On 18 October, Travel South Yorkshire (TSY) launched a 28-day free trial to run during November and December to persuade people travelling to work in the region to try public transport.
Workers were able to apply for a free pass valid on all buses, trains and trams in South Yorkshire, including a number of the region’s park and ride sites.
Richard Pilgrim, from Travel South Yorkshire’s Sustainable Travel team, said: “As the traffic gets more intense in the weeks before Christmas and more people are socialising straight from work, we’re encouraging commuters to ditch the car and travel for free on us. By taking part in our public transport trial, you can save money, get some physical activity in to your day and help to ease congestion by taking a car off the road. And, on top of that, you’re contributing towards better air quality.
“Since April this year we’ve already provided 350 free travel passes for people working in different companies who wanted to change their commute to a more sustainable and active option. You don’t need to be the driver, but if you’re in a car, we’d like you to try something else instead. We’re here to help people make a little change that can have a big impact on their lives and the environment. Around 80% of participants that take part in our post-trial surveys say that they will carry on travelling to work on public transport after the trial period and a similar number would recommend using public transport to others.”
Within a week, a message posted on TSY’s website indicated that there had been a fast take-up of the offer, and that no more applications were being accepted. It read: “Thank you for your interest in giving public transport a go. We’ve had an overwhelmingly positive response to our offer, so many that we are unable to take any more applications at this time. It’s been great to see so many people in South Yorkshire keen to get behind ‘ditching the car’!”
