This document discusses smarter choices theory and practice for encouraging sustainable travel. Smarter choices involve promotional measures to boost uptake of alternatives to driving alone. Key tools include travel planning with employers, schools and residents, as well as public transport information and promotion. Personal travel planning delivered at key life events, like moving house, can be particularly effective by helping people establish new sustainable travel habits during times of disruption. Integrating smarter choices initiatives with transport infrastructure improvements increases impact. Nudging people towards sustainable options as the default choice also shows promise according to the theories discussed.

1. Martin Higgitt
JMP Consultants Limited
BEHAVIOUR CHANGE: SMARTER
CHOICES THEORY AND PRACTICE

2. Structure
 Policy context: Travel demand management and why smarter
choices have become important
 The theory and reasons behind smarter choices
 The smarter choices tool kit
 Case study of i-Travel York
 Where next?

3. What are ‘smarter choices’?
 Promotional measures to encourage the uptake of sustainable travel
options
 ‘Smarter choices’ or ‘soft measures’ include:
• Marketing and communications
• Public transport information and promotion
• Travel planning with:
• Employers
• Schools / colleges
• Residents (Personal travel planning, PTP)
• Station travel plans
• Shared mobility – ride-sharing, car clubs etc.
• Promoting alternatives to travel

4. POLICY CONTEXT

5. A brief history: the end of the road for Predict
and Provide
 During 1990s, acknowledged that “Predict and Provide” could not work:
 More road capacity encouraged more traffic demand
 and worsened conditions for other modes
 Also, financially unaffordable, environmentally damaging and politically
untenable
Traffic levels
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
1996 2001 2006 2011 2016 2021 2025
National Traffic
Forecasts, 1996

6. A brief history: Travel Demand
Management and Smarter Choices
 Travel demand management approach starts to take over in 1990s.
 Research project in early 2000’s for Department for Transport shows
potential impact of demand management measures if delivered in
intensive and comprehensive way.
11%
7%
14%
13%
21%
0 20 40 60 80 100
urban peak
urban off-peak
non-urban peak
non-urban off-peak
national
% traffic

7. Travel Demand Management and
Smarter Choices
 Leading to initial
‘Sustainable Travel
Demonstration Towns’
 4 year programmes in 3 pilot
towns showed average 9%
reduction in car use in first
and growth in other modes
Darlington Sustainable Travel Demonstration
Town, Final Evaluation. Social Data, 2009.

8. Most trips are short

9. People’s perceptions of alternatives are often
wrong

10. Half of car trips could be undertaken by alternative

11. THE REASONS BEHIND SMARTER CHOICES

12. The reasons for smarter
choices
 Not enough simply to
provide alternatives
 Everyday travel habitual
 Need to make people aware
of alternatives....
 and give them a reason for
using them

13. The role of smarter choices
 Not enough just to provide alternatives
 Reasons:
• People need awareness of
alternatives
• People need perceptions tackled
• People need motivation to try
alternatives
• People need opportunity to try
alternatives
• People need rewarding for using
alternatives

14. THE SMARTER CHOICES TOOLKIT

15. Marketing and communications

17. Public transport information and
marketing

18. Employer travel planning
 Development of a travel plan
 Implementing the travel plan
 Promotion
 Staff induction and benefits
 Parking management
 Business travel policies

20. Challenges

21. Challenges: Beat the Street
promoting Active travel

22. School travel planning

23. Shared mobility
 Car clubs and ride sharing
 Shared bikes

24. CASE STUDY OF YORK

25. Example: i-Travel York programme

26. Introduction to York
 Historic city
 Major visitor destination
 Regional economic driver
 Traditionally good levels of
sustainable travel
 Constrained road network
 Challenge of responding to
demand for housing and
jobs whilst keeping network
moving and preserving
special character of city
26

29. Introduction to York
 Pioneering city:
 1980s: Footstreets - one of first pedestrianisation
schemes in UK
 1990s: Park & Ride - one of first places to introduce.
Now a ring of 6 P&R sites.
 2000s: Cycle demonstration town
 2010s: Low emissions strategy
29

31. The LSTF programme
 i-Travel York programme through LSTF from 2011-2016
 Bus improvements: congestion pinchpoints, waiting
facilities, information enhancements
 Cycle improvements: strategic network enhancements;
promotional measures: Bike It, Bike Belles, Cycle
Challenge, annual festival, Sky Rides
 Online information enhancements – website, journey
planner, travel apps
 Low emissions roll out: bus, taxi and charging
infrastructure
 Personal travel planning
31

33. PTP delivery
 Recruitment and training of local
Travel Advisers
 Collation and development of
resources
 Development of a database with
CRM capabilities
 Linking PTP with other
programmes: Active Leisure
health walks and social rides,
Bike Belles, Big Challenge
 Signing participants up to
MyTravel York: online information
updates and promotions
33

34. Residential delivery
 Targeted areas based on
demographics and transport
services
 3 attempts at contact, scheduled
at different times of day / days of
week
 Conversational approach
 Resources offered – and pack
put together for households
 Challenge issued with incentives
 Engagement offered at
community events
34

35. Workplace delivery
 Similar service offer to residential
 Incorporate specific information
and offers relevant to host
organisation: e.g. salary sacrifice,
discounted season tickets,
company liftshare scheme etc.
 Using offer of PTP surgery as way
in for engaging organisation more
deeply
 Brochure laying out wider
workplace offer
 Preliminary meeting with firm to
plan the PTP intervention and to
talk through wider offer
35

36. Results of 2013 / 2014 programme
 Residential:
• 13,000 households targeted,
• 4,500 participating
 Community events:
• over 2,000 participants
• 1,000 ‘brief contacts’
• 100 events
 Workplace:
• 1,400 participants from 30 events
 30,000 resources distributed
 Over 6,000 challenges issued
36

37. i-Travel York
 Follow-up surveys with 550 participants from 2013/14
 Broader monitoring shows walking, cycling & public transport use
growing
37
27% 27%
18%
1%
71% 70%
78%
75%
2% 2% 4%
24%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Walking Cycling Public
transport
Car
% increasing % stayed the same % reducing
-4.4
12.6
13.4
20.7

38. PTP FOR NEW RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS

39. The theory
 “Life-change moments” = great time to speak to people
 Research shows how people review their travel needs during a move:
• 87% thought about travel issues at some point in relocation
process
• “Search and selection” stage is when most thought given to travel
• “Post-move” stage: lots of consideration once in new location
• 57% reported a change in main mode for at least one regular
household journey

40. Before After
No PT ticket 18.9% 24.4%
PT ticket 19.0% 46.8%
 Copenhagen:
 Sample of people given free public transport ticket
 Only those who had moved or changed job increased use
 Stuttgart
 Some new movers to area with good PT given season ticket and
information, others not.
Bauberg, Rolle and Weber (2003)
The evidence

41. An example from York:
Derwenthorpe
 New residential estate in York
with 500 homes
 1/3 of homes currently occupied
 Designed as an ‘eco-
development’
 Some households bringing in
more cars: will create problems
when fully developed

43. Photos (c) Jonathan Pow, courtesy of Joseph Rowntree Foundation

45. Photos (c) Jonathan Pow, courtesy of Joseph Rowntree Foundation

46. Photos (c) Jonathan Pow, courtesy of Joseph Rowntree Foundation

47. Transport facilities
 Car-free walk and cycle route through development towards city
centre
 High frequency bus route adjacent to development
 Car club vehicle in development

48. Design of PTP programme
 Leaflet dropped to all households advertising service and incentives
 Travel advisers try visiting 3 times (day time, evening and Saturday)
 Engage in conversation:
• Baseline survey about household travel patterns
• Description of the transport facilities available
• Offering vouchers and incentives
• Encouraging households to take up a ‘challenge’
 Bespoke resource packs assembled and given to households
 Family Fun Day organised as a finale

50. Offers developed for the initiative
 Significant incentives:
• £150 voucher towards bike purchase
• £150 voucher towards public transport
season ticket
• Community bike loan scheme
• Car Club membership, plus £50 drive
time

52. The Family Fun Day
 Community bike loan hand over
 Bike try out session
 Dr Bike
 Travel advice stall
 Treasure hunt for families with young
children
 Guided bike ride to local nature
reserve
 Car Club demonstration

55. The Results
 120 households participated
 6 households declined
 33 household uncontactable
 Participation rate = 75% cf 35%
typical for ‘normal’ PTP
 Conversion rate = 95% vs. 60%
typical for ‘normal’ PTP
 Before and after surveys show
reported behaviour change of.......
 12 people took up community
bike loan
 50 people took part in bike try
out session
 A dozen families took part in
Treasure Hunt
 8 people got bike serviced
 1 person on guided bike ride
 Some families from
neighbouring area

56. FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR SMARTER CHOICES

57. Some top tips
 Particularly effective when done in association with service or
infrastructure improvements
 Life-events
 Travel demand management
 Nudge: making sustainable travel options the default.

58. 58
Integrate with service improvements

59. Target Life-events
 Habits interrupted
• New movers,
• New job,
• New students,
• Retirement,
• Changing school,
• Starting a family

60. Focusing on disruption

61. Nudge

62. martin.higgitt@jmp.co.uk
www.jmp.co.uk