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MVA to develop travel plans for 30 Southern stations

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MVA Consultancy and train operator Southern will develop travel plans for 30 stations across the Southern Railway network.

Working alongside Contemporary Transport, MVA will conduct site audits to assess station access requirements and review public transport modes and the existing sustainable transport infrastructure.

The study will include the design of a rail user survey which will be analysed to determine current travel behaviour, attitudes towards sustainable modes of transport and an understanding of the likely behavioural change. A non-rail user survey will also be developed to supplement the work.

Once completed, a travel plan will be delivered for each station which will include deliverable action plan measures, a communications strategy, proposals for obtaining third party funding towards delivery and advice on how the travel plan will integrate with Southern’s own policies and business plans. MVA will also provide advice on full monitoring and evaluation procedures.

MVA’s Smarter Travel Directorate is headed by Conrad Haigh, who was named ACTTravelWise travel planner of the year in 2008.

Station travel plans are at the forefront of the Smarter Travel industry. They look at how the behavioural change practises that have been successfully applied to destination sites, like workplaces and schools, can be applied to station interchanges.

He said:  “A station travel plan has the potential to encourage travelling to a station by alternatives to private cars. This will assist in managing the demand for car parking and improve access to the station, helping to expedite the growth in rail passenger numbers.

“Our team has been fortunate enough to be involved in extensive work in this area and we are delighted to be working with such  a proactive client. MVA look forward to helping Southern spread best practice across its region by sharing our knowledge and experience.”

Southern’s Development Director, Alex Foulds said: “We are delighted to be working with MVA on this project. We want to provide the best possible set of alternatives that will encourage more people to travel to our stations in as sustainable a way as possible. The surveys will inform us of what our passengers want and the resulting plans will help people to think about how they get to the station and how they make their onward journeys.”

MVA’s award-winning Smarter Travel Directorate has an enviable record of success in this field of work, helping businesses and schools create and implement travel plans. MVA have worked on many Smarter Travel schemes including in Falkirk, London and across the UK, MVA’s skills sets include workplace, destination based, station, schools, residential and Personal Travel Planning (PTP).

Information for Editors:

Note to editors
Industry leader MVA Consultancy provides advice on transport and other policy areas to central, regional, and local government, agencies, developers, operators, and financiers.
 A diverse group of results-oriented people, we employ over 500 people worldwide. Through client business planning, customer research and strategy development, we create solutions that work for real people in the real world.

Smarter travel at MVA

MVA is one of the few consultancies to have a dedicated Smarter Travel Directorate with extensive experience in undertaking smarter choices projects and the development of travel planning measures.

The team has been involved in a number of major PTP schemes including leading the roll out of PTP in London – the UK’s largest application of PTP to date.

For further information please contact:

Emma O'Sullivan on 01483 742925
or email eosullivan@mvaconsultancy.com

or

Sarah White on 01483 742975
or email swhite@mvaconsultancy.com

1 December 2009