Employer action on green transport

Over a third of respondents (35%) said their employer had a comprehensive scheme in place to provide loans for cycling equipment. Just under a third of employers have comprehensive schemes for providing secure cycle storage, lockers and showers (30%), followed by 23% providing subsidies for cycling equipment, 22% for using tele/video conferencing and 20% for loans for public transport passes.

Top five comprehensive schemes for green transport

In fact a further 53% of employers have some measures in place for tele/video conferencing and 51% have some measures in place for providing secure cycle storage, lockers and showers. For example, Prospect reps at Scottish National Heritage Work say that the travel policy is guided by a travel hierarchy with employees first having to consider video conferencing, followed by public transport and shared car use, while air travel is restricted to overseas trips except in exceptional circumstances. A UNISON rep at Hackney council says the council heavily promotes cycling and walking to work and offers a cycle to work scheme and cycling allowances for work trips at 20 pence per mile.

However for a large number of other initiatives on which we quizzed shop stewards, a majority of respondents said that no action had been taken. Over three-quarters (79%) said there was no eco-driving training (compared to 5% offering comprehensive schemes).

A further 76% said there were no subsidies for public transport use or any company transport (compared to 8% and 5% offering comprehensive schemes).

Just under 70% said that no hybrid, dual fuel vehicles had been purchased for their employer’s fleet compared to 5% of employers who had a comprehensive scheme. Even though loans for public transport passes makes it into the top five initiatives most likely to be part of a comprehensive scheme, 62% said their employer did not provide any support for this.