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Coordinators of:  

Station Travel Plan Research

The Communities Connected CIC is a service developed by Go Travel Solutions in partnership with ITP that enables organisations and local authorities to professionally engage and consult with local communities, customers and residents. This ensures the success of your major planning projects in areas such as transport, education, health and more.

Client: Gloucestershire County Council

Gloucestershire County Council administers the strategic local government services in the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in the South West of England. 

Which key challenges were initially identified by Gloucestershire County Council?

The Council wanted to gather quantitative and qualitative information about rail station users across Gloucestershire in an engaging and customer-focused way. A key consideration was the need to maximise the value of the DfT LTSF funding by separating community engagement and survey work from the technical evaluation and station travel plan development. 

The Council also needed to understand levels of suppressed demand for secure/‘premier’ style cycle lockers at Cheltenham station. 

Which Communities Connected services were provided to address/resolve these challenges?

Communities Connected procured a team of surveyors to interview rail users face to face but also to provide on the spot personalised travel planning advice. The reporting and analysis of these survey results would then inform station travel plan development. 

Communities Connected also provided ongoing support to major events such as the Cheltenham Gold Cup to deliver personalised travel planning and ‘last mile’ travel advice. 

What were the key achievements of the project?

There were high levels of response, with quality responses and representative sampling. The process provided opportunities to influence and support passengers in their ‘last mile’ journeys to and from the station, and to create a positive influence in relation to cycle usage and car parking. This scalable tool has also been replicated at other stations across Gloucestershire.