Travel, both business and commuting, forms a significant proportion of the University’s carbon footprint. The University encourages staff and students to use more sustainable forms of transport, such as public transport, car share, cycling or walking, rather than single occupancy car journeys.
There is no single solution to all of the University’s travel needs; the University is committed to promoting sustainable travel options to enable staff and students to make informed decisions about which travel mode to use. We are continually improving provisions for cyclists, walkers and public transport users.
What can I do?
- Where possible, walk, cycle or use public transport - choosing a more sustainable form of transport can reduce our carbon emissions, help you get more active and save you money!
- Use teleconferencing facilities, Skype or video conferencing facilities as an alternative to travelling to meetings.
- Drive Smarter – following these tips from the Energy Saving Trust could improve your mpg by up to 15%
- Use the University's regular free shuttle bus to travel to the Creative Campus and Aigburth Park.
- Download Merseytravel’s free journey planner app. The app provides a range of timetables and map information for all public transport operators across Merseyside, as well as door to door journey plans for trains, buses, ferry services and scheduled departures from a specific location.
- Staff can purchase a cycle through salary sacrifice, to commute to work, through the University's Cycle to Work Scheme - please contact Suzanne Moody on hartles@hope.ac.uk for more information.
- Staff can also take advantage of discounts at various local cycle shops on production of your staff identification and quoting the Merseytravel discount scheme. The discounts may include cycles, accessories and clothing. Download the Cycle Discount Scheme information.
- Keep up to date with updates from Merseytravel and Liverpool City Council
Initiatives
- Using a single travel management company – Selective Travel Management to book all air and rail travel and accommodation – reducing the travel risk for our staff and students
- Cyclescheme offers staff the opportunity to purchase a cycle through salary sacrifice.
- Working with Merseytravel to research and inform their transport provision to students
- A dedicated student webpage has been launched for all your travel needs
- The University surveys staff and student every two years to inform the initiatives and measures we put in place to allow staff and students to make informed choices about the mode of transport that they use and to promote sustainable travel options
Did you know?
- 10,000 steps equals about five miles, most of us walk 4,500 a day
- 54% of staff and 60% of students live within five miles of the University; ideal for thinking about more sustainable forms of transport
- If everyone lift-shared one day a week, traffic on the roads would be reduced by 20% and there would be less congestion on the roads
Useful Resources
Cycling can offer a cheap, quick, fun and healthy way of travelling to the University; especially if you live within 5km. Cycling is:
- Efficient – often the quickest way to travel by avoiding traffic jams and no parking problems
- Healthy - it is a great way to keep fit and is one of the easiest ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine. Just 30 minutes of cycling at a moderate speed can burn over 200 calories
- Cost-saving – no costs for parking permits or fuel
- Green – carbon free travel
Keep safe and be visible by using lights and wearing high visibility clothing, purchasing a secure lock, marking your cycle with your cycle and obeying the law by following the Highway Code.
What can I do?
- Use a D-lock to secure your cycle to one of the designated external bicycle parking areas
- Our Safe Cycling Guide offers hints and tips for a safer commute and for any cycling you do
- Cyclescheme offers staff the opportunity to purchase a cycle through salary sacrifice.
- Sign up as a member of Liverpool’s on-street bike hire service, Citybike. Citybike is a 24 hour on-street bike hire service, providing bicycles for hire for residents and visitors. Bike Stations can be found outside Hope Park and the Creative Campus and near to Aigburth Park campus and at many Liverpool landmarks including Liverpool Lime Street, the Pier Head, Calderstone and Sefton Parks
- Join CyclingWorks and compete against those with Hope and companies within Merseyside - log the distances that you’ve cycled, set personal goals, monitor the money that you are saving by cycling, the mileage that you clock up and the calories that you burn
Buses and trains are a great way to reduce the stress of travelling to work – let someone else do the driving while you read a book or paper, or listen to music. Travelling by bus or train:
- Reduces air pollution, see Stagecoach and Arriva for information on their cleaner, greener buses
- Lowers your carbon footprint – per mile emissions are significantly lower than for car travel. The shuttle bus was used for around 73,000 journeys during 2011-12 with a carbon footprint of 99 tonnes; if those same journeys were made by car the carbon emissions would be over 3500 tonnes!
- No need for parking
- No need to sit in congested traffic
Staff can buy an annual Arriva travel ticket via monthly direct debit
Arriva Click has arrived in Liverpool - the app based executive minibus service that takes multiple passengers all heading in the same direction. Until the end of December staff and students can get Arriva Click
Walking is something that most of us do every day; without realising it is a cheap, reliable and effective way of getting about. It is something that you can normally make time for without too much of a change to your daily routine, either by walking to work, walking to the shops, or the final distance from the bus stop.
Walking has many advantages:
- Fantastic for keeping fit and strengthening the body, especially the heart, bones and muscles, and there’s no need for expensive gym membership
- 10,000 steps for long term health and reduced chronic disease risk
- 12,000 to 15,000 steps for successful, sustained weight loss
- 3,000 steps should be at a brisk pace to build aerobic fitness
- Makes us feels less stressed and happier
- Cut the cost of commuting
- Gives more time for yourself to think, unwind, listen to music, or just enjoy the walk
Staff and students are encouraged to seek other methods of transport other than car use, particularly driving on your own, though we are aware that car travel is necessary in some circumstances. Click the below links for helpful information about parking at Liverpool Hope University.
