerick is a corporate partner in the Limerick Smarter Travel project and the University of Limerick Smarter Travel’s general aims and objectives align closely with those of the Limerick Smarter Travel project. Therefore ULST strives to make UL Ireland’s National Demonstration Campus for Smarter Travel. In 2014 UL revised its Campus Travel Plan, addressing the transportation and mobility issues associated with the campus. This document was designed as a guidance document on how to achieve sustainable travel patterns among staff, students and members of the public that use the University and its many facilities. The plan identifies the benefits of implementing the plan; it describes the range of measures implemented since the previous Plan and it outlines proposals, in an Action Plan, to reduce the number of single-occupancy car journeys.

Relevant photos/illustrations: