Sustainable Bristol

Go Low – a smart solution for public sector workplace travel

Posted on 10 February 2011

Last week, Bristol City Council hosted a Forum for the Future seminar looking at a smart solution for sustainable work-based travel being piloted in the West of England.

Go Low is a concept developed for the Avon & Wiltshire Partnership NHS Trust, which is helping reduce the millions of miles driven each year by health staff. The Go Low scheme provides a pool of low-emission vehicles and bikes for work-based journeys, supported by a sophisticated electronic management system.

Representatives from public sector bodies and businesses across Bristol attended the seminar to examined how the scheme could be scaled up to help collectively solve the travel problems faced by city staff who need to drive for work, without driving to work.

Public sector organisations such as hospitals and councils have many staff who need to drive as part of their job. They also often operate from city centre locations with a great deal of pressure on a small number of workplace parking spaces.

Bristol City Council, ambitiously aiming to reduce it’s own carbon 40% by 2020,  sees the potential for such a scheme to improve its own workplace travel arrangements. The Council already has some pool cars successfully serving its city centre offices, but there is an opportunity to expand this across all council services.

Successfully scaling up the pioneering Go Low across the public sector would:

• reduce staff’s reliance on their own cars even in the outer districts
• reduce commuter travel and congestion
• improve air quality
• give staff options for healthy work-based travel

The Go Low pilot for the Avon & Wiltshire Partnership NHS Trust has also shown that having a large pool of low carbon vehicles to draw from brings major benefits in terms of access, efficiency and cost savings. Go Low has found there is potential to have them made available for low carbon staff travel to and from work as well.

Councillor Gary Hopkins, Bristol’s Cabinet Member for Strategic Transport, Waste and Targeted Improvement, says: “We need a sustainable solution which inspires other organisations and businesses with its simplicity and sustainability. Bristol is a forward thinking city and it does business in a way which reflects that. The future is low-carbon, fuel-efficient, less car miles, more cycling and walking. Staff travel should reflect this and the council and public sector should lead the way. I applaud any sustainable transport initiative that avoids the extra mile.”