TfC offers the employees of TfC members a special discount rate on season tickets purchased for travel to work by train. The discount is worth 10% and staff at Cambridge University are entitled to use the scheme. At present, travellers on the Ely to London line and the Cambridge to King’s Cross line are eligible but not those on the Norwich or Bury St Edmunds lines.
In 2015, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the Travel to Work Areas (TTWAs) for 2011 using census commuting flow data, showing that the Cambridge TTWA has almost doubled in size since 2001 – drawing in commuters as far south as Hertford and Harlow.
Daniel Zeichner said: “This is an excellent scheme which encourages key workers across the region to travel to and from Cambridge by train. The City Deal and Cambridgeshire County Council should investigate the possibility of extending the scheme for those travelling to and from Norwich and Bury St Edmunds so that we keep bearing down on the number of cars coming into the city each day.”
Notes
More information about TfC, including employers who are members of the association, is available here: http://www.travelcambs.org.uk/. TfC is Cambridgeshire’s largest sustainable travel membership association led by experienced transport professionals plugged into the wider County Council and other local transport networks.
The 2011 TTWAs have been produced by Newcastle University using 2011 census commuting flow data, indicating home and workplace addresses. The current criteria for defining TTWAs are that at least 75% of the area's resident workforce work in the area and at least 75% of the people who work in the area also live in the area.
Across the UK there are now a total of 228 TTWAs, 15 fewer than with the 2001 TTWAs (a 6.2% decrease). The overall effect of the TTWA changes is that some 2011 TTWAs have increased in area (and population) which reflects the increasing dominance of some employment centres and/or a greater willingness to commute longer distances by the workforce.
The most notable change is that the Cambridge TTWA has almost doubled in area since 2001 with Cambridge (and a smaller increase in the size of the Chelmsford TTWA) completely assimilating the former TTWA of Harlow & Bishops Stortford. This means that Cambridge is now drawing commuters from as far south as Hertford and Harlow. This change reflects the increasing importance of Cambridge as an economic centre in the East of England and beyond.
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