What Works in Behaviour Change? 28 June 2010, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh

Who responds to smarter measures? Lessons from the Sustainable Travel Towns in England and Scotland. What Works in Behaviour Change? 28 June 2010, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh • Dr Jillian Anable: The Centre for Transport Research, University of Aberdeen Lynn Sloman, Carey Newson: Transport for Quality of Life Sally Cairns: Transport Research Laboratory Phil Goodwin: University West of England Derek Halden: DHC Ltd

What are Smart Choices? • techniques for influencing travel behaviour towards more sustainable options • sometimes called ‘soft’ measures • more psychology than engineering • engage with people about their travel choices • may involve: • better information about existing travel options • marketing and communication • new transport services, closely focussed on target market • carrots and sticks, working together

How we Get Smarter

Questions • How effective are smarter choices? • Who responds to smarter choices? • What are the ingredients that influence effectiveness? • What are the psychological processes that lead to travel behaviour change? • How can these processes be ‘tapped’ more effectively?

Scepticism about Smarter Measures • ‘Cherry picked’ evidence? • Unscientific monitoring and evaluation? • Behaviour change is just short term? • ‘Preaching to the converted’? • Only has an impact on short journeys? • Widens health inequalities? After two large-scale demonstration studies, what will we learn?

Sustainable Travel Towns: England £10m from DfT (2004-2009)

STTs: balance of measures (£revenue) Worcester Darlington Peterborough Workplace travel planning Travel awareness campaigns Cycling and walking promotion School travel planning Car club Personal travel planning Public transport info & marketing

Kirkwall Kirkintilloch / Lenzie Dundee Glasgow Stenhousemuir / Larbert Barrhead Dumfries Smarter Choices, Smarter Places: Scotland £15m from SG (2008-2011)

Kirkintilloch/Lenzie • High street information centre • Events promoting walking and cycling • Workplace and school travel planning • Kirkwall • Improve walking environment in the town centre and Quoybanks • Maintain strong cycle culture • Promote bus use including travel training and tourist information • Larbert/Stenhousemuir • Rebuild bus use • Encourage walking and cycling for work and shopping trips to the town centre • Improve local cycling facilities • Dundee • Market bus use to build on existing high levels • Reinforce health benefits of cycling through work with schools and families • Make bicycles available through loan schemes • Barrhead • New paths in Auchenback and links to Darnley Country Park • Develop local cycle culture • Improve image of bus travel • Develop safer routes to schools • Glasgow East End • Improvements to three key walking and cycling corridors • Personalised travel planning • Address local safety concerns • Dumfries • Persuade drivers to walk more for short trips • Improve bus routes and ticketing • Link existing cycle routes to town centre • Park and choose schemes

STTs: data sources Household travel survey (undertaken 2004 & 2008, 4000 people each town each survey) Counts of: Vehicles Cyclists Pedestrians Bus passengers School and workplace surveys Town Data National Data • National Travel Survey medium-sized urban areas • National Road Traffic Estimates • urban roads

Household surveys – changes in trips All trips Car driver Car passenger Bus Cycle Walk -15 +15 Change in trip numbers per 100 people per day 2004 to 2008; weighted dataset; trips<50km

Outcomes: comparing car travel from surveys with traffic / car counts Household surveys Traffic / car counts

Mode shift e.g. replacement of trip by car with trip by bus, bike or foot + Destination/mode shift e.g. replacement of medium length car trips with shorter journeys by bus, bike or foot + Trip evaporation 7% of reduction in car use from a net reduction in trips Outcomes: patterns of demand(travel survey results)

Car driver trips and distance: variation in impact according to trip length Largest behaviour change seen in short trips, but largest reductions in DISTANCE from medium/ long distance trips

Outcomes: who changed behaviour? • men + women equally • mostage groups (but 41-45 yrs & 61-65 yrs show less change) • People at a ‘transition point’ most susceptible: • largest reductions: college students, job seekers, recently retired • lowest reductions: full-time and part-time workers and intensive car users (41-45 year olds) Car driver mode share for full-time workers fell by 5%, but contributed 40% of reduction in car driver trips

Which groups contributed most to the change in car driving?

Which journey purposes were most affected? • Looking at reduction in total car driver distance (trips<50km): • Leisure trips contribute 45% of savings • Shopping trips contribute 30% • Work-related business contributes 21% • Effects on most journey purposes, in most distance bands • leisure and shopping: largest and most consistent effect on car driver mode share and distance • business and commuter travel: substantial effects on car driver distance (but effect on inconsistent between towns)

Ingredient 1: Combination of hard + soft In the STTs, the largest changes took place: • Where cycle infrastructure was improved (Darlington) • Where bus services were improved (Peterborough) In Scotland, after the first year of SCSP – little behaviour change so far as infrastructure has not yet been sufficiently improved.

Ingredient 2: Smarter PLACES (SCSP) Need to pay attention to local culture and norms • Not all initiatives suit all places (e.g. individualised marketing, cycling) “I would like to travel by car more often” Smarter Choices, Smarter Places baseline study (2009)

Ingredient 3: Segmentation (SCSP) Target motivational and hard-to-reach groups Smarter Choices, Smarter Places baseline study (2009)

Ingredient 4: Complementary measures Change needs to take place at three levels: • Individual – incorporating values, attitudes, beliefs, social norms, identity and intentions • Interpersonal – the relationship between individuals (trust, social networks) • Community – dynamics of structures and institutions (societal norms and culture; communications and the media) This requires a ‘multi-pronged attack’ – a variety of synergistic measures and a sub-regional approach to foster a ‘diffusion effect

Ingredient 5: Less focus on CO2? (SCSP) Smarter Choices, Smarter Places baseline study (2009) “People should be allowed to use their cars as much as they like even if it damages the environment”

Ingredient 6: A trustworthy messenger • A clear brand identity • Remote from local government identity

Improve service Improve knowledge Improve attitudes Change Behaviour If only it were this simple …

Barriers to behaviour change • Values • Efficacy • Status and identity • Social norms • Perceived control • Affective attitudes • HABIT • Choice Anable, J. et al. (2006) An Evidence Base Review of Attitudes to Climate Change and Transport. for the DfT

Theories of behaviour change Source: Anable, J.; Lane, B and Kelay, T. (2006) An Evidence Base Review of Attitudes to Climate Change and Transport. Report for the UK Department for Transport, London.

Need to change context + attitudes Two ways of thinking about changing behaviour: • Influencing what people consciously think about (at all levels) • Altering the context in which people act (The ‘choice environment’) = need a combination of hard + soft

Conclusions • Hard + Soft = Context + Attitudes • Travel behaviour change means more than just mode shift • Not just short journeys – principals of smarter choices should be applied to medium distance journey lenghts We know Smart Measures work, but: • Need panel data: is it a few people changing a lot or a lot of people changing a little? • Still don’t know who responds in terms of attitudes and the psychological processes involved

What Works in Behaviour Change? 28 June 2010, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh