Sustainable travel app to encourage Heathrow airport workers modal choice

Heathrow has launched a new app that offers staff incentives to encourage them to make fewer single-occupancy car journeys. 

The airport is piloting a new Way2Go app designed to help reduce CO2 emissions from surface transport and support the airport’s Surface Access Strategy and Net Zero Plan. 

From 9 May to 11 August, airport staff who work for Heathrow Airport Limited, Border Force and World Duty Free will be able to download the free Way2Go app. This will enable them to  earn Way2Go Points for walking, cycling, car-sharing and using public transport on their commutes to and from work. Way2Go Points are reward points with cash value, which can be exchanged for vouchers or donated to charity, directly through the app. 

Those using the app will receive push notifications and in-app messages, and the app’s dashboard will show their progress as well as the CO2 emissions they save by not using a car. 

The system enables Heathrow to target specific routes, such as its Active and Sustainable Travel Corridors. Employees in these locations or using these routes will receive extra incentives as well as information about getting the most out of them, said Heathrow Airport. 

The new app has been designed by behaviour change technology company BetterPoints. As well as offering incentives, the app gathers data about transport choices to help Heathrow meet their Surface Access and net zero goals. 

Heathrow aims to reduce surface access carbon emissions by 49% by 2030 (from 2021 levels), and to reduce the number of staff that rely on single-occupancy car journeys by encouraging them to commute by more active and sustainable modes of transport. 

Tim Wells, Heathrow’s surface access travel & policy Lead, said: “We want to create a step-change in the culture of car use as the main mode of travel to work, and for public transport, car sharing, walking and cycling to be the default choices for colleague travel. 

“The Way2Go app pilot will encourage and reward colleagues for using these greener modes of transport, and help us better understand their transport choices, the incentives they need to change their behaviour, and the obstacles that act against that.”