“It was a massive communications project over three months, all on our intranet, plus messages on our booking tool, booker network and by email communications”
had nothing but praise around the CWT Rail Self-Booking Tool as the bookers can make informed decisions to drive savings, for example travelling slightly earlier or later,” explains Dan Kelly, programme management director, public sector, at CWT. The mixture of visual guilt and the user friendliness of the system did the trick. DWP is dispersed around the country, with a network of hundreds of Jobcentre Plus offices in England, Scotland and Wales, so training all the bookers was a potential challenge. Roadshows were out of the question so CWT put together training material in the form of online guides and provided DWP with exception reports. Adoption hovers between 96-98 per cent today, reached within the first month or so. “It’s almost total compliance,” says Kelly. “It’s the highest level within our government customer base and the steepest growth we’ve experienced across our customer base in such a short space of time.”
Step 5 Promoting the use of fully flexible fares and advance booking on rail was the next step. Rail bookings made within two days have been whittled down to 20 per cent from a high of 24 per cent in 2009. “This hasn’t come down massively as there will always be a need for last- minute travel,” says Kelly. DWP has had more success is reducing the use of fully flexible tickets, down from 47 per cent in 2009 to 40 per cent, while the use of restricted fares has risen from 35 per cent to 60 per cent.
Step 6 The Government’s focus on reducing
the deficit undoubtedly gave DWP’s savings programme a boost. “The travel team were constantly promoting these fares but support from the board was instrumental in making this all happen,“ says CWT’s Kelly. Griffin agrees: “The need to cut costs definitely built momentum and helped us achieve savings more quickly.”
Step 7 DWP banned flights between certain
key domestic city pairs, ie London-Newcastle, London-Glasgow and London-Manchester. In addition, it banned business class on inter- national sectors less than four hours, with a total ban on domestic air travel in business class.
Step 8 The results have been nothing short
of amazing. Average ticket price on rail has come down by somewhere in the region of 45 per cent, not just from taking first class out of the equation, but from behaviour change, such as more use of advance booking, restricted tickets and off-peak fares. Air volumes are down 60 per cent as a result of the modal shift from air to rail, which has also delivered a more sustainable
mode of travel. The reduction in emissions achieved to date has been a 56 per cent fall from 798.59 to 350.16 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
“No matter how big or small you are you can get a return on investment for any travel you do”
Step 9 The drive for savings continues, pushing for more use of advance booking and restrictive tickets, and less first class rail. An air booking tool will be introduced this summer – a natural decision with 99 per cent of air being domestic – and a hotel booking tool through Expotel before that. Plus, Griffin says he wants to squeeze another one per cent gain on thetrainline adoption rate. But he’s frustrated at the lack of availability of
some rail fares. “Try and book a peak Leeds- London fare within two weeks of travel and there are no advance fares available,” he moans. “We’re buying more but not at the advance purchase fares as we can’t get them. We have to book more like three to four weeks in advance to get them, which is disappointing. We’ve moved from 40 to 60 per cent of advance tickets but we can’t raise the target much higher,” he laments. DWP is working with the TOCs to get deals in
the face of increasing fares but has taken cost per mile down as low as it can. “All we can do is reduce the volume and demand now and use more web technology,“ says Griffin. “Our focus now is on videoconferencing (VC),
to stop unnecessary travel happening.” VC usage has doubled to some 2,000 hours a month. That move is reflected in the reduction of 30 per cent in the number of rail tickets purchased in 2010/11 compared with 2009/10.
Overall, some £27million was wiped off the travel spend in 2010 and the business looks set to shave another £6million off this year. Looking back, Griffin admits, “I didn’t realise what I was taking on. For the first three months I
thought, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never worked so hard‘ but it was enjoyable as it actually felt like I was making a difference. In 2011 my team will deliver over £100million of savings to the taxpayer.“ For other companies planning to set off on this
same savings journey, he stresses that, “Nothing we’ve done is complicated. It was, book in advance and book fixed tickets and, before that, ask, ‘Do you need to travel?’ No matter how big or small you are you can get a return on investment for any travel you do. The savings are there to be had.”
CHECKLIST TO SUCCESS
• RAIL TRAVEL: Prohibit fully flexible return tickets and restrict first class based on journey time.
• AIR TRAVEL: Prohibit fully flexible tickets and prohibit flying on journeys less than 300 miles.
• CHANGES TO TRAVEL MANAGEMENT: Pre-trip approval, mandate use of VC for non- essential travel, encourage travellers to book their own travel, and for all air travel to be booked through online tools. Travellers must select lowest emitting transportation type. Focus on compliance monitoring and reporting. Enable lowest transaction cost via online tools.
• COMMUNICATION: Explain why the changes are being made to ensure buy-in at all levels.
WWW.THEBUSINESSTRAVELMAG.COM I 7
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