Many government authorities are interested in increasing the activity levels of local people and reducing the use of private vehicles.
The objectives behind these ambitions can vary from wishing to reduce road congestion to supporting the economy, improving air quality and reducing harmful emissions to support the health and wellbeing of citizens. However, a common approach to changing travel behaviour is the use of travel planning approaches such as Personalised Travel Planning (PTP).
Since authorities increasingly require a solid evidence base for making funding decisions, understanding what works and how to improve value for money is vital. For this reason, Steer regularly conduct reviews of the effectiveness of our programmes, usually as an integral part of a project, but sometimes as a company-funded Research & Development study.
PTP involves conversations with individuals to discuss their travel options with the aim of helping to motivate and enable a change in behaviour, as well as the use of more sustainable transport modes.
Recent PTP projects undertaken in the UK include programmes in Birmingham, Cambridgeshire, Cheltenham, Thurrock, and Portsmouth. Projects in the US have taken place in Santa Cruz (California), City of Issaquah (Washington), City of Puyllup (Washington) and Green Lake (Seattle).
‘Before and after’ surveys of travel behaviour are carried out, including some attitudinal questions in the after phase. This information helps to attribute any changes to the intervention and to measure satisfaction amongst PTP recipients.
We also profile programme participants using our Smarter TravelStyle system. As a result, we can continually learn about the kinds of people who respond positively to particular interventions.
Steer fully recognises the wider value of the learning we obtain from our programme monitoring. Subject to appropriate approvals, we share this intelligence using seminars, conference papers and our Review publication.
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