APA Group joined the smarter travel @ work program in late 2011 to complement their corporate sustainability targets and to contribute to the wellbeing of their workforce.

HR Manager David Portway said "smarter travel @ work has been a very interesting and rewarding program to be associated with. The program revealed issues, such as bike storage at the city office in particular. We now know of problems that we were not aware of previously; it's provided us with an opportunity to improve."

APA Group surveyed their staff at both their Kidman Park and CBD premises to learn about their commute and work travel.

Based on the survey results the APA Group provided a number of opportunities for staff to participate in safer, green and more active travel. These included:

• providing interested staff with personalised journey plans for trips made either by public transport or bicycle
• improving access to their bicycle facilities
• providing public transport and cycling route maps for common work trips, predominantly those between their two premises
• providing information on public transport fares and routes
• nominating workplace 'travel friendly' staff members to support others in choosing other transport options
• expanding induction materials to include site-specific information on a range of transport options, including teleconferencing and video conferencing
• promoting Ride to Work Day
• providing public transport tickets for work trips.

In early 2013, APA Group re-surveyed their staff to determine if any changes had been made in staff travel behaviour and to identify future opportunities to encourage safer, greener and more active travel.

Among other measures, the proportion of staff who drove themselves to work reduced from around 60% to 46%, whereas those staff choosing other options increased (such as cycling up to over 10% and public transport to nearly 30%). Sharing the car commute also increased from around 4% to around 10%.

Feedback provided from staff has been positive and has resulted in further opportunities, such as participation in the Adelaide Carpool Trial.

Portway said "There has been a significant increase in general discussion regarding public transport, bike riding and car-pooling options. The smarter travel @ work program provides a mechanism to raise people's awareness which brings change, either formally through a system such as the Adelaide Carpool website, or informally via lunch room discussions and arrangements reached in house."

Portway concluded "All in all, involvement in the program was easy, there's an environmental aspect to it, and a sense of doing something for the broader community. I would recommend involvement for any work place with access to the services offered."