London telecoms company embraces a New Way to Work

One such scheme is the ‘New Way to Work’, run by Transport for London, the government body which regulates all public transport in the city. The programme was established around twelve months ago to help businesses promote more sustainable travel options to their staff by setting up workplace travel plans that encourage alternatives like walking, cycling, public transport and car sharing.

Tailored
The scheme promotes the fact that companies of all sizes can save themselves and their staff both time and money this way, as well as reduce environmental damage. It provides free, expert, site-specific advice on key areas for improvement, recommendations on how to get the best results from green transport initiatives, and tailored travel plans for each workforce.

For larger companies with more than 250 employees, it provides support worth up to £20,000 for specified initiatives to boost the launch of travel plans, such as providing cycle racks or setting up a car sharing scheme.

Benefited
One company which has benefited from the scheme is Maintel Ltd, a telecoms company with a head office of seventy employees. The company is based five minutes walk from Waterloo station in south London.

The first step to encouraging more sustainable transport choices among its workforce was the relocation of its offices from Battersea a few years ago. Leaving an office with parking spaces for thirty cars, the company’s new premises have no staff parking at all – a deliberate choice by the management to drive home its commitment to finding alternative ways to work.

With funding from the New Way to Work initiative, it has brought in sustainable transport experts to educate staff about different travel options and installed showers and bike racks at its offices to further encourage employees to cycle to work. Previously, there was only one cyclist in the office, head of marketing and new business, Chris Jubb. Now, eighty per cent of Maintel’s employees travel to work by bicycle or public transport.

Showers
Mr Jubb explains, “these days there are seven or eight employees at a time waiting to use the showers. Encouraging cycling to work has had nothing but positive effects. As well as the environmental benefits, cycling saves me £130 a month in travel costs,”

There is a downside, however, to the rising popularity of cycling at Maintel. As Chris admits:“the shower is now overrun with people, and the parking for so many bikes is becoming a problem. These are obviously things we’re going to have to address in the near future. But the way we see it, it’s a nice problem to have.”

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