Positively Green

Every year, the Sustainability team collects transport data so we can report on how our staff, patient and visitors are travelling to the hospital. There are four surveys which work together to provide the Trust with a comprehensive understanding of how people are currently getting to the hospital and what initiatives would encourage them to make more sustainable choices. These surveys are: 

• UHP internal travel survey

• Plymouth City Council travel survey

• UHP Bicycle User Group survey

• Patient and Visitor transport survey

The first three surveys demonstrate how staff are getting to work, and the results for 2024 are in!

The PCC travel survey showed that:

• The most common journey time was 21-30 minutes

• The most common journey distance was 2-4 miles and more than 8 miles closely followed by 4-6 miles

• The theme of convenience as a reason for travel choices dominated

• ‘Drive a car alone’ was the most popular form of transport (50.72% in 2024) Bus travel increased from 17.87% in 2023 to 22.01% in 2024, but walking fell from 12.23% in 2023 to 6.70% in 2024. Cycling and car sharing remained under 10% of respondents for both 2023 and 2024 surveys.

The UHP internal travel survey demonstrated the following: 

• Drive a car alone was the most popular mode of transport in 2024 and 2023: In 2024, 55% of respondents selected it as their mode of transport at the beginning part of their journey compared to 66% in 2023, and 35% of respondents in 2024 selected it as their end part of their journey to work compared to 54% in 2023.

• Bus travel increased in 2024 compared to 2023

• Walking increased in 2024 compared to 2023

• Cycling increased in 2024 compared to 2023

• Car sharing remained under 10% of respondents for 2023 and 2024 surveys.

• In the 2024 survey, 40% of respondents said they drive a car/car share for a part of/whole journey.

• Convenience was the most commonly selected reason for why respondents chose the mode of transport they spend the most time using

• The most commonly selected statement for ‘what could be done to further encourage you to travel by bus to work?’ was ‘subsidised/cheaper fares’ and ‘more frequent / reliable services at the times I need to travel’.

• Preferential parking was marginally the most popular statement selected for ‘What could be done to further encourage you to travel by car share to work?’

• 88% of respondents said there was nothing that could encourage them to start commuting to work by walking

• ‘More lockers and locker facilities at work’ and ‘Improved showers and changing facilities at work’ got the most votes for very likely to encourage respondents to travel by bicycle to work (61% and 67% respectively).

• The food (retail) and Food (Consumption) were the most popular answers to ‘which of the facilities below would you use if they were available on or near the site?’

The UHP Bicycle User Group travel survey demonstrated the following:

• More than half of the respondents report using manual bikes

• The results suggest that seasonal weather has little impact on cyclists’ decisions to cycle

• Improved showers and changing facilities at work and more lockers and locker facilities at work were the joint most selected answer to the question: ‘what could be done to encourage more staff to cycle to work?’

• 55% of respondents identified exercise as being a main reason for enjoying the cycling commute.

• 45% of respondents’ answers mentioned ‘traffic’ when answering the question ‘please tell us what concerns you have around cycling to work’.

These results provide a valuable glimpse into what would motivate more of our staff to start travelling to work sustainably and how infrastructure could be developed and improved for the purposes of sustainable travel. Our next step will be to report these findings at our Sustainability Sub Committee and discuss ways to improve the facilities to help staff choose to travel sustainably.