New Warwickshire Smart Travel Partnership and Travel Assistant Service Launches
Warwickshire County Council has joined forces with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Compton Verney and Shakespeare’s England to offer their customers and residents a free-to-use environmentally focused travel assistant service, which is available to everyone.
The travel assistance service, accessed from Warwickshire Smart Travel Partnership organisation’s respective websites, is powered by ‘You. Smart. Thing.’, a travel demand management platform for destinations, venues, and events.
It offers visitors tailor-made, inclusive and sustainable travel routes for some of South Warwickshire’s most popular places of interest. The platform combines accessible, active public transport and driving routes, as well as exclusive parking options (that aren’t available on Google maps).
Visitors making advanced bookings for events or performances at some of the Warwickshire Smart Travel Partnership venues will even be sent a personalised low-carbon travel plan in advance of their trip. Over time, the partnership aims to extend the service to incorporate the whole of Warwickshire.
IMAGE: The newly launched Warwickshire Smart Travel Partnership Travel Assistant Service
Cllr Jan Matecki, Portfolio Holder for Transport & Planning at Warwickshire County Council, said:
“We’re delighted to announce the Warwickshire Smart Travel Partnership and with it a new travel assistance service which will change how residents and visitors can travel around our County.
We want to encourage people to visit Warwickshire’s cultural and heritage venues and by being able offer personalised, sustainable travel routes, we’re giving people the chance to choose a mode of transport that best suits them whether that be walking, cycling, on our waterways or by using public transport.”
Cllr Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council Portfolio Holder for Environment, Climate and Culture, said:
“Warwickshire has so much to offer its local residents and visitors from around the world, with our rich heritage venues, cultural and art offer and literary greats such as Shakespeare and Eliot.
This collaborative approach by the Smart Travel Partnership allows us to push our cultural offer and stimulate our local economy without it being at the expense of our environment. And for many, the experience of active travel can be a component of the day, whether that be an enjoyable walk to a venue or removing the need to drive.
This will pave the way for future discussions on the needs of our residents and visitors, expanding to encompass all areas of the County and encourage more people to think the car is not the only option.”
Together, the partners will use the information gathered from the platform to understand how visitors and residents travel to places of interest in South Warwickshire. An initial deployment of the service by partnership venues over the summer will be used to help design regionally optimised intelligent routing, where environmental sustainability, visitor experience, and cultural itinerary are prioritised over the quickest route. We hope that these insights will allow the partnership to inform the travel infrastructure in the local area and to promote the use of public transport and sustainable travel around the county and beyond.
Warwickshire Smart Travel Partnership Travel Assistant Deployments
Travel assistant deployments are either multi-location or single-location ‘destination groups’ featuring venues and events, and can easily be shared and published anywhere on the web:
Royal Shakespeare Company
(Access the service on Royal Shakespeare Company’s website at: https://www.rsc.org.uk/your-visit/getting-here/)
Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust
(Access the service on Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust website at: https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/visit/plan-your-visit/getting-here/)
Compton Verney
(Access the service on Compton Verney’s website at: https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/plan-your-visit/find-us/)
Shakespeare’s England
(Access the service on Shakespeare’s England website at: https://www.shakespeares-england.co.uk/plan-your-visit/travel-information/)
