In order to change travel behaviour, you must understand people

ECOMM 2014

Victoria Dekker,Odette van de Riet,and Friso Metz

Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment

The Dutch programme ‘Optimising Use’

• Smart use of infrastructure• Improving accessibility of 12 urban regions • Cooperation between government, science and industry

• Goals:– Improve traffic flows– Reduce congestion – Make travelling safer, less time-consuming,

cheaper and more comfortable

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The Dutch programme ‘Optimising Use’ (continued)

• 300 projects with measurable outcomes• Tailored to the 12 regions

• Mix of solutions, e.g.:– Spread traffic volumes over the course of the day– Promote e-working– Promote the use of alternative transport modes

• Innovation: connecting services, behaviour and technology

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To get the best out of the programme,we analysed more than 100 cases

Input:• Existing evaluation reports • Primarily cases from projects executed

prior to the start of the programme

 

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Output: • Qualitative conclusions on behavioural mechanisms• No quantitative conclusions due to poor quality of data

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We used a framework from BIT UK for the analysis

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Outcomes

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It all starts with a good understanding of people’s

behaviour

Good understanding of current and desired behaviour is a:

– Prerequisite

– Pre-investment

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Tailor intervention, based on a good understanding

Useful ingredients:

• Timing Make use of ‘discontinuities’• Ease Remove any hurdles• Motivation - Make it rewarding (monetary or non-monetary)

- Provide feedback

- Strengthen will-power

- Make experience nice (not unnecessarily harsh)• Social influences Make use of social proof, commitment, etc.• Personal Tailor-made, and try to avoid negative group-

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An example: ‘Avoid the Peak in Brabant’

• Participants received financial reward if they avoided peak traffic in Den Bosch and Eindhoven

• With the ‘personal avoidance plan’, a 27% higher success rate

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Key ingredients of the personal avoidance planMotivation:• By making a personal avoidance plan, people strengthened their will-

power (‘implementation intention’, ‘self persuasion’)• Participants got extra motivated by feedback on their travel behaviour

Social factors:• Also feedback on the travel behaviour of others (‘social proof’)• By submitting the plan, people felt themselves committed

Personal:• The travel information provided was tailor-made

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Invest in monitoring and evaluation

• Test-Learn-Adapt, just like BIT UK• Monitoring and evaluation requires preparation• The basis is found in the previous two steps

Only then do you know what to monitor

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Conclusions

• ‘Avoid the Peak in Brabant’ is a best practice

• In many cases, there is room for improvement

• Essential:

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