Overall performance of the Transport Plans for the Workplace

Since 2011, all companies in the Brussels-Capital Region that employ more than 100 people on the same site, need to have a mobility plan for the workplace (PDE). The 585 plans received by Brussels Environment by the end of May 2013 show that the accessibility of the company strongly determines the workers’ transport modes.

Mobility plans for the workplace

Companies (including government bodies) with more than 100 people working on the same site in the Brussels-Capital Region have to draw up a mobility plan (PDE). This obligation was introduced in 2004 for all sites with more than 200 workers. In 2011, the threshold was lowered to 100 workers per site.
The companies in question are obliged to analyse their mobility situation every three years and draw up an action plan that relates mainly to commuter traffic (travelling between home and work) and to a lesser extent to work-related travelling by their employees and movements of their visitors. The first three-year cycle of the new PDE requirement ended on 30 June 2014.
The aim of the PDE is to rationalise motorised transport and to accomplish a transition to more sustainable transport modes in order to improve air quality and reduce congestion in the Brussels-Capital Region.

Modes of transport used by the workers

Based on the 532 valid PDEs received by Brussels Environment since 2011, an analysis of the workers’ modes of transport has been performed. This analysis only takes into account the main mode of transport, i.e. the one that is used most often and over the longest distance.

Main mode of transport used for commuter traffic by the workers from 532 PDE companies (data from May 2013)
Source: Brussels Environment - Department of Parking and Transport

The car is the main mode of transport for 37.6% of the people working in a company that has a PDE. The car is thus still used for most journeys between home and work. However, when we combine all forms of public transport (rail and urban public transport) they account for more than half of the commuting.
The situation in 2013 represents an 18.2%decrease in the car’s modal share, mainly in favour of public transport, when we compare it to 2006.

Influence of the company’s location

Mode of transport used for commuter traffic and location of the PDE companies in terms of accessibility (data from May 2013)
Source: Brussels Environment - Department State of the Environment and Sustainable Indicators, based on the report of Brussels Environment and Brussels Mobility, Plans de déplacements d’entreprise, Bilan de la situation 2011, March 2014, 55 pages.

The coloured accessibility zones shown on the map correspond to those defined by the Ministry of the Brussels-Capital Region in the Circular no. 18 of 12 December 2002 on the restriction of the number of parking spaces (Belgian Official Gazette 11 February 2003).

The location of the site is the major determinant for the mode of transport used by the workers: when companies have an optimum location in terms of public transport, the average modal share of the car is less than 25%. In these companies, workers mainly commute by public transport, and in particular by train. In areas removed from the centre, where public transport links are scarcer, the proportion of the car can be as high as 80% of all commuter traffic.

Trend

Shares in terms of percentage of the different modes of transport used for commuter traffic: trends between 2006 and 2011 in PDE companies with more than 200 employees
Source: Brussels Environment - Department of Parking and Transport

The trend diagnoses relate solely to PDE companies with more than 200 workers, in order to avoid systematic errors in the analysis. The reason is that in 2006 the PDE obligation only applied to companies with more than 200 workers.

Compared to 2006, the share of cars in the total number of journeys is generally decreasing, regardless of the accessibility zone. The increase in the use of public transport is particularly noticeable in areas that are less well served by public transport. In these areas which lie outside the city centre, car pools are also used, although this remains a less popular mode of commuting which in overall terms is actually decreasing in the Brussels Region. Bicycle use has increased sharply across the Region, but the share of cycling in commuter traffic is still fairly low (2.5%).

Other relevant factors

The analysis has also brought to light other factors that influence the modal distribution, such as:

• the place of residence of the workers;
• the company’s mobility policy, often linked to the business sector in which it operates. When parking lots and company vehicles are made available, this generally leads to excessive use of cars;
• the working hours.