Urban&Civic has appointed sustainable travel planners, smart journeys, to encourage new residents moving into the development to choose cycling, walking and buses, over their car: improving their health and decreasing their carbon footprint.
The move is part of a package of measures that will be in place for first residents moving in. It builds on the infrastructure being put in place, including the cycle route along the A10, the works to Mere Way to create a cycle and walking route to the Science Park, and a sustainable travel hub, which will provide shuttle bus service connections to the rail station and Milton Park&Ride.
The smart journeys team will work hand in hand with the Urban&Civic Community Development team to support residents as they move in to find out more about the options available, and plan and incentivise them to leave the car at home where possible.
smart journeys will support residents with a range of sustainable travel options – including walking, cycling, e-car hire, car sharing and making effective use of the free shuttle bus services. Initiatives planned include: bike servicing, 1-2-1 cycle confidence training and vouchers to support the purchase of a bicycle or accessories such as helmets, locks and lights; walking events to get people exploring both the onsite woodland walks and the walking routes they connect to across the wider area; and promotion of bus routes and times as well as free bus taster tickets.
The team will also work with Deneia Primary Academy to encourage parents and staff to make sustainable travel choices when traveling to and from Waterbeach’s first primary school: which has been designed to prioritise scooting, walking and cycling to school, by having no car drop-off access adjacent to the school.
Inclusivity is at the heart of smart journey’s sustainable travel plan initiatives, which will work with key charities and organisations such as Wheels for Wellbeing and TAG Bikes to pioneer accessible travel, in a sustainable travel trailblazer.
Each year, smart journeys will carry out a Travel Survey to help plan, monitor and evaluate the impact and effectiveness of these initiatives to enable behavioural change: sharing the effectiveness of the initiatives and travel patterns of the new community with Urban&Civic and local authority partners, and evolving them accordingly to continually improve the offer.
The development is also set up to have continuous smart monitoring onsite and around the development, to be able to monitor the different modes of transport being used on a regular basis. smart journeys reporting and the data from the sensors feeds directly into a Strategic Transport Group for the Waterbeach development, which brings the County and District Councils together with Urban&Civic to review the impact of the development on the wider transport systems and network of the local area.
Marianne Spilling from smart journeys said:
“Our team is passionate about engagement and believes that behavioural change on how people move about starts with building strong relationships and working with communities to tailor our approach to offer unique, bespoke travel plan services that respond to local needs.
“We look forward to implementing personalised travel planning that enables Waterbeach residents to consider their travel habits and choices, as well as the impact this has on their surroundings; encouraging them to explore more sustainable travel options for work and leisure.”
Fiona Reardon-Rose from Urban&Civic said:
“When you move home all of your travel patterns and routines change, so it’s a great time to establish positive new habits. With the investment we have made in ways people can get about sustainably, Marianne and her team have an amazing opportunity to use their expertise to inform, encourage and support residents to make smart sustainable choices to get about the local area for work or leisure.
“Crucially their insights and knowledge from the new community will help us to evolve the plans going forward to respond to resident demand, to help them overcome the barriers they feel to getting about more sustainably, and make lasting changes to the way they travel, benefitting both the environment and their health.”
We look forward to implementing personalised travel planning that enables Waterbeach residents to consider their travel habits and choices, as well as the impact this has on their surroundings; encouraging them to explore more sustainable travel options for work and leisure.
