Go Green - Chineham Park finds greener ways to travel

Thank you to everyone who took part in the first ever travel survey. Over 650 responses were received.

Congratulations to Daniel Leng from Micro Peripherals in Lindenwood; his entry was chosen from our lucky draw and he is now the proud owner of a £300 mountain bike.

The survey, which was sent to all businesses located at Chineham Park, was designed to identify key areas to make sustainable travel easier. People were asked questions, about their methods of transport and the results revealed the following:

39% of respondents expressed an interest in utilising a car share scheme. Consequently MEPC have met with Lift Share UK and are creating a car share scheme on the Chineham Park website to help all of us adopt more sustainable ways to travel to work. This scheme will be going live in April and further information will follow in due course.

Many people travel from the same area each day and what is apparent from the results is that some of these journeys could be shared, which would:

• Reduce fuel costs by sharing day-to-day expenses
• Decrease congestion and save valuable time at the beginning and end of the day
• Cut down stress
• Enhance the re-sale value of cars by reducing the mileage and wear and tear
• Give users a more sociable and less stressful way of travelling
• Reduce traffic pollution and minimise the impact on local communities and the environment

The survey also showed that 15% of respondents utilise the courtesy coaches as their main form of transport. The Park's dedicated and complimentary bus service runs between Chineham Park and Basingstoke railway station every 15 minutes at peak hours. In 2007 the coaches undertook 150,000 passenger movements, which is a 10% increase on the 2006 level.

69% of respondents mentioned that if cycle routes were improved and safer they would be more encouraged to cycle to work. And, over 12.6% of our occupiers would be encouraged to walk to work more often if the access onto the park was better lit. As a result of these findings, we are in the process of liaising with the local council to encourage them to extend the cycle lane further into the park and improve the lighting on the public footpaths.

Wendy Fletcher, Travel Co-ordinator at MEPC Chineham Park said,"The feedback and views in surveys, such as this, helps MEPC to strive to meet the needs of everyone who works here. It's only by receiving such feedback that improvements can be made."

Once again the MEPC team at Chineham Park would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part and are sure many more of you will take part in our next travel survey in December 08.