Keeping fit and helping the environment in Hove: personal travel plans are coming to Goldsmid
(February 2007)

by Vince Meegan

Personalised travel planning is a way of encouraging people to change the way they travel, reducing traffic on the roads and helping people to use greener ways of getting about.

As your Labour Goldsmid candidates - Melanie Davis, Vince Meegan and Alun Jones - we welcome news that a personal travel planning initiative will be extended to the western part of Goldsmid Ward.

After the successful trial in Portslade we are also urging the City Council to introduce the scheme into the whole of our ward and the rest of Hove.

At Environment Committee, Goldsmid councillors Simon Battle and myself spoke in support of proposals to introduce the travel planning scheme to the western part of our ward next year.

Reducing the number of very short journeys we make by car is key.

In Brighton & Hove we make 27,000 car journeys each day of three miles or less. If we could replace just some of these journeys each day with cycling, walking or public transport it would cut congestion and reduce pollution.

The way the scheme works is that trained travel advisors visit households and through a system of incentives and advice people are encouraged to make informed choices about the way they travel. There’s no hard sell and only residents who wish to take part do so.

Last year, travel advisers visited 10,000 households in Hangleton and Portslade. Hundreds of day saver bus tickets and pedometers were given to people who took part in the trial scheme, together with bus timetables and tailored travel advice.

The idea is that residents can save money and improve their health and fitness, while contributing to creating a better environment.

I would encourage you to visit a new website www.journeyon.co.uk which helps people plan their journeys around town and beyond. This Journey On website is all about helping people plan their trips in a sustainable way. It also provides useful information about the calories you’re burning, and environmental impact of your journeys.

Personalised travel planning is only one aspect of Labour’s green transport policies in Brighton and Hove.

We have also funded the real-time bus information boards you see at every major bus stop in the City, encouraged pedestrian-priority areas and car clubs promoting responsible car use. Next year there will be a massive push on new cycle paths and cycle parking in the City, including a new path linking the sea with the Downs which will run through Goldsmid ward.

If you have any queries about this article please email info@goldsmid.com.