Details of my question to the full council of Woking borough council on Thursday 16^th July are below, as well as the answer from the leader of the executive.

 Question from Councillor O E K Wells “Could the Portfolio Holder responsible state if statistics are recorded for the proportion of Council staff travelling to work by foot, bicycle, bus or train and if so what these figures are? Is it possible to break these figures down for comparison with Councillors travel methods? How does the proportion of WBC staff travelling by each method differ with the general population of Woking?”

 Reply from Councillor J Kingsbury “As part of the Council Travel Plan, periodic surveys are undertaken – the last one being in October 2005. The position at this date for those staff who responded to the survey was as shown below. The data for Woking respondents is taken from the 2001 census. There is no data available on modes of transport for Councillors.

To see the data provided by the council click here: Data table 

In my supplementary question I noted that it was disappointing that the council didn’t have more up to date figures, especially in the context of Cycle Woking.  I also commented that it would be good if councillors declared how they travelled to council meetings when signing in with a simple tick box.  I said this as I think that it would be interesting to see how many councillors travel to meeting by sustainable or public transport, as it would not surprise me if very few travelled by bicycle and even fewer by bus and it would be useful to explore why.

My actual supplementary question was ‘what is the effect of increased use of cycling in Woking on the income to the council from car parking’.  The reply from the Leader of the executive Councillor John Kingsbury was an honest one noting that there was an impact on parking revenues from increased cycling, but that it is worth it.  Cllr Kingsbury also agreed to include councillors in transport surveys.