Trains
Photo credit: Great Western Railway
Offer discounted tickets
Contact relevant train companies or National Rail to see if you can negotiate a discount on tickets for your employees. Discounts can be on single fares, daily fares, or on monthly/annual passes. The advantage of discounted passes is that your employees can use them outside of work and that once they are in hand, taking the train will always seem more financially attractive. You can also offer zero-interest loans that cover the cost of annual train passes and can be paid back throughout the year through automatic salary deductions.
Example
University of Oxford offers a 5% discount for annual season tickets from stations between Reading and Oxford (except for journeys starting at Reading and Didcot stations where an 8% discount is available) and a 5% discount for stations between Banbury and Oxford. They also offer interest-free loans on season tickets.
Negotiate with bus companies to ensure your site is serviced
If data from your travel survey and postcode mapping reveals sufficient need, you can approach the relevant bus companies to propose things like schedule changes, additional or relocated stops, or route extensions that would allow your workplace to be serviced by buses that run to and from the train station. You can also look into running a shuttle or minibus to and from the station at key times. Negotiations on either front may prove more successful when banding together with other nearby businesses if you don’t have the numbers to sway the companies on your own. Ensure that the walk from any new bus stops is as direct, maintained and pleasant as possible.
Example
Oxford Brookes University has partnered with Oxford Bus Company to run three bus lines to its campus, with a bus branded as the BROOKESbus. These buses are also open to the public. One of these lines stops at the train station. It offers its staff half off on season tickets for BROOKESbus, with an annual pass only costing £122.50.
Encourage and enable cycling or walking from train station where possible
This helps your employees get exercise and saves them money because they only need to pay for the train and not the connecting bus. It could also be a solution if you are unable to secure sufficient bus connections between the train station and your workplace. See the cycling and walking sections for advice on encouraging cycling and walking.
Updated September 2024