The objective of this agreement is to reduce the number of kilometres driven during rush hour by an average of six percent and to bring about a similar reduction in CO² emissions in 2012.

Please find below the text of the press release issued by the networking organization BEREIK!:

Press release

The Hague, 23 April 2009

30 companies from The Hague working on mobility!

Keeping The Hague easily accessible is a subject of interest to authorities and employers. The fact that these are not just idle words was apparent once more during the Haagse Koplopersontbijt (breakfast for The Hague's front runners) where six new employers joined forces and signed the 'Bereikbaar Haaglanden' (accessible Haaglanden region) agreement.

These employers are: Wegener NieuwsDruk West, Leeuwendaal, Alcatel-Lucent Nederland, TeekensKarstens, the HagaZiekenhuis hospital and Cordaid. In total there are now thirty companies from the region affiliated, in addition to all the core departments. The objective of this agreement is to reduce the number of kilometres driven during rush hour by an average of six percent and to bring about a similar reduction in CO² emissions in 2012.

The regional 'Bereikbaar Haaglanden' (accessible Haaglanden region) agreement concerns a number of concrete and obligatory agreements between employers, the business world and other interested parties who are focussing on increasing mobility. According to those involved, only a coherent package of measures will be able to improve mobility. In addition to this, innovative activities are required in order also to make mobility sustainable from the perspective of quality of life and doing business in a socially responsible manner.

Important to staff, suppliers and the business world itself

“The management of the newspaper printer recognizes the great importance of easy accessibility to the company for both staff and suppliers as well as for the transportation for the newspaper delivery. The readers obviously want to have today's paper lying at the front door on time in the morning. We take the staff's working hours into account, to such an extent that they make their journeys outside of rush hours,” says Ruud de Klerk, Manager of Wegener NieuwsDruk West in The Hague.

"Alcatel-Lucent's strategy is to provide sustainable solutions for mobility and efficiency issues. Accessibility is in our blood. In addition to this, as a company working throughout the world and having several sites in the Netherlands, our own physical mobility is something we've had high on the agenda for years now. Thus we have flexible working hours and we provide all resources to enable working and collaborating from home or off-site. By participating in the Hague agreement, we wish to share our knowledge and experience and make ourselves open to the initiatives of other parties to enable us to make another step in achieving the objective of the agreement," says Piet Westenberg, HR Director Alcatel-Lucent Nederland.

“The goal of participating in this agreement is to arrange our mobility policy as well as possible, thereby reducing rush hour traffic jams and having less of an impact on the environment. Another added benefit is the option for staff to work flexibly which fits in once more with 'the new way of working'", says Mr. Kuijten van Leeuwendaal.

Jan Versteegh, Chairman of the Board at TeekensKarstens, remarks: "TeekensKarstens is always on the move as well. We regularly look at how we can optimize our mobility policy in the best way possible. We do this, for example, by encouraging staff to come to work by public transport. Thus the cost of travelling by public transport is fully reimbursed at TeekensKarstens. In terms of external agreements, we have a number of pool cars at our disposal and for short distances there is even a pool bike available. At present we are looking into the options of the NS Mobility Card."

“The HagaZiekenhuis hospital aspires to contribute to driving down the use of motorized transport to and from the hospital by staff, safeguarding accessibility and a good balance between being an attractive employer and maintaining a healthy operational management. In addition to this, the HagaZiekenhuis hospital would like to make a contribution to sustainability and reduction of CO² by means of fewer traffic jams and stoppages on the through roads in and around The Hague,” says Marnix Beekmans of the HagaZiekenhuis hospital.

“Development aid organization Cordaid is striving toward climate-neutral operational management so, besides an improvement in the accessibility of the Haaglanden region, driving down CO² emissions is an important reason to participate in the agreement. A good initiative and so we're really happy to be joining as first social welfare organization,” says Claudia Schaap, Team Leader General & Technical Support Services.

Haaglanden Mobility Agent

The 'Bereikbaar Haaglanden' (accessible Haaglanden region) agreement is the result of the efforts of the past year and has partly come about thanks to the dedication of Ronald Postma, appointed Haaglanden Mobility Agent in November last year. He advises employers in the Haaglanden region to put their mobility management into action in the fight against traffic jams. Employers are capable of influencing their employees' choice of means of transport and travel times through all kinds of measures. In other words, they can encourage their staff to leave the car behind during rush hour.