TravelCal

Developed in 2001, TravelCal is a software tool intended for business to use to implement personal travel plans by examining an individual's environmental impact caused by their commute to work. In addition, companies can use the tool to track their fleet CO₂ emissions.

INFORM was a pilot project funded by Merseytravel and TravelWise to develop tools using the concept of the ecological footprint to engage business and schools in reducing their impact from travelling to school or work.

In 2001, an average Merseyside resident travelled 10,121km using different modes of transport. 84 per cent of the journeys undertaken were by car (Barrett, Vallack and Scott 2001).

TravelCal was developed for Merseytravel to distribute to businesses in the Merseyside region to assess employee's environmental impact caused by their daily commute. The ecological footprint is used as a metric by which to assess the impact and also to compare different modal choices.

Sustainability officers in the company or Merseytravel discussed with employees face-to-face how they travel to work, what barriers they face in using different modes, what options are available to them in using different modes and what routes they could take. This information is recorded by the software and comparative impacts can be discussed. Timetables, route maps and price information as well as other introductory incentives are provided in order to enable employees try different modes in order to reduce their impact.

The software contains a comprehensive database of 3000 cars makes/models from which employees can select the car they currently own. They can then compare the impact of different models including fuel types, engine sizes etc.

Fleet managers have the option of entering information on the company's car fleet, look at the totals of air pollutants such as Nitrogen Oxides and Particulate Matter and plot the environmental performance of different Departments. They can then assess how their impacts might change if they switched to different models.

More information

Funder: Merseytravel