One year of MoveSmart: how Babcock and Zeelo are changing the journey to Devonport

When Babcock and Zeelo announced MoveSmart in September 2025, the ambition went well beyond a new bus timetable. Babcock wanted to make Devonport Royal Dockyard easier to reach for a growing workforce, including 240 new apprentices, while easing pressure on Plymouth’s roads and supporting the site’s sustainability commitments. In the words of John Gane, Site Managing Director at Devonport, the aim was to give colleagues “a more efficient way to travel to and from site” and to benefit the wider community by “taking more cars off local roads.”

Year one in numbers

• 1,153 colleagues have used MoveSmart, more than one in ten of the site's workforce
• Around 51,000 journeys booked across five routes
• 4.8 out of 5 average rider rating, from 3,572 ratings
• 16% fewer colleagues driving to site alone
• 46,952 car journeys taken off the road

A real shift in how people travel to site

Babcock's 2026 Travel to Work survey, showed that the number of colleagues driving to site alone has fallen by 16% year on year. Across the year, MoveSmart removed nearly 47,000 car journeys from Plymouth's roads.

For some riders, the change has gone well beyond the daily commute. As one colleague put it in their feedback: "Due to the service I have been able to sell one of our family vehicles, as we no longer rely on 2 vehicles."

Demand has grown steadily throughout the year. Average weekly journeys roughly doubled between the autumn launch and the new year, and September 2026 brought the four busiest weeks in MoveSmart's history, including a record 1,445 journeys booked in a single week.

A service shaped by the people who use it

MoveSmart was designed to evolve with rider feedback and real usage data. Zeelo's route planning technology tracks how every route, stop and departure performs, while riders rate every trip and share what would make the service work better for them. That combination came together in August 2026 with a data-led redesign of the network. Low-use departures and stops were removed, larger 30-seat vehicles were introduced on the busy Plymstock and Ivybridge routes, and new stops were added in response to demand. The result was fuller buses and more journeys. In the weeks that followed, seat occupancy rose by almost half and full weeks in September averaged 18% more journeys than June.

Riders now have a formal voice in how MoveSmart develops too. The Rider Champion Forum brings regular riders together to shape the service and promote it across the dockyard, and a recent rider survey is directly informing a review of the Friday timetable.  MoveSmart has also been a visible part of Babcock's wider commitments on site and in the city, featuring at Plymouth's Net Zero event, the Babcock Open Days and Babcock Sustainability Week.

What riders say

"This is an excellent service. I cannot fault it. Even the quality of the minibus is first class. It's such a better way of getting to work than driving or via the train." - MoveSmart rider

A partnership view from Babcock

“What I’ve valued most about working with Zeelo is how quickly they act on feedback. When feedback suggested adding stops, they acted promptly. When buses on the busier routes filled up, they brought in bigger ones. As someone who uses the service myself, I’ve seen the difference it makes. Getting to work shouldn’t depend on whether you own a car or where you live, and this service is helping us get closer to that. We’re keen to build on it next year.” - James Smith, Head of Social Impact, Babcock

“Good transport opens up opportunities. When people can get to work reliably and affordably, whether or not they drive, it makes a real difference to their day and to the organisations they work for. It’s been a privilege to partner with Babcock on that over the past year, and we’re excited about what comes next.” - Sam Ryan, CEO and Co-founder, Zeelo

With one in ten colleagues already using the service, the focus for year two is on reaching the many colleagues who still drive in alone. That means continuing to refine routes and timetables around rider feedback, growing the Rider Champion network, and making MoveSmart the easiest way to get to work at Devonport.