What we’ve done

This page details what actions we took based on the results of previous Travel to Work Surveys.

Bath & North East Somerset

Bath and North East Somerset Council continues to deliver sustainable travel initiatives that minimise the impact of travel on the environment, improve local air quality and reduce harmful emissions.

This year a record number of workplaces participated in the Survey. With our help the first joinmyjourney car share scheme has been launched with others to follow, whilst the nextbike public bike hire scheme in Bath has seen sustained increases in patronage.

However, we recognise that there is more that we can do and your Survey comments will help us to achieve this. So we are working hard to provide other services including:

DIY bike maintenance sessions (Bike Kitchen) at a well-equipped workshop with the guidance and support of professionally trained mechanics at the Julian House Bike Workshop
offering pool bikes (electric, folding and hybrid) to organisations
providing match-funded grants to workplaces to improve their sustainable travel infrastructure

Bristol

City of Bristol respondents contribute the majority of responses to and comments on the Travel to Work Survey. We’re making sure we pass on the (anonymised) comments where appropriate to teams delivering projects – like Metrobus and our cycling infrastructure teams.

Bus operators will also receive comments about their service, reliability or user experience, with similar communications to Great Western Railways.

Your aggregated responses will also be used to understand the transport picture in Bristol, alongside other measures such as the Quality of Life survey and census data. The responses are also used to give each business a picture of how their staff travels, and how it’s changed day-to-day; a number of businesses use this data to form part of their travel plans, so you may find that your response has a direct effect on your workplace travel.

Looking forward to future Travel to Work Surveys, we hope to be able to use your responses to this year’s to ask better questions in future – questions that make it easier for you to inform transport policy.

This year, 4,000 respondents asked to be part of Bristol’s transport consultations – that’s already a huge plus for citizen engagement and better transport. And it means when the Bristol Transport Plan comes out later this year, those respondents have the opportunity to be part of it.There are dozens of projects currently going on that the Travel to Work Survey can influence – if you want to know more about current transport projects, head to travelwest.info/projects.

North Somerset

North Somerset Council recognises how Travel to Work Surveys can help larger employers to focus their travel plan work which can currently be supported by the council through the Department for Transport Access Fund for Sustainable Travel and Office for Low Emission Vehicles Funding streams.

Additionally, the results be used to support other North Somerset Council work including:

the study to consider and assess options to deliver transformative network interventions along the A38 corridor. This will consider the full range of public transport and non-car modes to ensure we have a robust multi-modal offer along the corridor serving both Bristol and North Somerset communities and businesses including Bristol Airport
the Active Travel Strategy, which will be included as a walking and cycling action plan for North Somerset in the next Joint Local Transport Plan for the West of England. Within the strategy there are over 100 proposals many of them will assist in mitigating congestion on the existing highway network and assist in alleviating air pollution problems.

It is hoped that some of the comments received in the survey will be addressed by future highway schemes including:

future improvements to Queensway, Weston-super-Mare where we are bidding for funding from the National Productivity Investment Fund
the signalisation of West Wick roundabout
the introduction of Civil Parking Enforcement at the start of the financial year
the launch of Metrobus from Long Ashton to Bristol.

South Gloucestershire

Over the past few years, there has been an opportunity to add comments to the annual travel to work survey, here are some examples of improvements made or being made that have been raised in past surveys.

Metrobus – 4 new services have launched the M1, M2, M3 and M3X. Passenger numbers continue to increase with the first 9 months of the current year already exceeding the previous 12 months. In a recent survey of 720 passengers 84.6% of people surveyed are very likely or likely to recommend Metrobus to a friend or relative; also 134 single occupancy vehicles were taken off of the road
Walking and Cycling – new shared use paths on the A403 and A38 in Patchway. Upgraded crossings at A4174 Filton, Yate B&Q, A38 Patchway, and Church Road/Gloucester Road Kingswood. 17km of footways have been maintained
A new cantilevered composite bridge at Bromley Heath, a new totally segregated path for pedestrians and cyclists
Electric Car charge points – work has been delivered to expand the network of charge points across the region and develop rapid charging hubs at strategic locations
Car Sharing – Registration on the Join my Journey lift sharing site continued to grow in 2019
Rail – South Gloucestershire Council was awarded funding which the Council matched, by Great Western Railway for the production of station guide leaflets to promote use of our local stations in the area. The leaflets have been designed and printed by the Severnside Community Rail Partnership, who the Council works closely with on a number of rail based projects and work streams. These covered trips from Filton Parkway, Patchway, Severn Beach and Yate

Work is also underway on a number of longer-term projects to include –

Improvements to reduce the impact of known traffic pinch points at Gipsy Patch Lane Bridge and Brierly Furlong Bridges
Network Rail has been commissioned to design and develop a new station at Charfield.

Work has continued through the MetroWest project to design and deliver 3 new stations and improved services to Yate
Work has begun at Parkway station to improve connectivity with bus installing 3 new bus shelters and improving access for buses to the station from Hunts Ground road

Construction has started on the infrastructure to deliver the Cribbs Patchway metrobus extension (CPME) which will improve the public transport network by providing an alternative, fast and direct bus route between Parkway Station and The Mall at Cribbs Causeway. It will benefit communities in Stoke Gifford, Patchway and the forthcoming Cribbs Patchway New Neighbourhood on the former Filton Airfield.
Delivering a £3.125m package of walking and cycling schemes to improve access to the Cribbs Patchway New Neighbourhood site in the North Fringe
Working with Highways England and Sustrans to deliver significant improvements to the walking and cycling route between Cribbs Causeway, Western Approach Business Park, and Severn Beach Station
Consulting on the Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan, ambitious new plans that could dramatically improve cycling and walking across the region and help to make active travel the preferred choice for shorter trips

We will continue working closely with North Bristol SusCom to identify and potentially deliver solutions to some of the issues identified.

Where possible, we will endeavour to share comments related to specific locations, services or items of infrastructure with the relevant operator or local authority.