Travel is often not just about one single journey, there are often connections to other modes to be made and this is often where the support for sustainable transport begins to fail. The Strategy of the Authorities is for a Fully-Integrated Transport System where the change from foot to bike to car to bus to rail to boat or plane or any combination can be made as seamless as possible.

Public Transport Interchange

People prefer to make trips with the minimum of change between transport services. Inadequate or non-existent interchange facilities, or means of easy access, are a major barrier to encouraging the use of public transport. It is intended to improve interchange facilities at railway stations, bus/coach stops and at town centre interchanges, to improve access for all forms of transport and to increase user comfort and protection.

Park & Ride

Park and Ride sites will be identified in Local Plans to assist transport movements to and from Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch town centres. Implementation of new sites will be phased in conjunction with Parking Restraint and Demand Management Measures Park and Ride is seen as the key supporting element of the Councils' sustainable transport strategy and the only practical way of reducing town centre commuter traffic generated from the outlying communities. These include Ringwood, West Moors, Verwood, Ferndown, Wimborne and Sandford, which have no direct rail links. The diversity of these surrounding satellite communities also makes it impractical to provide alternative direct high frequency bus services to serve the town centres.

Consistency with Land-Use Plans & Policies

The LTP has been prepared against a background of current and emerging national, regional, strategic and local advice and plans.

Click for Land Use Map 5.6. (This will open in a new window.)

Public Transport Information

Timetables that are easily understood by the public and which are accurate and up-to-date are necessary if people are to have confidence in using public transport. Planned improvements include:

• Wider dissemination of timetables, including links with major employers and the promotion of sustainable travel to tourist sites and visitor attractions
• A regional call centre and journey planner, to include internet access
• Real-time bus information at urban bus interchanges and selected routes
• Improved access for the disabled, including large print timetable information, audio information and a minicom system.

Journeys to School

The Councils believe that by working on the area of school journeys a real and lasting difference can be made on the future traffic patterns in the conurbation.

Journeys to school impact on a wide variety of other sections in this LTP. Feedback from parents, pupils, teachers and residents highlighted the school run as an issue of concern. Two key policies have been developed in this area which cover the following:

• Priority on safe cycling and walking routes for school children
• Travel arrangements at schools will be reviewed to promote bus usage, cycling and walking

By encouraging young people to use more sustainable transport they will hopefully consider these modes in the future for other journeys.

Each school is being encouraged to set its own local targets for increasing rates for walking/cycling/bus use and reducing car use. Help is offered to schools using a combination of travel awareness, training and education initiatives, improved public transport, provision of traffic management measures and walking and cycling facilities.

Click here for more school travel information.

Green Travel Plans

Encouraging major employers in the town centres to adopt 'Green Travel Plans', to promote walking, cycling, car-sharing and buses for employees' journeys to work, while reducing the number private car parking spaces. The approach for the conurbation will be to contact all organisations with over 500 employees by the end of 2000, those organisations with 200-500 employees by the end of 2002 and all other organisations with over 50 employees by the end of 2005. The DETR Travel Plan Guidance document will be offered along with specific, tailored help for individual organisations wishing to set up travel plans.

Click here for more green travel information.

Crime and Fear of Crime

Realisation that the fear of crime is affecting travel modes and even the desire to travel has only recently begun to be addressed. Quality partnerships with public transport operators is only one way that this issue can be targeted. Others include improved lighting or Close Circuit Television (CCTV) at waiting areas. Increased use of public transport modes will also improve the natural surveillance that come from members of the public passing by.

Other methods that will be utilised include the following:

• Improved Street Lighting: to increase visibility by more and better-quality street lights
• Landscaping: improvements to existing landscaping to increase visibility. For all new projects landscaping to include visibility design criteria
• Land-Use Policies: to encourage mixed uses whereby natural surveillance by the public is encouraged
• Subways: to discontinue the construction of subways for pedestrian crossings and, where appropriate, and when finance permits, replace existing subways by at-grade facilities
• Secure Cycle Facilities: effort will continue to ensure cycles can be left safely, to encourage use for journeys to Town and Local Centres and leisure sites

Bournemouth International Airport - Air Surface Access Strategy

Bournemouth International Airport (BIA) lies within the South East Dorset Conurbation 7km. to the north of Bournemouth Town Centre within the Borough of Christchurch.

The airport has an important influence on the area both in terms of transport and as a major employment sector. A particular feature of the airport is the existence of existing and potential employment areas, in which there is a heavy reliance on the car for commuting. The specialist nature of the employment means that workers are drawn from a wide area. It is anticipated that the overall employment at the airport will grow over the next 10 years by 60%. In contrast to the passenger operations, this growth will result in a material increase in peak hour traffic.

A number of interested parties, including the Councils, have been working with Bournemouth International Airport Limited which has responsibility for delivering an Air Surface Access Strategy. Key action areas include:

• Working with airport users, the local authorities, transport providers and the local community to deliver improved transport choices to and from the airport; and
• Reducing private car use by employees and passengers.