OREANDA-NEWS. The Heathrow Commuter Team were the proud winners of the Transport team of the year category at the 11th annual London Transport Awards.

The awards recognise the people and projects making a real difference to transport across London. The transport team award was one of the most heavily competed of the evening, with Heathrow seeing off stiff competition from TfL, the Metropolitan Police and the Hackney, Islington and Haringey Councils to win its category.

The Heathrow Commuter team aims to deliver behavioural change on a large scale in a complex environment. With a remit to ensure no more than 65% of the airport's 76,000 staff commute daily in a single-occupied car, the Heathrow Commuter team works with airlines, local authorities and bus and rail companies to deliver a range of sustainable transport options. These include the only cycle to work scheme at an airport in the UK, the largest single-site car share scheme in the world, and the UK's only free travel zone.

Recent results are a testament to its success. Membership of the cycle hub grew by over 800 people in 2013, taking the total to 2,500 with over 10% more employees cycling to work than in 2012. The team is also on track to double the number of staff using the bus to get to work, after overhauling purchasing systems to make it easier to register and buy discounted tickets. At the same time, car-sharing has increased by 25% through incentives such as preferential parking bays and an emergency ride home facility, taking membership up to 8,100, with over 2,000 sharing every week.

Simon Earles, Head of Surface Access Strategy at Heathrow, said: “We're delighted with this award. We aim to be a leader in sustainable transport and the success we've achieved to date underlines our commitment to reducing the number of people driving to the airport, improving passenger experience and whilst enhancing Heathrow's role as a fully integrated transport hub.”