Mainstreaming Smarter Travel 2013

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5 Minister’s ForewordBaroness Kramer, Minister of Statefor Transport

5 IntroductionRory McMullan, project manager,LSTF Engagement, Landor LINKS

6 Learning to go with the flowPhil Goodwin says the MainstreamingSmarter Travel conference offers a realopportunity to define where smarterchoices thinking is going

8 Travelling in the right directionGreg Hartshorn asks whether smartertravel is just an eddy or really part ofthe mainstream?

12 Spelling out the benefitsThe Local Sustainable Transport Fundhas been a genuine success, writesJason Torrance

15 New solutions for historic problemsLynn Sloman considers what it willtake to ‘mainstream’ smarter travel

18 Manchester’s smart solutionsMainstreaming LSTF is the way aheadfor Greater Manchester

20 Paving the way for smarter travelThe DfT’s 2007 guide to personaltravel planning has proven to be aninfluential publication, reports JonParker

23 An enterprising visionPaul Johnson provides an LEP’sperspective on sustainable transport

24 Sustainable investment makeseconomic sense’Shovel-ready’ transport schemeswork best, believes Tony Ciaburro

26 A green and accesible landPersonalised travel planning inpredominantly rural settings presentsvery particular challenges, writeRichard Adams, Laura Gosling andDavid Knight

28 Marketing the mainstreamChanging travel behaviour requires afinely tuned and sustained marketingstrategy, write Amanda Pearce andAmy Boyle

30 Choosing the right ingredientsLeicestershire and Nottinghamshirehave been perfecting the LSTF recipe,explains Daniel Godfrey

33 De-congesting a complicated countyHertfordshire is embracing smartertravel concepts, reports Mark Moran

34 Changing behaviour to get peoplecyclingThomas Stokell and Sama Alyasirishare the latest thinking on how wecan apply behaviour change theory toencourage more people to cycle moreoften

37 Delivering the goodsFreight and deliveries are the ‘elephantin the room’ of sustainable transport,writes Freddie Talberg

39 Making the right connectionsThinking locally could be the beststrategic solution and smarter phoneswill enable us to travel moresustainably, argues Gordon Baker

41 Mainstreaming Smarter Travel EventGuide

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Contents



As the new Minister of State forTransport, I have taken onresponsibility for a range of

transport issues. This includes the LocalSustainable Transport Fund, which hasgiven a major funding boost to smarttravel solutions across England. My newportfolio also covers a number ofassociated topics, such as integratedjourneys, smart ticketing, transportaccessibility, and, most importantly, therole of transport in growing our economy. It’s been an interesting first month in the

role of Minister of State. I have beenconsistently impressed by the aspirationsthat local authorities have for theirtransport systems. Transport plays acrucial role in creating places we want towork and live and a good transport systemcan transform lives. It can link people tojobs and education. It can improve healthand wellbeing. And it can bringcommunities closer together. This year, Landor LINKS have worked

with the Department for Transport,Transport for Greater Manchester,Sustrans and Atkins to deliver aconference and magazine which both takethe name of ‘Mainstreaming SmarterTravel’. But what does ‘mainstreaming’mean? To me, it means a communitywhere cycling or walking, hopping on the

bus or sharing a lift with a colleague, is thenorm. Where local authorities do not needto convince the public to travelsustainably, because the public hasalready bought in to the idea. We know that smarter travel initiatives

deliver high benefit for low cost. And theneed for cheap, effective transportsolutions continues to be important evenas our economy shows sign of recovery.We need to understand what works andwhat doesn’t. And we need to gatherevidence to support business cases forfuture investment in smarter travel. MyDepartment’s Monitoring and Evaluationframework goes some way to deliveringthis, and I’d like to personally thankeveryone who is participating in the

collection of evidence for this. But greatvalue can also be gained by talking to eachother, discussing barriers encountered andsolutions found, and collectively buildingthe knowledge needed to deliver the bestlocal transport networks we can. I very much welcome this opportunity to

contribute to the transport systems of thefuture, from developing High Speed Raillinks, to encouraging better journeyconnectivity, to promoting the importanceof accessibility across transport modes. Iwish you all the best as we continue tostrive for a transport system that isaccessible, integrated and smart.

Baroness Kramer,Minister of State for Transport

5

We need to understandwhat works and whatdoesn’t. And we need togather evidence tosupport business casesfor future investment in smarter travelBaroness Kramer

Minister’s foreword

Over the past year Landor LINKShas been working with theDepartment for Transport on the

Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF)engagement programme, which sharesbest practice between the 96 projects,through a series of events andpublications. As Phil Goodwin notes in his keynote

article, if by ‘mainstream’ we mean thatsmarter travel already represents thebiggest item of expenditure in transport inBritain, this is “manifestly unrealistic”, butit is certainly true to say that there is lotsof good work being delivered nationwide. This magazine, the articles that have

appeared in the pages of Local TransportToday over the past year, and a nationalconference which features over 80speakers attest to the surge of activityhappening across the country.Last December the Rebooting Smarter

Travel event and magazine feted the LSTFas reigniting the smarter travel sector aftera number of quiet years. This year’s Mainstreaming Smarter

Travel conference in Manchester will giveLSTF practitioners opportunity to hearabout some of the great work beingdelivered and take away lessons. To get a feel for what is happening at the

conference take a look at the programmeat the back of the magazine. You will see30 case studies presented in a speedlearning format. The busy programme hasbeen designed to facilitate discussion andnetworking, allowing project teams todiscuss what has been tried and how well,or not, it has worked.We are at the mid-point of the initial

LSTF programme, so now is a good time tostart thinking about the future. We havehad the welcome news from the DfT thatthe initial LSTF programme will be

extended for an extra year and be includedwithin the Single Local Growth Fund toenable bids for Local EnterprisePartnerships (LEPs). Many large businesses were amongst

the earliest to adopt travel plans for theirworkplaces, so this arrangement shouldhold no fear for those working in smartertravel. However, whether smarter travelbecomes mainstreamed rests in large parton the results of the first campaign.If the theme for 2012-13 is

“Mainstreaming”, what word will best sumup 2013-14? We suggest “Embedding”.What do you think?I look forward to a productive two days

of learning and discussion in Manchester.

Rory McMullan, Project manager,

LSTF Engagement, Landor [email protected]

Introduction

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Last year the theme of theincreasingly important annualconference on smarter choices was

‘Rebooting’, and this year it will be‘Mainstreaming’. This year severalhundred specialists – practitioners andresearchers – will be gathering inManchester on the 3rd and 4th ofDecember to work out how to cope withthe way ahead.Norman Baker had agreed to do the

keynote speech, as he did last year(though in the event he and his ministerialteam were stranded on a station platformat Paddington). However, following Baker’stransfer to the Home Office, it will be newtransport minister Baroness Kramer whowill open the event.Introducing the conference last year I

wrote: “By every reckoning the currentconditions ought to be favourable for a setof policy measures which offer a(relatively) easy, cheap and politicallyattractive way of improving travelopportunities.” And surely the same wordsapply today.It is normal to give conferences some

such title, with words like ‘launching’,‘studying’, ‘implementing’, ‘understanding’,‘changing’ and so on. They don’t alwayshave a specific meaning, and maybe theydon’t have to – they offer a way ofbranding an event, designing a leaflet anddrawing attention. But on the face of it the move from

‘Rebooting’ to ‘Mainstreaming’ doessuggest at least a symbolic transition frompreparatory work to a great flood ofactivity. The last year has certainly seenthe continuation of various fundingstreams intended to support smarterchoices, and almost alone amongtransport policies there is simply noserious body of opposition. Smarterchoices approaches are cheap, quitepopular, remarkably effective, andcontribute usefully both to specific localimprovement of opportunities and qualityof life, the attractiveness of local areas,non-transport objectives, especiallyhealth, and the highest level of policies onsustainability. Those who are familiar with experience

and the research (which doesn’t includeeverybody who ought to be) are by nowrather clear that there is a centrality, acomprehensiveness, about smarterchoices which justify their inclusion atevery level of strategy.While the case for smarter choices

seems clear, this year’s event still setsaside some time to discuss what this

attractive phrase actually means. The firstsession of the conference is designed as aproper discussion among the participantsrather than speeches from the platform – awelcome move as opportunities for debateare sadly rare in transport conferences.One session title offers, perhaps as aworking definition, “Embedding smarterchoices into general practice”.Rory McMullan, the Mainstreaming

Smarter Travel conference organiser, wroteto me stating: “Mainstreaming is one ofthose words which is often used aboutsmarter choices, but not clearly defined,and I think your article might go some wayto clarifying what we mean. How do we goabout mainstreaming? How will we know

if we have been successful? How does thisfit in the overall context of transport policyand practice?”Good questions, and not easy to answer.

Let’s think about the word itself. It comes,of course, from basic physical geography;as small streams join larger ones, the flowof water becoming bigger and bigger, untilthey eventually become a river and flow tothe sea. In simple terms, the main streamis the biggest one. Well that, in a sense, isa helpful starting point, and there is asalience in the metaphor because smarterchoices are indeed not a single policy, buta wide and changing variety of differentstreams – information, advice,improvement in operations, opportunities,infrastructure, favouring walking, cycling,public transport, various forms ofalternatives to travel including e-commerce – all contributing to a less cardependent culture. Multiple small streamscontributing to a greater flow – that’sgood.But here is the reality check; we know

perfectly well that smarter choices do notrepresent the biggest element of transportexpenditure or effort. Saying smarterchoices should be the mainstream oftransport policy is, I think, a legitmateproposition. It needs argument, but it isnot silly. Saying that smarter choices arealready in that position is manifestlyunrealistic. But words evolve, and it isworth recognising that the main use of‘mainstream’, as a single word, is notabout streams and water at all: it refers tocultures. I like the Wikipedia definition, which

starts: “The mainstream includes allpopular culture and media culture,typically disseminated by mass media.The opposite of the mainstream aresubcultures, countercultures and cultfollowings” (It then goes on to a ratherAmerican-oriented discussion aboutwhether it is a pejorative term or not,which we can leave for now). The point of the mainstream is its

dominance, it is the prevailing wisdom, it isthe zeitgeist. From that point of view, theculture of smarter choices exists, but thereare great swathes of government who see

6

There is substantialevidence that smarterchoices give very goodvalue for money indeed –better than mostinfrastructure projectsPhil Goodwin

Learning to go with the flowPhil Goodwin says the Mainstreaming Smarter Travel conference offers a realopportunity to define where smarter choices thinking is going

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it as an amusing diversion, a sop tosustainability, a good candidate for rathercheap ‘initiatives’, but simply not in thesame class as the ‘real’ priorities ofmassive expansion of infrastructure fortravel, and essentially disposable. In this context there is a peculiar sort of

concept-blindness about smarter choices.Financial pressures on national and localgovernment, as indeed on most of thepublic, mean that there is a need forreassurance that any substantialexpenditure gives good value for money,and is in accord with the political andeconomic priorities of the time. There is substantial evidence that

smarter choices give very good value formoney indeed – better than mostinfrastructure projects. This is in line witha decade of discovery that small, local,cheap improvements to the quality andease of transport (such as local safetyschemes, area traffic management,reallocation of road capacity to walkers,cyclists and public transport, andimprovements to the public realm in towncentres and areas of concentratedshopping and leisure activity) typicallygive benefit-cost ratios (BCRs) in doublefigures, with benefits that may be 10 or 20times as large as costs, or more, comparedwith ratios in the range 1-6 of even thebest infrastructure projects. All this, youwould think, fits well into the mainstreamof transport appraisal and evaluation, butthe reality still is the illusion that ‘revenuespending is bad, capital spending is good’,with burdens of proof on small effectivepolicies, which are more stringent than isever demanded on even the mostimplausible claims of infrastructure‘contributing to economic growth’.So what we have is the paradox that

smarter choices are indeed in themainstream of transport thinkingculturally, but are still at the level ofminority interest in the allocation of funds.They are in the vanguard, I would say, butdo not yet constitute the mainstream.Transport consultant Lynn Sloman, who

describes the current situation as “chillybut with some grounds for optimism”, has

started to put a figure to this (as she didfor cycling, an important piece of evidencewhich underpinned the £10 per head peryear which the Parliamentary CyclingGroup formally recommended). Her interpretation of mainstreaming,

expressed in this publication is particularlyimportant. “In 2015, there will be £179mfor smarter travel,” she says. “That shouldbecome a dedicated, on-going fundingcommitment, 40% revenue and 60%capital… It needs to increase by 25% peryear for the next decade, with each poundfrom DfT matched by local authorities ortheir partners. That would give roughly£40 per citizen per year for sustainabletravel. Only then will smarter travel reallybe mainstream.” (See page 15).That’s very cleverly pitched at the crux

of political achievability and real impact,characteristic of Lynn’s targets. I’d vote forit. But we do need to think about theexpenditures of billions, if the mainstreamhas millions.

7

We know perfectly wellthat smarter choices donot represent thebiggest element oftransport expenditure oreffort. Saying smarterchoices should be themainstream of transportpolicy is, I think, alegitmate propositionPhil Goodwin

The author

Phil Goodwin is professor of transportpolicy at the Centre for Transport andSociety, University of West of England,Bristol, and emeritus professor atUniversity College London. He chairs apanel discussion on the opening day ofMainstreaming Smarter Travel.

LSTF: The key numbersThe Local Sustainable Transport Fundamounts to over £1 billion investment insustainable travel awarded to 96 projectsacross England. The twin objectives of theprogramme are to facilitate economicdevelopment while reducing carbonemissions. Associated benefits include:improved safety, air quality, and increasedlevels of physical activity.

South EastNumber of projects funded: 21DfT funding (2011-15): £111mLocal contribution also provided (2011-15):£102m

South WestNumber of projects funded: 15DfT funding (2011-15): £88mLocal contribution also provided (2011-15):£102.8m

East of EnglandNumber of projects funded: 10DfT funding (2011-15): £51.238mLocal contribution also provided (2011-15):£46.165m

East MidlandsNumber of projects funded: 6DfT funding (2011-15): £32.575mLocal contribution also provided (2011-15):£33.349m

West MidlandsNumber of projects funded: 12DfT funding provided (2011-15): £77mLocal contribution also provided (2011-15):£58m

Yorkshire & HumberNumber of projects funded: 10DfT funding provided (2011-15): £52mLocal contribution also provided (2011-15):£68m

North EastNumber of projects funded: 9DfT funding (2011-15): £25mLocal contribution also provided (2011-15):£34m

North WestNumber of projects funded: 12DfT funding (2011-15): £91mLocal contribution also provided (2011-15):£78m

www.getbritaincycling.netThe ultimate reference for guidance onthe planning, design and management ofcycling strategies and infrastructure.

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Is ‘smarter travel’ now part ofmainstream transport planning anddelivery by local authorities? The

team at Atkins has taken the opportunityto ask some of the many local authoritieswe are supporting in delivering theirLocal Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF)programmes for their views.

Moving to mainstreamThe concept of smarter travel – the multi-faceted promotion of sustainable modesof travel – has been around for some time,and the ambition that it will form part ofthe transport ‘mainstream’ has beenaround since at least 2005 (with thelaunch of the seminal report SmarterChoices – Changing the way we travel). Sowhy are we still asking the question?Historically, smarter travel has not beena particular focus of government atnational level. Whilst the advent of LocalTransport Plans (LTPs) meant that a lotmore money was available for localtransport during the 2000s, localauthorities spent a relatively smallpercentage of their budgets on smartertravel. In part, this was due to a lack ofrevenue funding to support behaviouralchange initiatives, but also due to a lack ofthe skills, guidance and political support todeliver locally.However, current investment throughLSTF, providing dedicated capital andrevenue funding for smarter travelactivities, means that a greater share oftransport spending and activity locally ison smarter travel. Smarter travel spendinghas of course received further boosts fromother funds such as the Better Bus AreaFund, Linking Places Fund and Cycle CityAmbition Grant. Despite the loss of theCommission for Integrated Transport and,more recently, Cycling England, there ismore funding available for smarter traveland smaller transport schemes than everbefore.Amongst the local authorities Atkins isworking with, the momentum created bythe Government behind smarter travel,

and cycling in particular, is welcomed. AsThomas Evans, LSTF project officer atGloucestershire County Council, explains:“The LSTF has provided a welcome focusand highlighted the role that smarter travelcan have as part of an overall transportprogramme. Concentrating on a smallergeographic area has enabledimprovements to have a higher impact onlocally identified issues.”Joe Carter, Slough Borough Council’sLSTF programme director, has a similarview: “The LTSF programme has allowedus to focus significant resources onchanging the travel behaviour of thosecontributing most to congestion in Slough.

We expect the programme to make atangible difference to employees,employers and school children.”In itself, though greater investment inthe short-term does not make smartertravel mainstream. Rather, smarter travelcan only move into the mainstream whenit can become sustainable. The LSTFinitiative offers a real opportunity toachieve this by:

encouraging LSTF’s smarter travelactivities to become fully integrated withother programmes (such as thoserelating to the LTP and developments)demonstrating the value of LSTF’s

Travelling in the right directionGreg Hartshorn askswhether smarter travel isjust an eddy or really partof the mainstream?

Signage and information form part of Southampton’s Legible City scheme

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smarter travel to engender political andstakeholder support, and ultimatelysecure long-term funding.

Integrating smarter travelOf course, local authorities are busy onother smaller transport projects besidesthose funded by LSTF, the LTP programmebeing the most obvious example. Some ofthese projects are similar to what we seein LSTF programmes, such as walking andcycling projects. However, the LTPprogramme, developer-funded schemes,and those funded through the Better BusArea Fund are about capital expenditure,so generally there is little opportunity toundertake ‘softer’ behavioural changeactivities such as workplace and schoolstravel planning, promotion and marketing. The LSTF provides the revenue tofinance such activities, albeit in selectedareas, and brings extra investment tosupport capital schemes which areadditional to those in the LTP programme.The extra funding invested in a location,and a focus on targeted improvements inend-to-end journeys, means that LSTF canhave much more impact in those areas inwhich it is deployed. LSTF, therefore, offersan excellent role model, but we shouldremember that many parts of Englandcurrently receive no LSTF money. Even inlocal authority areas which are receivingsuch funding, initiatives are ring-fencedgeographically, with, in many cases, urbanareas taking priority. Rob Murphy, LSTF programme manager,Wiltshire Council makes this point: “Thereis some integration of LSTF, particularlywith our LTP programme, but part of thedifficulty is that the LSTF project issomewhat area and theme specific.” It’salso worth noting that LSTF-typeintervention may not work everywhere, asMurphy highlights: “In predominately ruralareas where car ownership levels are, bynecessity, relatively high, mainstreamingcycling and smarter choices will bedifficult.” Having said this, there is evidence thatintegration of LSTF activities gives localauthorities the opportunity to deliverauthority-wide initiatives that mayotherwise have been unaffordable, addingvalue to LSTF, developer-funded, PinchPoint and LTP programmes. InGloucestershire, for example, LSTF hashelped to deliver smartcards, real-timepassenger information and intelligent buspriority as well as a common brand. Thecounty council’s Thomas Evans explains:“The brand developed for the LSTF

programme is being used to promote arange of mainstream passenger transportinformation and services. Also, a legacy ofour LSTF programme will be a range ofservices linked by a common brand that ismore recognised by the public and whichwill continue to be used by the councilafter the LSTF programme has finished.” Integration of LSTF into otherprogrammes, including developer-fundedschemes, public realm and publictransport projects can therefore bringmutual benefits which add value byincreasing the impacts on both sides.Adrian Webb, LSTF programme managerat Southampton City Council, notes that:“LSTF measures contribute to ourintegrated transport programme to meetour LTP aims. We deliver coordinatedprojects across funds to ensure greaterimpact and value for money.”If we can do this right, we can use thelegacy of LSTF investment now to supportprojects funded in other ways for manyyears to come, in LSTF areas andelsewhere.

Demonstrating the value ofsmarter travelOver the last ten years, various projectshave sought to demonstrate the potentialof smarter travel measures to changetravel behaviour, among them: CyclingDemonstration Towns, Sustainable TravelDemonstration Towns and the Cycling Cityand Towns Programme. Evaluation of suchprojects has tended to focus more onbenefits to health than outcomes relatingto creating growth or cutting carbon.If smarter travel is to move into themainstream, practitioners need to securesustained funding, both to deliverinfrastructure, and to continue to pay forthe pool of skilled smarter travel officers

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A sustainable transport day aimed at the commercial sector in Cheltenham

Slough Hospital staff learn how to drive the‘Smart Way’ on a simulator

We expect the LSTFprogramme to make atangible difference toemployees, employersand school childrenJoe Carter, Slough Borough Council


10

which local authorities have worked hardto build up. In turn, this requires sustainedpolitical and stakeholder support and aclear set of evidence-based achievements.Whether local authority officers look forfunding from existing council budgets orelsewhere, such as the Local Growth Fund,they will need to convince decision-makers of the benefits of smarter travel,and in particular, the role of smarter travelin delivering local economic growth. Thisview is shared by a number of our clients.Joe Carter from Slough Borough Councilis clear on what local decision-makers areinterested in: “The key objectives of ourLSTF programme are to help our residentsinto work and improve trading conditionsfor local businesses. We are participatingin the Department for Transport’s LSTFevaluation programme so that we canunderstand better how well we areachieving these objectives.”Wiltshire’s Rob Murphy shares thisview: “I see having a good, robust andlocally relevant evidence base as essentialin getting decision-makers to championsmarter travel.”Meeting this goal will be a tall order forany individual authority, meaning thatLSTF authorities nationally must cometogether to identify credible evidence ofhow investment in smarter travel cancreate growth, as well as cut carbon andbring health benefits. The level of smartertravel activity across the country part-funded by LSTF is phenomenal, but we arestill in the early days of providing enoughrobust evidence to convince big businessof the benefits of investing in walking,cycling and all the other facets of smartertravel. There is also a tendency to focus onmonitoring inputs and outputs rather than

outcomes, which could limit the evidencebase. The DfT’s plans for a formal study toevaluate the impacts of the LSTFprogramme is therefore most welcome,but it will be some time before the resultsof this work are known.The 2013 Spending Round has givensome much-needed certainty to futurelevels of the Integrated Transport Block.However, this funding is not ring-fencedfor transport, let alone smarter travel.Local authorities may therefore turn theirattention to securing a share of the LocalGrowth Fund. To date, the degree of engagement withLocal Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) bylocal authorities on this issue has beenmixed. But it is important that allauthorities begin this process before LEPsfinalise their Strategic Economic Plans inDecember. Also, local authorities need towork internally to earmark funding forsmarter choices measures to supporteconomic growth and to help localauthorities achieve their statutory dutiesin relation to carbon emissions, air qualityand congestion.Southampton’s Adrian Webb says: “The

reduction in the allocation to integratedtransport pots for highway authorities post2015, and the money being divertedthrough to LEPs, presents opportunitiesand threats to the delivery of behaviourchange programmes, including the loss ofthose in favour of larger scale sub-regionalprojects.”

Compelling body of evidenceSo, it is only when we can demonstrate therole of smarter travel within the widertoolkit of interventions, and show how itcan help to achieve the ambitions ofbusinesses, local authorities andcommunities, thereby securing supportand funding, that we can claim thatsmarter travel has become mainstream. Itis only then that smarter travel will befunded by choice from more traditionalfunding sources, rather than through aring-fenced pot such as LSTF. There is an onus on all practitioners toseek out this evidence and share itamongst the LSTF community. Together,the knowledge we can collate and sharewill result in a body of evidence that ismuch more compelling than its individualparts.All these things are achievable, andsmarter travel is on a crest at the moment.Now is the time to take advantage of themomentum kick-started by LSTF to ensurenot only that we deliver our programmessuccessfully, but that we can capture thebenefits of doing so.

The author

Greg Hartshorn is Atkins’ director ofTransport Policy & Strategy. Atkinswould like to thank those involved fortheir participation in this article.

Engaging with school children in Slough… ...and during a Freshers’ Fayre in Peterborough

I see having a good,robust and locallyrelevant evidence baseas essential in gettingdecision-makers tochampion smarter travelRob Murphy, Wiltshire CountyCouncil



LSTF. Local. Sustainable. Transport.Fund. For the delegates at the‘Mainstreaming Smarter Travel’

conference, the phrase is as familiar as anold friend. The acronym is bandied aroundall the time – it rolls off the tongue. Butwith this familiarity we should not forgetthat the LSTF revolutionised transportfunding in England. The foundations ofthis revolution can be found in the firsttwo letters of our friendly acronym – localand sustainable.These two words play right into the

heart of Sustrans’ mission. The LSTF, byproviding dedicated national governmentfunding for transport, gave localcommunities the power to makedecisions about their transport networksfor the first time. It meant that localpeople with local knowledge could investin transport schemes that were not onlyenvironmentally friendly but good for theeconomy too. It kick-started an ever-growing list of projects that encouragewalking, cycling and public transport. Sustrans is working with these

communities to deliver changes on theground that will make it easier for peopleto choose alternatives to the car for moreof their everyday journeys. We believethat car dependency is too high, that it’scrippling household budgets, holding backour economy and inflicting irreversibledamage on our environment. But we alsobelieve that there is huge potential tochange. With 55% of all car journeysbeing shorter than five miles, the evidence

shows that by investing in walking, cyclingand public transport, 9 out of 10 localjourneys could be made without the needto use a car. And the time is now. This year there’s

been a political awakening; a realisationby our leaders that we need a plan for thefuture of transport in this country. Itcomes right from the top. David Cameronannounced £114m in funding in August,saying he wanted to kick-start a cyclingrevolution; Westminster passionatelydebated how to ‘Get Britain Cycling’ while5,000 cyclists surrounded Parliament,heralding the birth of the cycling vote andLondon mayor Boris Johnson revealed a

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Spelling out the benefitsThe Local Sustainable Transport Fund has beena genuine success, writes Jason Torrance

Working with schools to educateand encourage walking to school

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near-billion pound plan for cycling in thecapital. In addition, this government hasinvested more per year in cycling andsustainable travel than ever before, withalmost £700m made available throughthe Local Sustainable Transport Fund,Community Linking Places Fund andCycle Safety Fund on top of blockallocations provided to local authorities. But there’s still a long way to go if we’re

to reach the dizzy heights of some of theEuropean countries we so often look tofor leading examples of best practice fortransport. So with that in mind, Sustranshas been busy supporting localauthorities and the communities that theyserve across England through the LSTFand through other programmes. This year we celebrated the successful

delivery of 84 new walking and cyclingnetworks as part of our Connect 2programme. In the last five years, withfunding from the Big Lottery Fund,Sustrans has worked in partnership toinvest £50m and an additional £115mfrom local authority partners, that willover time transform the way peopletravel. Our work has focused on creatingnew bridges and crossings for pedestriansand cyclists across major roads, busyrailways or rivers (which deter travel onfoot and bike because of traffic danger orlong detours), and linking these intonetworks of new and improved walkingand cycling routes. Four million peoplenow have safer travel choices to work,school and the shops. In London, the Mayor’s Vision for

Cycling has set the tone for the rest of theUK. Importantly, alongside some bigticket items, Boris Johnson hasannounced a new network of ‘quiet ways’– direct, continuous, fully-signpostedroutes on peaceful side streets, aimed atpeople put off by cycling in traffic.Sustrans has been awarded the contractfor scoping these new routes, which wehope will revolutionise cycling in the

capital. Over the next 12 months we’ll beworking with Transport for London andlocal authorities to find the best routes forthis new network, with the vision ofmaking it easier for all Londoners to makedoor-to-door journeys safely by bike or onfoot.In Wales, Sustrans was instrumental in

the conception and realisation of theActive Travel (Wales) Bill, which wasassented into law in October. The result ofsix years of hard work, the Bill means thatall local authorities must prepare astrategic plan for a network of activetravel routes and work towards deliveringit. New high quality design standards willsit alongside the Act, meaning peopleacross Wales can expect the highestquality infrastructure. We’re very proud tohave been behind world-first legislation,which means walking and cycling will nolonger be an afterthought in localplanning and it’s our aspiration to see thisconcept replicated throughout the UK inthe form of new nation-specificlegislation.But just building routes won’t yield the

results we need. People also need to beeducated, informed and encouraged touse them. Sustrans works with parents,teachers and students at 1,400 schools toimprove skills and awareness aroundwalking and cycling. We typically see athird of students cycling to schoolregularly. The national average is just 2%.It shows that when families and schoolshave the right mix of information andsupport they can truly transform theschool journey and start to form habits forour kids that will last a lifetime. Sustrans’ Personalised Travel Planning

(PTP) projects cut local traffic congestion

and improve health by encouragingpeople to make a few changes to theirdaily travel choices when and where itsuits them best. We have worked onprojects targeting more than 280,000households and have consistentlyachieved an 11% reduction in car drivertrips and increases in walking, cycling andpublic transport trips of between 15% and33%. It’s cheap and incredibly effective.It’s when capital and revenue funds are

combined that the magic really happens.Our well-loved acronym, L-S-T-F, can helpus achieve both these things. So, looking to the future, it’s clear that

long-term certainty over this fundingstream is needed to ensure that councilsare encouraged to continue planning forthe future. This kind of forward thinkingwill help local authorities to make walking,cycling and public transport viablealternatives to car travel. However, withfunding moving into the Single LocalGrowth Fund the reality may well be thatlocal authorities working through theirLocal Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)choose to allocate less money tosustainable transport, losing the nationalleadership and the local momentumcreated through dedicated funding forsustainable travel. Our hope is that LSTF continues to be

our familiar friend, that it will continue torevolutionise transport in England andthat, as a result, everyone has access tohealthy, affordable and sustainable traveloptions.

13

The author

Jason Torrance is policy director atSustrans.

It’s clear that long-termcertainty over thisfunding stream isneeded to ensure thatcouncils are encouragedto continue planning forthe futureJason Torrance

Creating routes forpedestrians and cyclists



Irecently had the pleasurable, butdaunting, experience of beingcommissioned to prepare a

sustainable travel ‘blueprint’ for the citywhere I grew up: Canterbury. It waspleasurable because Canterbury’smedieval core and compact urban formshould lend itself to sustainable travel.The opportunities to suggest somepractical and transformative solutionswere quickly apparent. But it was daunting because Canterbury

is conservative with a small ‘c’, and not aplace where new thinking is readilyembraced. For example, attempts to tackletraffic problems by closing a mainentrance to the city to cars (the WestgateTowers, the largest surviving medievalgateway in Britain) had caused uproar.Motorists were on the rampage. The citycouncil was under attack.There is nothing unusual about

Canterbury. The challenges it faces inchanging from a car-dependent city to asustainable travel city are typical of thosefaced by many local authorities. It is insuch small and medium-sized cities thatthe argument about smarter travel has stillto be won.The Local Sustainable Transport Fund

(LSTF) has been great news for smartertravel. But the overall climate forsustainable travel at the moment is prettychilly. Plans by Local Transport Bodies(LTBs) appear set to increase cardependency: recent research by theCampaign for Better Transport and CPREfound that many LTB plans are focussedon road-building. Pronouncements by localgovernment secretary Eric Pickles aboutparking policy seem designed toundermine vibrant, attractive andsustainable town centres. It all feels ratherfrustrating.

Three reasons for optimismDespite the challenges in cities likeCanterbury, and right across the country, Ithink there are grounds for optimism. First,some town halls are just getting on with it.Many have shown a quiet consistency ofpurpose over the last decade or more.They are creating better places to live anddo business – and they see superbsustainable transport as essential, along

with a high quality public realm. Attitudesto sustainable transport amongst ourpolitical class have shifted in the lastdecade, and ambitious politiciansincreasingly see bus rapid transit schemesor city-wide cycle networks as the way tomake their mark. That would have beeninconceivable in the 1990s.Second, young people are voting with

their feet. As Professor Phil Goodwin andothers have shown, personal car usepeaked in many countries about a decadeago. It isn’t yet clear what all the reasonsmay be, but changes in attitude andculture amongst young people appear tobe an important factor.Young people are learning to drive later

in life (if they bother to learn at all); andtransport researcher Gordon Stokes has

shown that those who learn later alsodrive less. Amongst people in their thirties,those who delay acquiring a drivinglicence until they are 30 drive 35% lessthan those who learnt to drive at 17. I’mstruck that many of the young adults Iknow are choosing to live in city centres(not just London), and view a car as aliability. The trend leaders amongst theyoung are making different choices tothose made by their parents. That’sdifferent to what we have seen in the pasttoo. The third reason for optimism is that we

know what works. We have become moresophisticated about combining capital

investment and revenue support. Goodsmarter travel programmes aren’t justabout marketing – that’s a waste of effortunless the service being marketed isexcellent. Nor are they just about capitalinvestment – there are many factors thatinfluence travel choice, and service qualityis only part of the story. Smarter travelprogrammes are addressing all the factorsthat prevent sustainable travel, in a waythat they never used to.

Two things we can do betterThese reasons for optimism are notreasons for complacency. Alongsidesmarter travel, we need ‘smart growth’ –and sustainable travel practitioners coulddo more to connect the two areas ofpolicy. It makes no sense to ‘do’ smartertravel programmes while building lowdensity car-dependent housing, large retailparks and out-of-town business parks.There is a body of evidence that smart

growth (compact development withexcellent public transport and cycle links)results in less car use, more successfullocal economies, and more active healthytravel. But most evidence is from the USAand is discounted as irrelevant by manyplanners, who still propose low-density‘garden city’ developments. We need tosupport smart growth, and we need togather more UK-based evidence of thedifference between smart growth(compact, sustainable travel-oriented) and‘dumb growth’ (low density, car-dependent).

15

Attitudes to sustainabletransport amongst ourpolitical class haveshifted in the lastdecade, and ambitiouspoliticians increasinglysee bus rapid transitschemes or city-widecycle networks as theway to make their markLynn Sloman

New solutions for historic problemsLynn Sloman considers what it will take to ‘mainstream’ smarter travel

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And I think we can do smarter travelprogrammes better. My colleague IanTaylor talks about turning ‘millstones’ into‘lifebelts’ (below). ‘Millstones’ are thefactors that drag someone down intotravelling by car. Smarter travelprogrammes turn each millstone into a‘lifebelt’ that supports sustainable travel.We’ve got better at tackling the outermillstones in Ian’s diagram, by improving

poor services and giving people betterinformation. But we aren’t fully addressingthe inner ones: habit and social norms.Habits might be changed through free

trials of the travel options we want peopleto adopt – for example, one month of freebus travel. David Hall and Rob Moore atsocial enterprise Behaviour Change areworking with Greener Journeys to see ifsuch offers can delay driving licence

acquisition by young people. AlistairKirkbride at the Lake District National ParkAuthority wants to capitalise on ourwillingness to sample new experienceswhilst on holiday (e.g. trying an electricbike). When extended highway closuresare planned, we could use the strategyadopted by Transport for London duringthe Olympics, offering email and textmessage updates, cycle maps andpersonalised information aboutalternatives. Shifting social norms is important

because our actions are influenced byobserving what others do. Workplacecycle challenges and cycling festivals canshift the social norm temporarily, and theevidence shows that a temporary changecan help reset social norms the rest of thetime. But where are the interventions thatreset social norms for bus travel?

The one essential ingredientThe Department for Transport (DfT)deserves credit for stimulating the growthof smarter travel programmes: somededicated people there have taken theideas of crazy visionaries (of which I’mproud to have been one) and, with localauthorities, developed large-scaleprogrammes that have proved themselvesin terms of impact and value for money.But the job isn’t finished. More than

anything, the mainstreaming of smartertravel depends upon it becoming a corepart of DfT’s programme. In 2015, therewill be £179m for smarter travel. Thatshould become a dedicated, ongoingfunding commitment, 40% revenue and60% capital. From studies I’ve beeninvolved in, it needs to increase by 25%per year for the next decade, with eachpound from DfT matched by localauthorities or their partners. That wouldgive roughly £40 per citizen per year forsustainable travel. Only then will smartertravel really be mainstream.And Canterbury? Well, we presented

our sustainable transport blueprint tocouncillors, local business people and thepublic, and talked to the local media. It allwent well. The chairman of the businessorganisation enthused about the blueprint.The city council voted to put it “at theheart” of their transport strategy.Canterbury isn’t there yet, like the rest ofthe country, but it has made a start. We’llsee.

16

The author

Lynn Sloman is director of Transportfor Quality of Life.

Canterbury’s Westgate Towers



Greater Manchester has areputation for doing things thesmart way. When it comes to

transport, the region boasts the country’sbiggest light rail system and is currentlydelivering the largest capital transportspend outside London. But it’s not allabout transport infrastructure. Transport for Greater Manchester

(TfGM) is spearheading an ambitioussustainable travel programme thatencompasses everything from personaljourney planning and business travel plans,to improved cycling and walking routesand innovative uses of open data on theregion’s transport network.It’s being driven by funding from the

government’s Local Sustainable TransportFund (LSTF) – which, alongside localcontributions, has seen a £54m potavailable since June 2012 for the ‘Let’s Getto Work’ programme. Now, 18 months since the funding was

awarded, positive results are beingdelivered. Dr Jon Lamonte, TfGM’s chiefexecutive, says: “Greater Manchester hasa great reputation for partnership working.The success of our LSTF bid was given theactive support of the public, private, andcommunity sectors and that same supportrecently won us a further £20m from theDfT’s Cycle City Ambition Grant.“There’s a shared recognition that

getting people moving on sustainable,greener transport is good for business,good for the environment and good forhealth. It’s a virtuous cycle.”Alongside the Commuter Cycle Project,

Greater Manchester’s LSTF programme ismade up of four integrated workstreams:

Sustainable access: through pedestrianand bike-friendly connections to keydestinationsTravel Choices: expanding the travelchoices of jobseekers and commuters,as well as employers at major businesssitesSmarter technology: to improve trafficflows and speed up bus services – andgive passengers real time travelinformation and smart ticketingEnabling community transport: givingmore people better access to local jobopportunities.

Councillor Andrew Fender, chair of theTfGM Committee, a body made up ofcouncillors from Greater Manchester’s tendistricts, says: “The LSTF programme hasbeen designed and is being taken forwardin partnership with Greater Manchester’sten local authorities.“We’re already seeing real results – four

community transport schemes that are upand running are being well used, we’vemade on-the-ground accessimprovements, and the Travel Choicesprogramme is making a real difference tolocal workers and businesses.”Linking communities with employment

opportunities and encouraging sustainablecommuting is at the centre of GreaterManchester’s ambitious plans. This hasseen a comprehensive network of cycleand walking route improvements beingdelivered across the ten districts ofGreater Manchester. Focused particularly on encouraging

cycling for short trips, or as part of alonger journey, more than 60km of new orimproved cycle and pedestrian routes andover 30 junction improvements will bedelivered by March 2015.Alongside these improved links,

improvements are also being made to the

quality and availability of secure cycleparking. This includes TfGM’s flagshipcycle hub programme, which looks toprovide secure facilities at commuterdestinations, key rail stations andMetrolink stops across GreaterManchester.Delivery is well under way with three

cycle hubs opened to date, including theflagship City Tower hub in the heart of thecity centre, which provides secure parkingfor almost 200 bikes along with showersand changing facilities, as well as a bikeshop.For harder to reach areas, existing ‘Local

Link’ demand responsive transportservices have been enhanced to betterconnect people with employmentopportunities. One example of wherebarriers to employment have beenremoved is at the Kingsway Business Parkin Rochdale, which is home to severalmajor and growing employers. LSTF funding has enabled the existing

Kingsway Local Link service to beenhanced, offering new early morning andlate night on-demand journeys for shiftworkers to travel to the site. The enhancedKingsway service was immediatelysuccessful with patronage, increasing by

18

Mainstreaming LSTF is the way ahead for Greater Manchester

Manchester’s smart solutions

A key strand of the Travel Choices programme is providing sustainable travel advice to business

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205% following the changes to theservices and Travel Choices marketingwith businesses and Jobcentres in thelocal area. Doing things smart is also important in

Greater Manchester, with LSTF fundingbeing used to introduce intermodal, real-time travel information – available to all byweb or mobile. LSTF is also part-fundingthe introduction of ‘get me there’ smartticketing system on buses, while on-road anew active travel management systemshould speed up bus journeys and bettermanage travel flow. Finally, TfGM’s Travel Choices

programme is helping commuters,businesses and jobseekers to get the mostout of Greater Manchester’s changingtransport network.Through a wide range of activities the

Travel Choices programme is helping toremove transport barriers to employmentopportunities and support sustainablecommuting and business travel. Partnership working and capacity

building is key to delivering success. Byworking with businesses and Jobcentres,the Travel Choices team has been able toeffectively support large numbers ofcommuters and jobseekers across GreaterManchester. The uptake of the TravelChoices offer has gone from strength tostrength, with over 250 businesses,covering 200,000 employees, havingalready started their sustainable journey,and 140 Travel Champions in Jobcentreshaving received training. With an eye firmly on what happens

next, Greater Manchester is consistentlydelivering LSTF excellence while skilfully

balancing ambition with robust delivery. TfGM’s transport strategy director, Dave

Newton, says: “It’s a huge and significantprogramme of work and our overall aim isto stimulate economic growth – throughbetter, greener transport – while reducingcarbon emissions. “Ultimately, we’re looking for this

programme to make a £5 return for every£1 invested – that’s up to £28m for thelocal economy. And the environmentalbenefits of taking a projected 26 millionkilometres of commuter car journeys offthe roads each year are huge.“Our LSTF bid plans to replace those car

journeys by generating 10 million extrapublic transport journeys and two millionextra cycling trips – reducing harmfulcarbon emissions by up to 1,000 tonnes ayear.”

19

TfGM is providing training for Jobcentre Plus staff and PrimeWork Programme contractors to ensure that they are fullyaware of new journey planning options, including cycling andwalking, that will be developed through the LSTF project andbeyond.The Travel Choices’ Access to Employment service has been

working closely with frontline advisors to jobseekers, offeringtraining and information on journeys in Greater Manchester.Training sessions have aimed to enhance advisor skills in

providing customers with comprehensive, informed advice ontravel options.

The core aims of the programme are to:

• Tackle jobseeker’s travel issues, thereby helping to removebarriers to employment

• Share travel planning skills to expand jobseekers’ travel-to-work horizons

• Give jobseekers access to those hard-to-reach jobopportunities.

More than 140 Jobcentre advisors have attended courses todate, with further sessions and follow-ups planned. Attendeesare equipped to become ‘ambassadors’ of Travel Choices,sharing the wealth of useful resources provided during thetraining among colleagues.Travel Choices is offering on-going advice and support to the

advisors, along with further resources to help removejobseekers’ barriers to work including a free one-month travelpass when entering employment and a bike back to workscheme.TfGM transport strategy director Dave Newton says: “We

ran some sessions at TfGM for Jobcentre advisors and at theoutset, 38% of attendees stated they were ‘not confident’ or‘not at all confident’ at giving travel advice to jobseekers.Following the training, 100% stated they were ‘fairly’ or ‘veryconfident’ in dispensing travel advice to jobseekers.“This is a fantastic example of an intervention paying clear

dividends, and making a marked difference in influencing travelbehaviour.”

Mainstreaming worksCase Study: Increasing access to employment by creating Travel Choices

TfGM is introducing a network of district cycle hubs Transport strategy director Dave Newton

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In 2007/08 I was fortunate to lead adedicated research team* thatundertook a major study on behalf of

the Department for Transport (DfT)examining the mechanics and impactsassociated with household-based personaltravel planning (PTP) programmes.The study examined in detail 15 PTP

case studies from across the UK andAustralia, along with a broaderinternational literature review. The studyculminated in the publication of a fullresearch report and practitioner’s guide(entitled Making PTP Work), which hassubsequently been used to help guidemany of the LSTF funded PTP programmesthat are currently being delivered.Back in 2007, a key aim of the research

was to understand whether PTP waseffective in influencing travel behaviour,and if so, to better understand the PTPprocess, and enable more local authoritiesto deliver/commission PTP programmes indifferent ways. This article takes a look atwhat has been happening in the world ofPTP since the research, and whether the2008 Making PTP Work guidance hashelped to change the shape of PTPdelivery across the UK.

Comparison: 2007 and 2013At the time of conducting our originalresearch the broad geography of UK PTPschemes was limited to a few locations,largely driven by places that had beensuccessful in securing central governmentfunding to deliver pilot programmes. Atthat time there was general consistency onthe reported success of these schemes,typically reporting to have reduced cardriver trips by between 9% and 11%. Thisis shown in Figure 1.

What has happened since?Since the publication of Making PTP Workthere has been significant growth anddiversity in the delivery and reportedoutcomes of household PTP programmesacross the UK, including most notably:

Full reporting of the findings of the threeSustainable Travel Towns, which

included an analysis of the final phasesof the PTP programmes (the 2007research examined the interim phases).Scottish Government-funded PTPprogrammes have been delivered acrossseven towns/cities in Scotland (as partof the Smarter Choices Smarter PlacesProgramme), and the final projectevaluation reports have now beenpublished. LSTF projects have been funded and arecurrently being delivered. Our internalreview of the 39 ‘Tranche 1’ projectsshowed that 31 of these included large-scale household PTP and workplace PTPprogrammes, demonstrating thegrowing importance of PTP within thesuite of smarter choices measures.Local authorities (and privatedevelopers) have been delivering theirown large scale programmes.

What does this mean for thedistribution of PTP across the UK?Figure 2 (opposite) shows the change ingeography of PTP projects since thepublication of Making PTP Work.

Has the market changed?There have been a number of newcommercial organisations and localauthorities that are delivering PTP usingtheir own adapted processes. In thisrespect it would appear that the MakingPTP Work practitioner’s guide has played

an important role in helping to betterunderstand the PTP process, and thebenefits that PTP can deliver. New approaches to PTP delivery

include:

Community Hubs:Delivering personaladvice through new social enterprisesand community groups, and engagingindividuals through trusted localnetworks.PTP Challenges: Building new concepts,ideas, pledges, rewards, self-monitoringof behaviour and stated intentions intothe PTP process to seek to securestronger long-term outcomes. New innovation: The use of newtechnology, including the testing ofmobile tablets to record data anddistribute materials, and for example,the launch of MyPTP, developed byLiftshare, which provides an automatedand electronic personal journey planningtool.Lighter touch PTP:Delivering PTP on abudget.Workplace and Education PTP:Redeploying the techniques developedfor residential schemes withinemployment and education sites.

So what does this mean?The PTP market appears to have beensignificantly enhanced (in both scale anddiversity) as a result of Making PTP Work;

20

Paving the way for smarter travelThe DfT’s 2007 guide to personal travel planning has proven to be an influential publication, reports Jon Parker

Figure 1: Reported success of PTP schemes, Making PTP Work (2007)*Comprising Integrated Transport Planning Ltd. (ITP) as leadconsultants, Richard Armitage Transport Consultancy, ClearyStevens Consulting and the University of West of England

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we at ITP are very proud of this. Webelieve this demonstrates the importanceof sharing knowledge and experiencethrough appropriately focussed research. The PTP market is now much more

mature and diverse than it was when theoriginal research was carried out in 2007.However, it also means we need tocontinue to better understand the longterm impacts of PTP, and to answer someof the remaining unanswered questions,such as:

What is the longevity of impacts?Westill know relatively little about theimpact of PTP interventions 2, 3, 4 and 5years post implementation, which canonly be gained by carrying out furtherlongitudinal surveys across PTPprogramme areas.What is the impact of technology onPTP programmes?We are still heavilyreliant on paper materials, and furtherresearch is required to understand thebehavioural response of new emergingtechnologies within PTP programmes. How do we best create a legacy fromPTP projects? There are few examplesof PTP programmes becomingembedded within the transport deliveryteams across local authorities, or indeedacross different service sectors. What are the wider impacts: economy,carbon, health? PTP delivery andevaluation tends to focus on a narrowset of indicators, and hence it is oftennot possible to properly reflect the widerimpacts on society (and indeed we maynot be maximising these impacts byrestricting advice solely on transportmatters). Is it a small number of people makinglarge changes to behaviour or a largenumber of people making small nudgestyle changes to behaviour thatcontributes most to reportedoutcomes? This can only be addressedthrough longitudinal panel surveys ofbehaviour, with most PTP evaluationstudies focussing to date on randomlydrawn independent before/aftersamples of the targeted population. What people (market segments) aremost likely to be influenced by PTP?We still know relatively little about theways in which we can improve thedelivery of PTP materials to make betteruse of our knowledge on populationsegments.How important is a good localsustainable transport network insecuring outcomes through PTP? In

2007 it appeared as if PTP works inalmost all community areas (excludingtransient populations) and now there ismore experience of PTP, it would behelpful to know if this is still the case, orwhether we can deduce more about therelationship between the effectivenessof PTP in areas with ‘good’ and ‘bad’levels of sustainable transportaccessibility.

These questions could be answered by acombination of an update to the 2007findings alongside fresh primary researchand evaluation for major PTP programmes.

Future performanceHaving spent 18 months seeking tounderstand every detail of the PTP processback in 2007/08 (and seen theexceptional efforts of all members of the

Making PTP Work research team to dissectthe evidence base underpinning thevarious case studies we examined) it isheart-warming to know that the researchfindings and practitioners guide haveproved valuable in helping people to betternavigate and understand how to delivereffective PTP programmes. It’s particularly rewarding to know that

the findings of research can beappropriately applied to improve futureproject performance, and I look forward tothe next opportunity to examine if, howand why PTP programmes influencebehaviour.

21

The author

Jon Parker is a director of IntegratedTransport Planning Limited (ITP).Contact: [email protected]

Figure 2: Estimate of the changing scale of LSTF/PTP project

The friendly face of the URS travel advisors working on behalf of Leicestershire County Council



Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership(SWLEP), like many other LEPs, has had to be reactive tothe requirements of central government. This means

often having to meet challenging timescales, with a clearemphasis on bringing forward ‘shovel ready’ schemes to delivereconomic benefits. As such, it is not surprising that the lion’sshare of the prioritised schemes have been made up of highwayimprovements. Many are closely related to facilitating newdevelopment, being comparatively uncontroversial anduncomplicated schemes, with reasonable prospects for securinglocal contributions.However, many LEPs are now finding that since completing the

prioritisation exercise for their major transport schemes, it hasbecome apparent a greater proportion of the funding will beaccessed competitively through the Single Local Growth Fund – apool of funding previously channelled through Department forTransport (DfT), the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). TheStrategic Economic Plan has, in effect, become the bid documentfor this additional funding, supported by appropriately scopedbusiness cases.It is increasingly apparent that those authorities with the most

considered plans and best developed evidence base are morelikely to be the winners in future funding competitions. Yet a keyaspect to any strong funding bid is the strategic case put forwardfor the scheme, which must make clear the role of the scheme aspart of a wider strategy. It must be shown to address agreedobjectives, and ultimately play a part in achieving the wider visionfor the area. Transport is, after all, a means to an end and bymapping transport corridors onto economic growth clusters thiswill ensure that economic benefits are realised.What has been lacking to date has been this wider transport

vision at a LEP level, and there is an increasing recognitionamongst LEPs of the need for an overarching vision or strategydocument, developed in synergy with emerging Local Plans andexisting local authority transport strategies. It is at this level thatLEPs should be beginning to draw together their wider strategies,across the full spectrum of transport interventions, includingsustainable transport and demand management measures.In Swindon and Wiltshire the LEP is developing and articulating

their Transport Vision for 2025, which will adopt a holistic andintegrated approach that not only supports the LEP’s aspirationsfor economic growth, inward investment and job creation, butalso reflects the local transport priorities for Swindon andWiltshire. This will entail collating, reviewing and ‘knittingtogether’ the various scheme proposals, including the nationallypromoted road and rail schemes, to create an overall holisticvision for transport that is consistent with the social, economicand environmental goals of the partnership area.Swindon and Wilshire occupy a pivotal economic location in

Southern England and benefit from geographic proximity to keyairports and coastal ports. As such, critical to the success of theireconomy is the east-west connectivity afforded by the M4motorway and Great Western railway. The proposed

enhancements to improve journey times and ease localbottlenecks will therefore be key elements of the vision.For the Swindon urban area, the Transport Vision will draw

together the reasonably advanced proposals to ease congestionthrough targeted highway improvements, better accessibility forall transport modes and by connecting the proposed urbanextensions with a rapid transit system. There will also be anemphasis on improving access to the M4 via junctions 15 and 16and reducing unnecessary through movements.However, in addition to the all of the above, the SWLEP will be

investing heavily in healthy and environmentally friendly modesof transport, with transport playing its full part in reducinggreenhouse gas emissions. It will also be promoting active travelthrough Door2Door strategies with rail stations being used astransport hubs and smart ticketing utilised on bus/rail corridors.We will also ensure that streets are appropriately designed fortheir functions, with an emphasis on encouraging walking, cyclingand public transport use with a high quality public realm andimproving local air quality.By adopting this holistic approach, the SWLEP are confident

that by 2025 not only will social and environmental goals be metbut economic benefits will be optimised by investing heavily insustainable transport and a balanced programme ofInfrastructure improvements.

23

The author

Paul Johnson is chair of the Swindon and Wiltshire LocalEnterprise Partnership (SWLEP).

Paul Johnson provides an LEP’sperspective on sustainable transport

An enterprising vision

The SWLEP area

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The basic principle of the ‘Single Pot’for the Local Growth Fund is thatfunding is un-ringfenced in order to

allow flexibility for Local EnterprisePartnerships (LEPs) to use at theirdiscretion to encourage outcomes thatsupport growth.This means that the Local Growth Fund

will not always be used to deliver schemesdirectly related to the original fundingsources, nor that money is simply‘passported’ for this purpose – that woulddefeat the objective.However, given that more than half of

the Local Growth Fund would haveoriginated from transport-related fundingsources, it would be disappointing if thisdid not eventually get used for transportinfrastructure and services; but there is noguarantee. It is therefore important thatlocal authorities present very good casesto support the need for sustainabletransport solutions as part of a balancedprogramme of initiatives if it is to securefunding that would traditionally have beenmet through the Local SustainableTransport Fund (LSTF).Most LEPs would recognise the

importance of improved infrastructure insupporting growth, jobs and the economy,and there is no reason why they shouldrule out initiatives that support cycling,walking and public transport in order toprovide choice for the potential workforceand an improved local environment. It is up to the local authorities to

demonstrate clearly how LSTF initiativesfit into the growth agenda and provideexcellent rates of return on relatively lowlevels of investment. The businesscommunity will recognise this type oflanguage and the importance ofdeveloping a clean and prosperous

environment which the LSTF fund can helpwith. The important thing is to recognise that

the government will be looking for a highlevel of delivery in the first year of theLocal Growth Fund coming into operationand the types of schemes, and the

initiatives normally delivered through theLSTF lend themselves to fast-trackdelivery. If it can be shown that these schemes

are highly deliverable and ‘shovel ready’they will be attractive to LEPs who will beseeking to be responsive to governmentand hit the ground running with thedelivery of projects. Also, local authoritieswill need to show how LSTF schemes arean integral part of wider StrategicEconomic Plans, otherwise they will haveno hope of funding at all. A good startingpoint would be to revisit existing LocalTransport Plans where much of this workhas already been done.

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Local authorities willneed to show how LSTFschemes are an integralpart of wider StrategicEconomic Plans,otherwise they willhave no hope of fundingat allTony Ciaburro

The author

Tony Ciaburro is director ofenvironment, development &transport at Northamptonshire CountyCouncil.

‘Shovel-ready’ transport schemes work best, believes Tony Ciaburro

Sustainable investment makes economic sense

www.getbritaincycling.netThe ultimate reference for guidance onthe planning, design and management ofcycling strategies and infrastructure.

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The late summer and autumn of2013 has seen residentialpersonalised travel planning (PTP)

take place in a number of localcommunities across Wiltshire. Trainedtravel advisers have been walking andcycling the streets in urban areas acrossthe county bringing tailored travelinformation, incentives and travelchallenges to the doors of its citizens. Under the ‘Connecting Wiltshire: Travel

made simple’ brand, this initiative hasbeen rolled out to nearly 5,000households and is the first pilot stage of atwo-stage process.The Connecting Wiltshire website

(www.connectingwiltshire.co.uk) includesa specially designed journey planner toallow individuals to consider their travelchoices for a particular journey andunderstand how many calories they willburn and how much carbon their journeywould emit. In addition, the websiteprovides a useful travel informationresource covering a range of topics such ascycle safety, school travel and car sharing.Residential PTP is playing a crucial role

in Wiltshire Council’s wider programme,enabled by the Government’s LocalSustainable Travel Fund (LSTF), forimproving the county’s rail offer. A stepchange in services on the north-south railline linking Swindon with Westbury beginsin December. Alongside complementarybusiness and school PTP programmes,PTP is engaging directly with citizens tooffer them the chance to re-evaluate theirtravel choices. Transport Planning Associates (TPA),

Contemporary Transport and RichardAdams Consulting form a partnershipdelivering the residential and business PTPprogrammes. TPA is leading theresidential PTP strand whileContemporary Transport, through Dr ColinBlack, is leading the business strand. Thisarrangement has allowed the team tomobilise quickly to ensure the challengingprogramme can be met.Stage one of residential PTP this year

offers the opportunity to test the PTPprocess, on a reduced scale, without theenhanced rail offer in place. The second

stage, which will take place once theimproved rail service and other localtransport infrastructure enhancements arein place, will benefit from an establishedprocess with the tools and incentives thatare right for Wiltshire.The current pilot is being delivered

across three towns – Bradford on Avon,Chippenham and Trowbridge – and thecounty’s one city, Salisbury. Eachconurbation has a rail link and, for the trial,each has a designated theme so that theteam can learn from the application ofresidential PTP in this predominately ruralcounty. A process of prioritisation has

allowed for a focussed approach on areasand people with a higher propensity tochange travel behaviour. Both accessibilityto the nearest rail station by sustainablemodes and each postcode segment type,were used to identify priority areas for PTPin Wiltshire.Bradford on Avon received a traditional

PTP approach to engagement techniquesand data recording. In Chippenham, PTPwas undertaken in residential areas on theeast side of the town, allowing us to assessthe reliability of the segmentation criteria.In Salisbury we are seeking to examinewhether there is a benefit of offering

26

Personalised travel planning in predominantly rural settings presents veryparticular challenges, write Richard Adams, Laura Gosling and David Knight

A green and accessible land


workplace personal journey plans on thedoorstep; with business PTP engagementalso taking place in Salisbury through theConnecting Wiltshire programme, thisoffers the opportunity to explore theopportunities for cross-marketing of themessage in both the residential andbusiness setting. In Trowbridge, the approach was

targeting an existing community and anew development area, testing the habitdiscontinuity and self-activationhypotheses – will the new house moversbe more receptive because their newtravel habits are not yet established?The recruitment and training of a local

team of travel advisers has followed thestandard protocol for a PTP programme.So too was the intensive week of trainingand practicing with a few ‘tame’households (drawn from Wiltshire Councilstaff), which indicated that the traveladvisers were indeed ready to be let looseon the public. Resplendent in theirbranded polo shirts and jackets, the traveladvisers have become well recognised inthe community. This high profile has beenenhanced by their star role in communityand business roadshow events where theyhave dispensed travel advice and brandedgoodies with skill and good humour.We have designed eye-catching

resources including the introductory and“sorry we missed you” cards, theintervention area travel maps and the A4wallets to keep maps, timetables andother useful travel information together.These resources give the facts about thetravel modes so individuals can make aninformed choice.The travel advisers have been supported

by implementation team leaders, whomanage the day to day workload.Mentoring of the travel advisers is alsoundertaken by core team members toensure motivation, commitment andperformance is maintained throughout theengagement process.Many different types of branded

incentives are being used and assessed tosee which ones prove most popular, butalso which of the incentives are associatedwith a change in travel behaviour. Theincentives range from more traditional PTPfare to those not usually used. For walkerswe have provided umbrellas along withshoe-bags for commuters. Cyclists havesaddle covers and bells, but also a handytool kit packed full of useful items. For therail user there’s the chrome travel mug forhot drinks while the bus user getsdiscounted tickets. The car sharer can also

enjoy the travel mug as well as the scent ofthe branded air freshener hanging fromthe rearview mirror.The collection of household data has

also been tested using different databaseplatforms, such as Sharepoint and SurveyMonkey to see how these work with theSamsung tablets that are carried by theteam of travel advisers. Nonetheless, oneof the biggest challenges for the traveladvisers has been poor 3G coverage insome of the target areas. The engagement stage has taken place

over a 12-week period to enable sufficienttime for evaluation before moving forwardwith stage 2 of the project in 2014/15.This has required the team to work inshort, sharp phases in each of the areas.The different geographical locations of thetarget areas in the county requires efficientmoving from field office to field office. This

has brought unique challenges nottypically faced by bigger, longer PTPengagements that commonly take place inone conurbation. A thorough evaluation will be

undertaken, with reporting complete byJanuary 2014. Feedback is a key aspect ofthis through interviews with the traveladvisers and a focus group with residentswho participated in the initiative. Beforeand after travel surveys were also includedin the doorstep engagement process, andwe will be calculating the value for moneyof PTP in Wiltshire.

27

The authors

David Knight is director of TransportPlanning Associates. Laura Gosling issenior transport planner at WiltshireCouncil. Richard Adams is director ofRichard Adams Consulting.

A member of the Connecting Wiltshire team with assorted publicity materials


When it comes to sustainabletravel, first thoughts may notturn to marketing and

communications. That’s understandable;most Local Sustainable Transport Fund(LSTF) projects need to focussignificantly upon infrastructure to makesure that the quality and availability ofsustainable travel options for residentsand local businesses are the best theycan be. However, it may not simply acase of ‘build it and they will come’. Changing behaviours and creating new

‘norms’ is always challenging. In terms ofsustainable travel, we’re working againstpeople’s habits, outdated ideas of whatpublic transport is actually like these daysand irrational choices: “I’ll drive to workeven though it’s more expensive than thebus that stops two minutes from myhouse… I nearly always get stuck in trafficand have to drive around for twentyminutes to find a parking space…”It is not enough to just provide the

means to travel sustainably – there is aneed to sell sustainable travel. It isimportant start thinking about how thiswill be done as early as possible. Theyneed to persuade people to change howthey travel, and that takes a great deal of

insight, understanding, creativity and,most importantly, persistence.

The selling starts with thethinking…A successful marketing campaign alwaysstarts with understanding where peopleare at and where we need them to be.That’s true of any marketing campaign,but when it comes to travel behaviour, it’sparticularly important to understand andconsider how and why people change theirtravel choices. As behavioural changespecialists, we have adapted theinternationally recognised transtheoreticalstages of change model (Prochaska andDiClemente, 1983) to demonstrate theprocess of modal behaviour change thatpeople go through (see chart below).What are key elements of a travel

behaviour change marketing campaign?As with most things, the recipe for successhas many ingredients. Here’s a checklistproduced from diva Creative’s extensiveexperience in sustainable travel andbehaviour change marketing:

Raise awareness: Ensure as many of thetarget audience know about thesustainable travel options as possible

while selling the benefits that will appealto each target audience segment. Don’tassume they’ll already know.Motivate and educate: Motivate thetarget audience to want to usesustainable travel and educate them onthe specific benefits of using it. Thisshould be delivered with targetedcommunications that resonate withpeople and tap into their emotions.Trigger action: Get those who areconsidering using sustainable travel totake action, this could be triggered bypromotions such as one-day free trails,competitions, and discount rates.Meet expectations: Once your targetaudience segments have started usingsustainable travel modes you need toensure that the services available meettheir expectations and that they have apositive experience. Regular customerfeedback should be welcomed,monitored and responded to, to ensurethe service is the best it can be.Develop customer relationships andloyalty: Developing customerrelationships will ensure their loyaltyand make them less likely to move touse a competitor (in this instance, thecar). Current sustainable travellers can

28

Marketing the mainstreamChanging travel behaviour requires a finely tuned and sustainedmarketing strategy, write Amanda Pearce and Amy Boyle

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also act as advocates and refer friendsand family especially if there are referralreward schemes in place.

This is a process, so if only part themarketing mix is delivered then it will havea limited impact – for example, you couldsuccessfully raise awareness of alternativemodes and motivate change by selling thebenefits, but then actually provideinsufficient information to enable peopleto change their behaviour. Alternatively,you could provide excellent information toenable people to plan alternativesustainable ways to travel but not raiseawareness of this and motivate peopleenough to actually consider them, thuslimiting potential modal shifts.

From theory to practice: A tale oftwo website campaigns Diva were recently commissioned topromote sustainable travel through theLSTF programme in two areas, focusing onthe development and promotion of a localwebsite for each area. Their websites wererecognised as a key tool to changepeople’s travel behaviour, both in terms ofproviding important relevant information,and in encouraging people to travelsustainably.Both websites are similar – they each

feature a travel planning tool to enablepeople to compare and plan differentmodes of travel. This is accompanied byinformation and advice on travel, thusfulfilling the requirement to provideguidance to enable modal change in thosethat are motivated to do so. However, one website averages over

12,000 hits a month and the other onlyaverages 1,000. A stark contrast and, byno means, one that could be explainedsimply by differences in demographics. Forthe less popular site, diva were not askedto develop a marketing strategy, or deliver

on and offline promotion, the content isless frequently updated and consequentlythe site gets less visits.So, having a well thought through

marketing strategy that ensures a websitehas good content and is constantlymarketed, offline and online, is essential.

Speaking directly to people abouttravel when it matters to themOver the last 12 months, we worked withour other client to promote the website,with campaigns that educate and motivatepeople to consider sustainable travel andsell the benefits of sustainable travelmodes for different types of journeys.These campaigns have all tapped intopeople’s lifestyles and what’s happening intheir lives, from promoting sustainabletravel for Christmas shopping to publictransport when they move home. Each campaign had a different message

and focus but the call to action was thesame – to visit the website for moreinformation and advice on local traveloptions. Thus the marketing activitieswere consistent and delivered the strategyto drive traffic to the website to enableinformed choice of travel options – withouta preachy message to ‘ditch the car’. A range of communications channels

were selected for each campaign includingvideos, public engagement events,outdoor advertising, online advertising,and social media promotions. Brandingalso played a key role, with thedevelopment of a strong brand andillustrative style.

Launching new ‘products’ togenerate interestMore recently, a travel planning tool hasbeen launched on the website. To promotethis diva developed a high impactcampaign that saw website hits soar toover 27,000 a month. To achieve this we

again selected a mix of communicationschannels, including events at localsupermarkets where we demonstrated theplanning tool for the public.

Sustaining momentumJust because a website is doing well nowdoes not mean it will continue to do so. Ifthe content stops being updated, and thetargeted promotions tail off, then very fewnew visitors will access the website. Thisis why sustained marketing activities areso important throughout the lifespan ofLSTF programmes. We only have to look at the corporate

marketing sector to see this. Big brandslike East Midlands trains and CrossCountry trains continue marketingthemselves year on year because it is anecessity to sustain sales. They cannotrely on people remembering they existbecause they ran a campaign a year ago. Itis the same with sustainable travel,especially at this very early stage when weare just succeeding in influencing the earlyconverts. It would be a shame to stop nowbefore we approach the tipping point atwhich sustainable travel options becomethe ‘norm’ for some journey types. When this happens, and sustainable

travel truly becomes part of themainstream, we will have succeeded, butuntil then we need to sustain ourmarketing activities. Then we can beassured that the investments made insustainable travel infrastructure are costeffective and the LSTF programme willleave us with a positive legacy for thefuture.

29

The authors

Amanda Pearce is managing directorof Diva Creative; Amy Boyle is directorof strategy.www.divacreative.com/sustainabletravel

iTravel video presentations on handheld devicesand poster campaigns

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Putting together a Local SustainableTransport Fund (LSTF) programmehas a lot in common with making a

giant cake. Some ingredients are requiredin larger quantities and may appear moreimportant than others but, as seen in theGreat British Bake Off, miss out just oneingredient and it’s going to be a flop. Thetrick to successful delivery is ensuringthe mix comes together at the right timeto deliver a more sustainable pattern oftravel. Unfortunately, the first year of the LSTF

has revealed something of a paradox.Whilst the fund has allowed many morecouncils to implement smarter choicesmeasures than previously, this hasbrought to light a lack of depth within thetransport planning field. Simply put, staffwith skills in delivering such schemes arethin on the ground. This situation hasbeen made worse by the recent cutbacksin both the public and private sectors.Leicestershire County Council’s

approach to dealing with this problemwas to build on its pre-LSTF successeswhilst also developing areas where it hadless experience. “We’d completed 7km ofcycleway improvements in Loughboroughprior to the LSTF being announced,” saysIan Vears, travel choice and access teammanager. “We were confident ofdelivering a similar level of walking/cycleinfrastructure investment in nearbyCoalville, but had only recently formedinto one team. We are very good atbuilding things, but as any manufacturerknows you need to promote and sell yourproduct, otherwise people don’t buy it.” Prior to 2010, Leicestershire had no

experience of personal travel planning(PTP), the vehicle through which a lot ofthe LSTF cake would be pulled togetherand promoted. “We simply hadn’t doneany PTP,” says Vears. “As such, we knewit was an area where we needed to gainexpertise.”Leicestershire didn’t rush into

submitting an LSTF bid. Instead, theauthority first embarked on a programmeof evidence gathering, which included thedelivery of a pilot PTP scheme inSeptember 2011. This project saw anoverall 6% shift away from car use and a14% change in travel behaviour. “Wedeliberately aimed for the second trancheof LSTF funding,” says Vears. “By thattime we had the outcomes of this andother pilot work – and could demonstratewe were ready to deliver a larger project.”Since LSTF funding has been secured,

the county council has offered PTP to22,000 households. A further 18,000 arescheduled for 2014, including 10,000

within its Better Bus Area (BBA) projectsubmitted jointly with Leicester CityCouncil. “We’ve managed to create anapproach to PTP that we can tailor tospecific areas,” says Vears. “This hasmeant our delivery partner, URS, hasbeen able to drive down costs andgenerate year-on-year savings, which canbe fed back into the rest of theprogramme. We’ve also been able totransfer knowledge to neighbouringauthorities, such as NottinghamshireCounty Council.”Both Leicestershire and

Nottinghamshire County Councils aremembers of the Midlands HighwaysAlliance (MHA). This partnership, whichhas the objectives to share best practiceand generate efficiency savings, currentlyhas 18 local authority members.“We’d heard about how Leicestershire

were delivering personal travel planningwith the MHA,” says Kevin Sharman ofNottinghamshire County Council. “Also,URS had recently updated our guidanceon preparing Travel Plans, so we werefamiliar with their sustainable transportteam. We got everyone round the tableto find out more and look at how wecould benefit.”Importantly, Nottinghamshire’s own

bid to the LSTF had not been successful.“Although we didn’t have any LSTFfunding, we still thought it was importantto pursue some of the smarter choices

30

Through LSTF we’remanaging to get moresign-ups to our adultcycling training coursesand we’re on course toachieve 1,000 moreregistrations to our carshare schemeIan Vears,Leicestershire County Council

Choosing the right ingredientsLeicestershire andNottinghamshire havebeen perfecting the LSTF recipe, explainsDaniel Godfrey

Leicestershire’s pilot PTP scheme resulted in a 14% change in travel behaviour

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schemes identified in our bid,” saysSharman. “But we were mindful that PTPwasn’t something with which we wereoverly familiar. Being able to adopt anexisting, proven delivery model wastherefore very attractive.”During the summer of 2013,

Nottingham provided PTP to 12,000households in north Nottinghamshire.“The basic mechanics of the schemewere the same as the Leicestershiremodel,” says Sharman. “But we tailored itto our own requirements. In essence, wecut out the basic shape to make it fitwithin our particular transport jigsaw. Forinstance, the travel adviser trainingprogramme was a straight drop from theLeicestershire model – but the materials,information and incentives were alldeveloped to make it a Nottinghamshireproject.”However, the world of smarter choices

doesn’t stand still. “Although we haddeveloped a good delivery model, wewanted to avoid complacency,” saysLeicestershire’s Vears. “As such, all ourPTP projects have been independentlyevaluated and we have systems in placeto capture any potential improvements.Learning from each round of deliverymeans that the results to date have beengood, with the percentage of householdsparticipating in the PTP programmeincreasing over that achieved in our pilotwork in both 2012 and 2013.”Another issue is that, at the start of the

LSTF process, a lot of what was knownrelated to large-scale pilots funded bycentral government (such as the SmarterTravel Towns initiative) or specificresearch projects. The LSTF istransferring this experience to a range oflocales, but these outcomes are beinggenerated in parallel and so it is difficultto learn directly from other LSTFprogrammes. “We’ve hosted a number ofinnovation workshops so that any ideasbeing generated across the wider LSTFprogramme and in Scotland can beconsidered for inclusion in upcomingphases of work,” says Vears.Ironically, one area of feedback on the

Leicestershire model has come from asource very close to home.“Leicestershire’s LSTF programmeincluded the delivery of travel clinics tobusinesses during 2013,” saysNottinghamshire’s Sharman. “But we’dseparately delivered a series of travelclinics at business parks across northNottinghamshire in the early part of theyear.”

The strategy allows engagementdirectly with employees at localbusinesses while local authorities canfind out directly why staff do not chooseto travel by sustainable transport modes.“We often hear about issues relating tolack of parking or congestion,” saysSharman. “Particularly near largebusiness parks where lots of employeesarrive and depart at similar times.However, the work we conducted in early2013 has identified a number of minorinfrastructure schemes – crossingimprovements and so on – which willhopefully enable staff to encourage theiremployees to travel more sustainably. It’salso been beneficial to talk directly tobusinesses about how they can takeadvantage of smarter travel grants andset up schemes such as a car sharesystem.” That experience is now being used by

Leicestershire County Council. “Whilst

the specifics of engaging businesses aredifferent to Nottinghamshire, thetechniques of providing travel advicedirectly to those staff employed inLoughborough and Coalville is verysimilar to the approach taken inNottinghamshire,” says Ian Vears. “Forthe LSTF programme as a whole, we’remanaging to get more sign-ups to ouradult cycle training courses and we’re oncourse to achieve 1,000 additionalregistrations to our car sharing system.”As for the future, both Leicestershire

and Nottinghamshire are continuing toseek opportunities to improve theirunderstanding of smarter choicesinitiatives. “We know that anothermember of the MHA, Milton Keynes, hasbeen using URS to support their BetterBus Area Fund project,” concludes Vears.“We have our own BBA scheme along theA426 corridor, which will require us toadapt our existing PTP model and take onboard lessons from this widerexperience.”

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The basic mechanics ofthe scheme were thesame as theLeicestershire model, butwe tailored it to our ownrequirements. Kevin Sharman,NottinghamshireCounty Council

The authors

The article was written by DanielGodfrey, principal transport planner,URS with Ian Vears, travel choice andaccess team manager at LeicestershireCounty Council, and Kevin SharmanLTP team manager at NottinghamshireCounty Council. Independentevaluation of the Leicestershire andNottinghamshire PTP projects hasbeen undertaken by Jon Parker fromIntegrated Transport Planning (ITP).

Council staff are engaging with the public to promote smarter choices



There is not a single solution toreducing traffic congestion and apackage approach is required. This

means that in addition to the necessary‘big kit’, local authorities need toimplement smarter travel solutions tohelp support economic growth andprovide an attractive environment inwhich people can live and work. This wasa core message delivered by John Wood,chief executive at Hertfordshire CountyCouncil, at the national ChangingCommute Conference, held at theUniversity of Hertfordshire and organisedby Landor LINKS. Wood, who is also the council’s director

of environment, said Hertfordshire and itspartners were committed to developingsustainable transport solutions for theirresidents. “We want Hertfordshire’seconomy to continue to grow,” said Wood.“It may be complicated and congested atthe moment, but it provides a greatlocation for business and employees.Some big kit is necessary, but we believeour small local sustainable solutions arealso a key part of the answer.” Located just north of London,

Hertfordshire is a complex place. Thecounty does not have one major urbancentre but instead comprises around 30medium-sized towns, ranging from thecathedral city of St Albans to garden citiessuch as Welwyn and Letchworth, newtowns like Stevenage and many markettowns. Watford, meanwhile, is in somerespects part of London and even has itsown tube station.Hertfordshire is provided for with north-

south rail links, with services running intoEuston, King’s Cross and St Pancras,making it an attractive place to live forcommuters into London. However, east-west rail links could be improved and thecounty’s geography and the availability ofcars means road travel remains the mostattractive option for many. The county iscurrently home to around 650,000 carsand road traffic levels are 50% above thenational average.The county is densely urban but with

important green fringes, hence 70% isclassified as Green Belt. This, togetherwith the lack of towns or cities of asignificant size and a good road network,means the county’s 1.1 million residents

could be described as car-dependent. Thepopulation’s affluence means 42% of its480,000 households have two or morecars. Yet, despite its well-heeledreputation, Hertfordshire does havepockets of deprivation and around 20% ofhouseholds have no cars at all. Thecounty’s population is growing – some71,582 new homes were built between1991 and 2011 and 91,371 square metres ofcommercial floorspace has been createdover the last decade. “Hertfordshire’s environment makes the

county an attractive place to live andwork,” said Wood. “We want Hertfordshireto remain a county where people have theopportunity to live healthy and fulfillinglives in thriving, prosperous communities.”Hertfordshire’s mixed suburban and

rural character may make it an attractiveplace, but the dominance of the car meanscongestion and carbon emissions are acause for concern, as Wood pointed out.“Transport emissions are predicted to riseby 23% by 2031,” he reported, adding thatthe county’s wider ecological footprint issome 35 times the size of Hertfordshire.Action has been taken to address some

of these problems. These include bypassesat Baldock, Cheshunt, Cole Green and onthe A41. There have also been projectssuch as the M1 Link Ascot Road atWatford and major works on junctions 16-23 of the M25, junctions 6A-10 on the M1and the A1(M) Hatfield Tunnel. There havealso been major public transport projects,including station upgrades on theThameslink route and the Croxley rail linkscheme, which re-routes LondonUnderground’s Metropolitan Line toconnect Watford Station and WatfordJunction.While major capital projects are

important, Wood told delegates that thecounty’s Local Transport Plan approachincludes solutions involving an integratedapproach to transport delivery. “Thismeans making better use of existinginfrastructure, implementing small-scalehighways improvements and encouragingwalking, cycling and road safety,” he said. The increased use of smaller-scale

schemes has been made possible by theLocal Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF)money the county successfully securedfrom the Department for Transport. “The

LSTF provides a step-change and is key tothe delivery of sustainable travel solutionsat a local level,” said Wood.The county and its partners have

invested LSTF money in projects in thecritical south-west corner of the county – atriangle formed by St Albans, HemelHempstead and Watford. The schemeshave been packaged under one umbrella –BIGHERTSBIGIDEAS – and focus on:

New cycling and walking infrastructureNew passenger transport infrastructure,and development of passenger transportpartnershipsIntelligent transport systems, includingreal-time passenger informationTravel planning for businesses andschoolsPersonalised travel planning, mapping,information and journey planningEmployer engagement, includingworkplace planning, marketing andevents.

Organisations now actively engaged inBIGHERTSBIGIDEAS include the NHS, theBuilding Research Centre, BT, Ericsson,Epson, Hilton and MEPC.Wood pointed to examples such as the

implementation of Quality NetworkPartnerships, which aim to improve busservices and introduce improved ticketingmeasures in the three urban areas. Partnership initiatives have included the

recent introduction of the ‘Watford 10’scheme, where Arriva unveiled ten newbuses for the service ten in Watford. Thebuses now run every ten-minutes and aweekly ticket costs £10. There has alsobeen a major investment in cycling,especially at St Albans City Station on theBedford-Brighton Thameslink line.

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De-congesting a complicated countyHertfordshire is embracing smarter travel concepts, reports Mark Moran

John Wood

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The term ‘behaviour change’ is not anew one. Coined in 1975 by MartinFishbein and later developed by

Icek Ajzen, behaviour change researchexamined the effects of attitudes,reasoned actions and consequentialbehaviours. Since the 1980s there havebeen several prominent behaviourchange (BC) theories and models,providing the tools used today topromote health and sustainability – frompromoting recycling to changing the waywe travel. It’s time to take a fresh look at how we

can use contemporary behaviour changeresearch, theories and tools to encouragemore people to cycle, more often. After carrying out a comprehensive

review of the current literature onbehaviour change theory, we havedeveloped a new behaviour changeframework specifically designed forencouraging cycling.The framework has four parts:

1) The user journey: Identifying the keystages of change people go through ontheir journey from being a non-cyclist toregular rider. Imagine this journey is likea ladder with each of the stages being arung of the ladder.

2) Barriers and benefits: An analysis ofthe real and perceived barriers andbenefits that people have, which needto be addressed to get people to gothrough each stage of change of thisjourney.

3) Behaviour change theory and tools:Identifying how the behaviour changetheories and the tools of change can beappropriately applied at each differentstage of change.

4) Creativity and innovation: The creativeapplication of these theories and toolsso that we engage our audienceseffectively and efficiently. This creativeapplication uses a combination of

technology (to scale the approach, andachieve cost efficiencies), face-to-faceinteraction and conventionalpromotional channels.

Measure, target, measureWhen we apply this framework, the firststep is to find out which stage of the userjourney someone is on. Then we can askspecific questions relevant to that stage toidentify what barriers and benefits theyperceive to taking the next step. This information then enables us to

target each individual with the rightinformation, incentives, advice andprogrammes. People are bombarded withmessages online and by email, so to beeffective, our best chance is to be astargeted and relevant as possible. For example, let’s take someone at the

‘contemplation stage’. They haven’t cycledfor over a year, they own a bike, but it’s outof working order. They feel confidentriding, but not confident riding in traffic. We could send them an email which has

5 tips for getting your bike back on the road, adiscount to get a bike service at a localbike shop, and encourage them to take a‘Confidence in Traffic’ cycle course.

From theory to realityThis new behaviour change framework iscurrently being built into the online cyclingplatform – Love to Ride(www.lovetoride.net). When we apply this approach,

information is collected automatically bythe Love to Ride website through a seriesof very short surveys to monitor wherepeople are at on their journey and whatbarriers they face next. This on-going measurement allows the

system to monitor people’s progress andadapt messaging people receive by emailand on the website (e.g. for skills training,for tips on cycling, relevant discountvouchers, etc).

34

The authors

Thomas Stokell is a director and SamaAlyasiri is head of projects atChallenge for Change.

Changing behaviourto get people cyclingThomas Stokell and Sama Alyasiri share the latestthinking on how we can apply behaviour changetheory to encourage more people to cycle more often

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There is a certain inevitability forLocal Sustainable TransportFunding (LSTF) schemes to focus

on the obvious – reducing car travel,increasing public transport use andencouraging walking and cycling. Butthere’s an elephant in the room, one thattends to arrive with a diesel engine andmore than six wheels. The elephant is, of course, freight

transport. Without it, High Street shopswould be bare, petrol pumps would beempty and, come Christmas, our newfound love of online shopping would provefruitless. While the proportion of freight vehicles

on the road is much lower than cars,freight vehicles are bigger, slower, noisierand, with the need to make regular stopsto make deliveries, a lot more disruptivethan other road traffic.For a local authority with a mandate to

stimulate economic development andsimultaneously improve road network usepatterns, freight transport is both ahindrance and a help. So, how do weresolve the problem?

Restricted movementsThe obvious answer would seem to be tolimit freight movements to an extentdeemed appropriate for an individual area.London took exactly this step some yearsago by introducing the London LorryControl Scheme. It works by excluding

HGVs from the vast majorityof roads

in the capital during the evening and atweekends unless they have priorpermission. To travel on an excluded roadrequires approval by London Councils. Ostensibly, the scheme was introduced

to combat noise pollution, but duringrecent years the London Lorry ControlScheme has helped to facilitate freighttransport being taken off roads evenduring ‘normal working hours’. This wasparticularly the case during the 2012Olympics, which led to an increase out-of-hours deliveries in affected areas.The London Lorry Control Scheme has

had several outcomes. It has freed upnetwork capacity and made freightjourneys less likely to cause disruptionwhich subsequently reduces emissions.

London, London, London...The notion that individual local authoritiescan follow the lead of the UK’s well-funded capital to establish their own lorrycontrol schemes is fanciful. But theprinciple of working with the freightindustry to make restriction informationeasily and readily available to the benefitof both parties is surely common sense. To achieve this shared goal, there has to

be a viable mechanism for collecting,displaying, sharing and distributingaccurate data about restrictions. And sucha scheme needs to function beyond andacross the boundaries of specific localauthority areas. After all, HGVs drivehundreds of miles per week, not all ofthem in one area.To try and achieve this grand vision willrequire a lot of work and strongrelationships to come to fruition.Despite that, or maybe because of it,the idea is already taking shape.

The shape of things to comePIE Mapping, an online routing andmapping specialist, is launching aNational Freight Journey Planner.The planner will be the UK’s firstfree national routing servicespecifically for HGVs. It usescommercially available Navteqdata.

Besides tempting the freight sector to thetable with the planning service, PIEMapping is also engaging with localauthorities to allow individual areas tohost their own localised version of therouting system and most importantly, toadd their own restriction information overthe top of the base Navteq data. This datais then fed into the national map, meaningany routes generated by HGV drivers oroperators take into account therestrictions a local area has put in place. A number of areas are already signed up

and are now feeding their localinformation into the National FreightJourney Planner. These areas includeWiltshire, Hampshire and Kent, withseveral others in the pipeline.

Routing in WiltshireKingsley Hampton, senior transportplanner at Wiltshire Council, says theNational Freight Journey Planner is beingbuilt into the county’s transport planning.“Efficient distribution in any area is criticalin determining market diversity andconsumer choice, and in doing so drivescompetitiveness, jobs and prosperity, butwe’re particularly sensitive to theenvironmental and social impact that roadfreight transport can have,” says Hampton.“Freight Gateway has quickly become a

key component of our freightmanagement strategy, providing industrywith a valuable mapping resource whileaddressing crucial environmental andsocial issues.” The key element for affecting

behavioural change is the accurate datathat resides within local authorities. If thiscan be appropriately captured, then it ispossible to imagine a scenario wherebythe changes or restrictions a transportofficer wants to put into place are sentreal-time to satnavs and smart phones. For the first time, the ability to affect

driver behaviour really will be availablewith the click of a mouse. And if driverbehaviour means fewer emissions, quickerjourneys and less disruption, should it notalso be a key focus for LSTF? Here’s to theelephant in the room and telling it whereyou want it to go.

37

The author

Freddie Talberg is chief executiveofficer at PIE Mapping.

Freight and deliveries are the ‘elephant in the room’ of sustainable transport, writes Freddie Talberg

Delivering the goods

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Debate continues over both theaffordability of transportinvestments and the best way of

meeting future travel demand to achievesustainable outcomes. We entered the21st century with social demands fortravel increasing, but serious economicconstraints and growing environmentalconcerns seeming to restrain our abilityto chart strategic progress.‘Piecemeal’ and ‘ad-hoc’ are words that

many of us can readily associate withtransport investment. This begs thequestion of whether or not there is aparadox between traditional investmentplanning and the need for sustainabletransport options. It has been argued that current planning

practices tend to value mobility ratherthan accessibility and so favour motorisedmodes over non-motorised modes andmotorists over non-drivers (Litman 2011).It has been observed that we have ageneral tendency for transport systems tocater for physical movement rather thanimproving access to goods and servicesfor the population as a whole (Lucas2004). This not only results in expensiveinvestment in infrastructure but creates avicious circle that prioritises the car overother modes. In the emerging political and economic

framework, public investment in transportcan become limited in scope or, dare wesay, misdirected. A political systemoperating under severe financial pressuresis apparently incapable of improvingtransport and accessibility throughdelivering sustainable outcomes. Thiscreates a major challenge; how successfulcan we truly be in providing inclusiveaccessibility solutions?

Traditional investment approachTraditional planning methods, based ontrip-models and cost-benefit analysis,inherently prioritise the car oversustainable modes for their savings invalues of time. Despite their wideacceptance, these practices lead tooutcomes contrary to the principles ofsustainability, and due to their focus on

large investment projects, sector growthbecomes limited. Transport modelling and cost-benefit

analysis focus on trips rather thanactivities. They overlook human behaviourin their models, only reinforcing thecurrent travel patterns and favouringmovement over access. Martens (2006)exemplifies this: By ignoring the fact thatcurrent travel patterns are a reflection ofthe way in which transport resources havebeen distributed in the past, transportmodels thus create an inherent feedbackloop. The models use the high trip rates

among car owners in the present topredict high trip rates among car ownersin the future. These predictions favour

policies that cater to this growth throughimproved services for car owners (e.g.,road building or investment in costly rapidrail). These improved services, in turn,result in higher trip rates among carowners and the circle begins again.In addition, the use of values of time on

cost-benefit analysis by default creates theneed for large infrastructures in order toincrease travel speeds. There is a hugeinequality in the values of time. Forexample, these values are higher fordrivers than for public transport users,pedestrians and cyclists. Why should weperpetuate this inequality when theyjustify higher investments for those whoare already better off? Improving thequality of transport services for drivers isachieved at the expense of those whoexperience mobility constraints. Increasing quality, which is not inclusive,

is a matter of privilege and not socialbenefit. We need to think and workdifferently.

Thinking differently: Increasingopportunities for allWho hasn’t got a mobile phone thesedays? It is widely agreed that as transportis a derived demand, activity-modelsshould focus on human behaviour in

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Increasing quality, whichis not inclusive, is amatter of privilege andnot social benefit. Weneed to think and workdifferentlyGordon Baker

Making the right connectionsThinking locally could be the best strategic solution and smarter phones willenable us to travel more sustainably, argues Gordon Baker

Mainstreaming Smarter Travel_2013_p39-40_JMP_Mainstreaming Smarter Travel_p39-40 12/11/2013 13:59 Page 39

contrast to the traditional views (Gaker etal 2010; Lew and Leong 2009). Mobilephones are a case in point.The emergence of mobile technologies,

and the spread of internetcommunications, have significantlychanged people’s behaviour andinteractions. Most every day activities,from shopping or going to the cinema nowhave an app. This includes travel. The reality is that technology has

enabled transport systems to becomesmarter and require less planning and lessthinking, and therefore provide acompetitive alternative to the car.For example, Google Maps, which

accounts for 150 million users, guidesusers 12 billion miles per year using itsNavigation application, saving people anaverage of two days’ worth of travel timeeach year (Sheffer 2011). Moreimportantly, this was achieved withoutrequiring new transport infrastructureconstruction or large public investments. Since mobile phones are widely

accessible in the UK, technology alsoenables inclusive travel planning.According to the European TravelCommission (2013), more than half of themobile phones in the UK are smartphones,equipped with internet connection andbuilt-in applications. Forecasts show thatthey will represent 75% of the market by2016 (Graph 1). Furthermore, mobile devices now

represent 33% of all web traffic, anincrease of 164% in just two years(Cavanagh 2011; Digital StrategyConsulting 2013) (Graph 2).

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The author

Gordon Baker is managing director ofJMP Consultants Ltd.

References

CAVANAGH, S. 2011. UK Mobile Internet Statistics – August 2011 [online]. [Accessed9 October 2012]. Available from: www.tecmark.co.uk/uk-mobile-stats-2011/

DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT. 2011. How people travel? National Travel Survey[online]. [Accessed 8 October 2012]. Available from: http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/releases/national-travel-survey-2010/nts2010-03.pdf

DIGITAL STRATEGY CONSULTING. 2013. Mobile trends: ‘One third of UK traffic nowfrom smartphones or tablets’ [online]. [Accessed 9 October 2012]. Available from: www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/intelligence/2013/02/mobile_trends_one_third_of_uk_traffic_now_from_smartphones_or_tablets.php

EUROPEAN TRAVEL COMMISSION. 2013. Mobile Devices [online]. [Accessed 8October 2013]. Available from: www.newmediatrendwatch.com/markets-by-country/18-uk/154-mobile-devices

GAKER, D., Y. ZHENG and J. WALKER. 2010. Experimental Economics inTransportation: A Focus on Social Influences and the Provision of Information. Instituteof Urban & Regional Development, UC Berkeley.

LEW, Y. D and W. Y. LEONG. 2009. Managing congestion in singapore — abehavioural economics perspective. LTA Academy. Land Transport Authority.Singapore Government.

LITMAN, T. 2011. Evaluating Transportation Equity: Guidance For IncorporatingDistributional Impacts in Transportation Planning. Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

LUCAS, K., Ed. 2004. Running on empty: transport, social exclusion and environmentaljustice. Bristol: The Policy Press.

MARTENS, K. 2006. Basing Transport Planning on Principles of Social Justice. BerkeleyPlanning Journal.19. pp. 1-17.

SHEFFER, S. 2011. Google VP lays down mobile stats, boasts 150 million Maps users[online]. [Accessed 8 October 2013]. Available from: www.engadget.com/2011/03/14/google-vp-lays-down-mobile-stats-boasts-150-million-maps-users/

Graph 1: Smartphone share of market by 2016

Graph 2: Mobile devices share of web traffic

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41SUSTAINABLETRANSPORTFUND

LOCAL

Supported by:Hosted by: Organised by:

3 & 4 December 2013 Manchester Town Hall

Local Sustainable Transport Fund National Conference

MAINSTREAMING

smartertravel

KEY PARTNERS

� Mainstreaming – Embedding smarter travel into general practice� Integration - New technology, buses, trains and interchange� Active Travel – Walking and cycling initiatives� Engagement – Partnership working� Monitoring and evaluation� Marketing and communications

Sponsored by: Supported by:

www.mainstreamsmart.co.uk

This is a vital event for all practitionersand stakeholders involved in the deliveryof LSTF projects nationally

MORE THAN 300DELEGATESBOOKED


42 Local Sustainable Transport Fund National Conference Programme

Mainstreaming – Embedding smartertravel into everyday practice

Extending services to connect people with jobsCaroline Corless-Carter, Customised Services Officer, TfGM

The existing Kingsway Local Link service wasextended to the Kingsway Business Park, a majoremployer in the Rochdale area with earlymorning and late night running for shift workers.Travel to Rochdale bus, rail stations and tramstops are possible with inter-available ticketproducts. Thanks to TfGM’s intervention,patronage has more than trebled in the past yearand passenger feedback has been very good.

April 2015 - Planning for it nowIan Vears, Team Manager Travel Choice,Leicestershire County Council

The council has been working in Leicestershireon our next target areas. We have mainstreamedSmarter Travel and submitted our programmesfor both Capital and Revenue spend for the nextfour years under the ‘Plan, Prepare, Do’ model.

Train, Learn, Drive, EarnJenny Coates, Customised Services Officer, TfGM

The Train, Learn, Drive, Earn programme helpsunemployed people in Greater Manchesteraccess training and work experience, as avolunteer driver or member of support staff, atparticipating community transport operators.The scheme targets unemployed individuals,who, once trained, will have skills that can be

transferred to roles within thesame or other

organisations, both inthe sector and

beyond.

Thurrock Smartphone AppAlina Tuerk, LSTF Project Manager, ThurrockBorough Council

The app encompasses all modes of sustainabletravel including walking and cycling for leisurepurposes. The app is free and over 1,000downloads have been made in the first month.The App features maps, timetables and real-timetrain information. We will present lessons learntfrom commissioning the App and legacy plansincluding sponsorship from local businesses

Kerbside Diaries Travel Data and KerbsideCulture Pilot ProjectAshley Dalton, Ideas in Motion Community andExternal Funding Manager – Southend-on-SeaBorough Council

Smartphone technology collects experientialdata on sustainable journeys, which is used toengage people locally to start conversationsabout kerbside culture, travel choices and howjourneys could be more efficient, attractive,accessible, healthy and fun. The findings of the pilot project can beintegrated into schools and community groups toexplore sustainable travel and kerbside cultureand influence local decision making.

Bike Back Derby -Fixing bikes and gaining skills in DerbyPresenter Adam Sendall, LSTF ProgrammeCoordinator, Derby City Council

The scheme provides affordable refurbishedbikes to local people in Derby to help themaccess work, education, training and otherfacilities by bike. Donations of abandoned orunwanted bicycles are transferred to HMPStocken, and refurbished by the inmates. Thebikes are then sold to individuals who cannotafford the cost of a new bike.

Integration - New technology, smartcards, buses, trains and interchange

Real Time Passenger Information andLegible Bus Networks Richard Cooke, RTPI Delivery Officer, SouthamptonCity Council

Successful roll-out of an innovative and groundbreaking Real Time Information System and thedelivery of a Citywide Legible Bus Networkproject which has carried forward the 'Legible Cities' approach to the public transportrealm. Conceptual system architecture (1st of itstype in UK and EU); Design Guidelines forLegible Bus Networks; Signal Based bus priority;Partnership working with bus operators.

Slough’s new cycle hire schemeSavio DeCruz, Slough Borough Council Team Leaderfor Integrated Transport and Road Safety

Slough’s new cycle hire scheme has just beenlaunched. This session will overview of theinitiative, its aims and objectives, theinvolvement of partners including NEETs (youngpeople not in eductation, employment ortraining) in the maintenance and re-distributionof the bikes. While too early to present‘outcomes’ we will present early anecdotalevidence and usage figures.

Access to Stations – better cycle-rail integrationMartyn Brunt, Sustrans’ NCN Development Manager

The Access to Stations project, is led by BedfordBorough Council, coordinated by Sustrans,funded through the Local Sustainable TransportFund and delivered by a range of local authoritypartners. The project aims to increase levels ofsustainable and active travel amongst rail usersand promote rail travel in general. The key learning outcomes are how best todesign for cycling at stations; early lessons fromsupporting behaviour change interventions.

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speedlearning 4926

Images: Speed learning in action at Velocity Vienna 2013.Other images courtesy of Sustrans

The Speed Learning session at the Mainstreaming Smarter Travel event inDecember provides a platform for knowledge sharing, generating discussionand helping LSTF teams to network with each other.

The 30 case studies will be presented simultaneously at ‘bar tables’ marked by numbered balloons, in SIX – 12 minute sessions. The case studies will be short presentations followed by discussion. A horn will be sounded when it is time to change tables.

Delegates choose to attend six from the following 30 speed learning sessions...

LSTF Case Studies


433–4 December 2013 |Manchester Town Hall

Bus travel app pilot projectAndy Whitehead, LSTF Project Manager - PublicTransport, West of England LSTF

In April we launched a pilot bus app for the LSTFWEST region. Based on UK Bus Checker, the appshows bus stops, real-time information androutes. We provided a limited number of freedownloads for the public to use.New York City has now done the same!

Active Travel - Walking and Cycling initiatives

Are you Winter Ready?Nicola Appleby, LSTF Comms Lead, TfGM

In Autumn 2013 TfGM launched the Are YouWinter Ready? campaign, to reinforce themessage that cycling to work can be a year-round activity. Using a varied marketingmix, and tying in with business-as-usualactivities, the campaign supports commutercycling initiatives, such as TfGM’s cycle trainingoffer and network of Cycle Hubs.

Community-led street designJames Cleeton, Sustrans’ National Project Co-ordinator, Communities

The aim of this project is to inspire and supportthe residents of Hamp, South Bridgwater, toredesign their urban environment to make itsafer and more attractive for everyday walkingand cycling. This, in turn, will help to remove thebarriers relating to access to work andeducational opportunities, change resident’sattitudes towards walking and cycling, andcreate a culture of participation within the ward.

Making Liverpool walking and cyclingfriendlyKaren Stevens, Cycling Officer, Liverpool City Council

The council has developed an off-road walkingand cycling route connecting to the universitycampus, business district and additional worksthrough the Regional Growth Fund. We haveidentified, through work with the businessdistrict, Sustainable travel promotion throughour ‘Choose Freedom’ project. This has achievedsolid results, using a local specialist provider,BikeRight! to reach out to communities.

Pedestrian planning – Wayfinding inSouthampton Simon Jay, Senior Managing Consultant –Pedestrian, Cycling and Space Planning, Atkins

A high quality on-street pedestrian wayfindingsolution for Southampton city was developed byAtkins as a cost-effective family of signage, way-finding graphics and mapping products.This creates a comprehensive and recognisablesystem, which is now being rolled out across thecity and surrounding areas.

Working with public health to increaseactive travel Bryn Dowson, Sustrans’ Regional Director, North East

Sustrans is working with local authorities inNewcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, NorthTyneside, South Tyneside and Durham toencourage children and families to walk andcycle for everyday trips. This LSTF-fundedproject is a partnership with the local publichealth team, and builds on a pilot which wascommissioned by the Director of Public Healthfor North Tyneside.

The Walk to School Outreach Project Jenni Wiggle, Living Streets

The Walk to School Outreach Project is apartnership of 11 local authorities, led by DurhamCounty Council. We audit the local street fromthe perspective of the children. We taketeachers, pupils and parents on a walkaboutaround their school and ask them to identifybarriers to walking and how to tackle them.

Engagement - Partnership working

Slough Borough Council School'sEngagement ProgrammeJennifer Ward, Senior Transport Planner, Atkins

We have been actively engaging with schools forover a year as part of the LSTF programme. The case study looks at the identification ofpriority schools to engage with as part of theprogramme on how to keep schools engaged. It also discusses travel initiatives which havebeen successful and less successful andmonitoring of the impact of the programme.

Travel Support for Jobseekers, CreatingTravel ChampionsGareth Hughes, Travel Support for Jobseekers, TfGM

TfGM offers bespoke training to complement theadvisory skills of staff from Jobcentres andpartner organisations, which equips them withthe skills to help jobseekers get to interviews andjobs by the best and most cost-effective mode oftransport. By being a Travel Champion, thisknowledge is shared among customers andcolleagues alike.

Jobcentre Plus Initiative in West YorkshireNicola Whatmuff, Travel for Work Advisor, METRO (WYPTE)

The Jobcentre Plus initiative engages with all 23 Jobcentre Plus offices in WestYorkshire to reduce the barriersdiscouraging job seekers fromtaking up employment inthe main towns and citiesin West Yorkshire. Thissuccessful programmeoffers free travel forjob interviews and afree travel pass forthe first month of work.

Cycle Coventry: Building effective healthpartnershipsRichard Smith, Cycle Coventry Smarter ChoicesCoordinator, Coventry City Council

Smarter choices are healthy, but are we doingenough to tackle health inequalities? CycleCoventry is responding to this challenge bydeveloping interventions in partnership withpublic health colleagues. Ask not what PublicHealth can do for you, but what you can do forthe health of your city.

Motivating businesses to considersustainable travelLiam Potts, Business Travel Advisor, TfGM

Kellogg’s is a large employer based in the heartof Trafford Park, Manchester, Europe’s largestbusiness park. With the help of TfGM’s TravelChoices business engagement team, a wideranging programme of activities has beendelivered to enable sustainable commuting tothis hard to reach site. Find out how this wasachieved and what developments are planned asTfGM takes Kellogg’s on a sustainable traveljourney.

Integrating road safety and sustainabletravel messagesClaire Molyneux Principal Road Safety Officer,Sheffield City Council

Sheffield’s City Council’s Road Safety Team workwith businesses, training organisations andapprenticeship programmes to deliver roadsafety presentations across Sheffield. The LSTFfunds have enabled us to incorporate sustainabletravel messages into eco-driving and show howto make better use of public transport as analternative. Combining both sets of messages ismore attractive to business.

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Leicester Fit 4 Business Sally Slade & Sharon Mann, Local SustainableTransport Team Leaders, Leicester City Council

Sustainable travel grants and training for smalland medium sized businesses are provided inthis programme to help the businesses andemployees of Leicester to access affordable andsustainable transport. It provides cheapercommuting and business travel in the UK, suchas rail and bus season ticket discounts, and asustainable travel grant up to the value of£5,000

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Monitoring & Evaluation

LSTF impacts on rural economy and tourism- Drive less, emit less, spend more?Helen Tate & Alistair Kirkbride, Cumbria Tourismand Lake District National Park

Why is it worth investing in visitor travel? We’rebreaking new ground finding out how far visitortravel behaviour can shift. This forces us to asknew questions about how we evaluate behaviourchange. So, come along and ask yourselfwhether you travel differently on holiday, and whether this might change how you look at day-to-day travel.

Monitoring the success of Swindon travelchoice interventionsClaire Flemming, Swindon Travel Choices, Swindon Borough Council

Swindon has been working on its LSTFprogramme and investing a lot of time evaluatingvarious initiatives in order to learn what hasworked and what can be improved in future. Thiscase study will cover:- The Swindon “Rounds” – self guided circular routes for walking and cycling

- Cost effectiveness of various media outlets- Bus smartcard trial- Social media campaigns

Marketing & Communications

Connect Tees Valley bus campaign -Darlington Borough CouncilShelli Smith, DIVA creative

We undertook research with young people in theTees Valley area to understand their perceptionsof, and attitudes towards bus travel. Using this,we created an integrated online and offlinetargeted advertising campaign to raiseawareness of the bus travel information availableon the Connect Tees Valley website. Ourcampaign created a 89% increase in monthlyunique visitors to ConnectTeesValley.comcompared to the same period of June to Sept in2012, and Connect Tees Valley facebook page“likes” increased 51%.

Branding for smarter travel Vicky Doyle, Hampshire County Council

The ‘My Journey’ brand has been adopted by sixneighbouring councils in the south of England.This shared identity promotes a variety oftransport options to local residents andbusinesses. The brand offers a strong and simpleproposition that is easily recognised in andaround the Hampshire area.

Supermodals Social Media Campaign –Lessons learnedPaula McGivern, Hereford County Council

Who are the Supermodals? Why do promotersof active travel need them? Who has used thecampaign and what have we learned? How muchdoes it cost? Should government fund socialmedia campaigns like this in the next roundLSTF?

Connecting Wiltshire - PersonalisedTravel PlanningLaura Gosling, Wiltshire Council

This PTP programme encourages morepeople to use sustainable modes oftransport, especially rail and to reduce theneed to travel. The project is run in fourtowns and in each town the interventionhas a specific theme to help test theapproach. These include: assessing thesegmentation priority ranking, existingcommunity versus new development,combining residential and business PTP.

Changing behaviour at keytransition pointsPhil Wright, Engagement & Support Services Manager, LSTF West of England

Habits are formed quickly anddifficult to break. Experienceand emerging research showthat key life transitions pointsare when habits can be broken.We aim to change travel habitswhen people move house, get ajob or start training, go touniversity and when childrenmove from primary to secondaryeducation.

Published programme subject to change. Seewww.mainstreamsmart.co.uk for latest updates

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The speed learning session takes place at 15.40 on Day 1The 30 case studies will be presentedsimultaniously at ‘bar tables’ marked by numbered balloons, in SIX x 12 minute sessions. The case studies will be shortpresentations followed by discussion.

A horn will be sounded when it is time to change tables.


45


3 DECEMBER 2013 - DAY 1: OPTIONAL MORNING BONUS SESSIONS

10.30 Bonus session registration: Delegates register within the Beesarea in the Town Hall

11.00 Streamed sessionsDelegates choose to attend 1 of 4...

MediacityUK

Metrolink to MediaCityUK, a leading hubfor the creative and digital sectors, andhome for both the BBC and ITV. Visitincludes a tour of the site, andopportunities to hear about joint workingon sustainable transport.

National Cycling Centre

Metrolink to the National Cycling Centre,home of British Cycling. There will be atour of the velodrome and BMX tracks,and opportunities to hear about GreaterManchester's ambition to increase cyclistnumbers by 300% over the next 12 years.

City Tower Cycle Hub

A walking visit to the flagship City TowerCycle Hub, with the opportunity to viewfacilities and hear more about Transportfor Greater Manchester's commutercycling programme.

Option 1

Option 4 (Advance Booking Required. £65 + VAT Add-on to standard delegate rates)

Option 2

Option 3

12.30 Return to Manchester Town HallACT TravelWise Re-launch - in the Great Hall

3 & 4 December 2013 | Manchester Town Hall

Local Sustainable Transport Fund National Conference Programme

If you are involved in sustainable transportprovision then this is the event to attend toinput into the future of smarter travel and findcooperation opportunities.

11.30 (Note: Later departure time)

Finding your way to procure, implement and provide better travel information

10.00 Registration and Coffee

10.30 Welcome

10.35 Sustainable travel and geographicalimaging in Greater Manchester David Hytch, Information SystemsDirector (Technology Initiatives), TfGM• Linking modes and information• Passenger information methods• Open Data to improve service• Considering the mix of modes and

information – Why geographicsystems work well

10.55 Lessons from experience – UK and International best practice intransport mappingPeter Warman, Consultant to FWT• The perspective of the traveller –

how do we look after different usergroups?

• The map as a navigation aid• Tracking and GPS. Why don’t we

have ‘tom-toms’ in buses?• Where is personal navigation going?• Combining static and real-time

information

11.15 ‘Information provision’ not‘information pollution’ on transportmapsDr. Max Roberts, Department ofPsychology University of Essex (author of‘Underground Maps Unravelled’)• The enduring role of ‘a good map’?• The psychology of mapping• Usable versus beautiful• Cultural considerations• Some International best practices

11.35 Where is transport mapping going –what you now need to knowPeter Miller, CEO, ITO World• Navigating in the smarter city – a

glimpse of the near future• The common reality of disconnected

traveller information (Case study)• Delivering a consistent and coherent

message across all transport models– on a budget

• A single mapping and informationdatabase – How Ordnance Survey,Open Data and OpenStreetMap arecoming together

• Meeting the travel informationneeds of all users any time, anyplace, anywhere, any format

11.55 On-street and on-vehicle informationtechnologySpeaker TBC• What do customers value most?• Cultural considerations – an

international perspective oninformation provision

• Immediate benefits, integration andand futureproofing

• Making the right buying decision

12.25 Question & discussion

12.30 Lunch served in the seminar room



Secure your place at Mainstreaming Smarter Tr

08.45 Registration opens: Refreshments served in the exhibition area

09.00 Optional pre-conference 30 minute ‘International Breakfast Briefing’ in the Great Hallto New York's sustainable transport policy and practice

09.30 Jon Orcutt, Director of Policy, New York Department of Transport & Kate Fillin-Yeh - Director of the NYC Bike Share scheme

09.50 Sustainable transport in ManchesterCouncillor Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee (TfGMC)

10.00 The views of LEPs on Sustainable TransportMike Blackburn, Chair of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership & BT's regional director for the North West

10.10 Mainstreaming the Local Sustainable Transport FundLocal Transport Minister Baroness Kramer

10.20 Interview with the Minister, Chair of GM LEP and Chair of TfGMCInterviewer: Lynn Sloman Director of Transport for Quality of Life

11.00 Break: Refreshments served in the exhibition area

11.30 Streamed sessions: Delegates choose 1 of 4

Marketing and CommunicationsSponsored by Diva

The Key Ingredients of a SuccessfulBehaviour Change CampaignAmy Boyle, DIVA Creative

The Greener Journeys BehaviourChange Lab: getting motorists totry the busLynn Sloman and David Hall,Behaviour Change Lab

A campaign to increase awarenessof shared transport and createlegacyAli Clabburn, Liftshare & ThomasEvans, Gloucestershire CC

Engagement - Partnership workingSponsored by TfGM

Delivering Success ThroughPartnership WorkingHelen Ramsden, TfGM

Lessons from the Award WinningLowestoft Local LinksSteff Jones, Lowesoft Council and Jon Parker, ITP

Employers group - businessenagementAnn O'Driscoll, North Bristol Suscom

Mainstreaming - embedding smarter travel into general practiceSponsored by Transport for GreaterManchester (TfGM)

How big can we go?Gordon Baker, JMP

The devil is in the deliveryJon Foley, Steer Davies Gleave

Maximising value- tapping intoexisting funding to maximise LSTFproject fundsTim Anderson, Energy Savings Trust

Integration - New technology,smart-cards, buses, trains andinterchangeSponsored by ATKINS

Effective partnerships forpassenger transportAndy Summers, Hertfordshire CC

How technology & gamificationcan be used to encourage travelbehavioural change. A case studyfrom Leeds METROJames Datson, ATKINS; Ginny Leonard, METRO, RonanCarter, Stravel & PleaseCycle; Jon MJ, Cambridge University

Demolishing Information Silos forthe Benefit of CustomersPete Johnson, TfGM

The Great Hall Lord Mayor's Parlour Conference Hall Committee Room

12.45 Lunch: Served in the exhibition area

4 DECEMBER 2013 - DAY 2: HOW SMARTER TRAVEL DELIVERS - LESSONS LEARNED

3 DECEMBER 2013 - DAY 1: WHAT WILL THE LSTF DELIVER?

BREAK FOR THE FOLLOWING DAY

12.30 Delegate registration: Registration and light refreshments served in the exhibition area

13.20 Keynote- Mainstreaming Smart Travel in Greater ManchesterDr Jon Lamonte, Chief Executive of Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)

13.30 Panel discussion - Mainstreaming Smarter Travel - and the LSTF

Chaired by Prof. Phil Goodwin, University of West of England

Panellists: Panellists: Graham Pendlebury, The Department for Transport; Greg Hartshorn, ATKINS;Peter Lipman, Sustrans & Dr Jon Lamonte, Transport for Greater Manchester



473–4 December 2013 |Manchester Town Hall

r Travel today at: www.mainstreamsmart.co.uk

Mainstreaming - Embedding smarter travel intogeneral practiceSponsored by ATKINS

Local Growth Deals & Smarter TravelJonathan Foster-Clark, Atkins

LSTF and Young Adults: The realpotential for sustained, life - long travelbehaviour changeDamian Price, Mott MacDonald &Rachel Evans, Centro

How do we ensure a local LSTF legacy?Adrian Webb & Lee Parker,Southampton CC & Parose Projects

Monitoring and Evaluation

Best Practice in MonitoringAndy Cope, Sustrans

Cost effective monitoring ofbehaviour change interventionsTony Duckenfield, Steer Davies Gleave

Active Travel - Walking andCycling initiatives WorkshopSponsored by Sustrans

Mainstreaming Cycling for AllNick Vaughan, TfGM & Eleanor Roaf,Sustrans Regional Director, North West

Getting more people cycling -lessons from three years ofchallengesSam Robinson, Challenge for Change

Integration - New technology,smartcards, buses, trains andinterchangeSponsored by ATKINS

Real Time Travel Information -Delivering the benefitsDaniel Hobbs, AECOM

Connecting the Dales LSTFRandall Ghent, DITA

Sustaining access and connectivityin remote areas: some issues forsmart communicationsCoen Salemink, University Groningen

Marketing and CommunicationsSponsored by ACT Travelwise

Market SegmentationJohn Screeton, DfT

A Blueprint for an EffectiveSustainable Travel WebsiteSteve Dupree, Diva Creative

Engaged Employers and intergratedfundingRachel Evans and Thomas Evans,Gloucetershire County County Council

Active Travel - Walking andCycling initiatives WorkshopSponsored by Sustrans

Integrating hard and soft measuresin access to education & workTony Russell, Transport EngineeringManager, Sustrans & Zsolt Schuller, Strategic SustainableTravel Officer, Devon County Council

Engagement -partnership workingSponsored by TfGM

Cross Boundary PartnershipWorking - The Trials andTribulations, a practical guideDaniel Caffrey, St.Helens Council

Delivering Smarter Travel Choicesthrough Social LandlordsLucy Low, Cheshire West

Monitoring and EvaluationSponsored by the Department for Transport

Workshop on Monitoring andEvaluationBetty Leow & Angela Trevithick, DfT






16.15 Event Close

Published programme subject to change. See www.mainstreamsmart.co.uk for latest updates.

15.40

30x case studies from LSTF projects to discuss. Held in the Great Hall and Bees Area. See p42–44

17.30 Break: Break in the exhibition area

18.00 Welcome to ManchesterDave Newton - Transport Strategy Director, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM)

18.10 Informal NetworkingLight bites and drinks party

19.30 Day 1 Close

4926speedlearning


Book online: www.mainstreamsmart.co.uk

The 2-Day Mainstreaming Smarter Travel event includes 'round-table’ discussion forums, workshops, panel discussions, case study and key-note presentationstaking place over the two days.

Delegates will have the opportunity to learn lessons fromthe early projects already underway, for those planned forimplementation in 2014/15.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

With an expected 450 delegates, Mainstreaming SmarterTravel is the meeting place for sustainable transport expertsfrom around the UK.

If you are involved in sustainable transport provision thenthis is the event to attend to input into the future of smartertravel and find cooperation opportunities.

Delegates and speakers include:

� transport planners� travel planners� sustainable transport officers� facilities and transport

managers from large employers

� LEP representatives� public health officials� academia� transport operators� consultants

...from both the non-profitand private sector.

DELEGATE RATES

First private sector delegate £245 + VAT

Each additional private sector delegate £195 + VAT

Public Sector delegates £95 + VAT

Add-on Mapping & Information for Smarter TravelMorning Session on Day 1 +£65 + VAT

HOW TO BOOKSecure your place online at: www.mainstreamsmart.co.ukIf requesting an invoice online, you will be prompted for apurchase order number.

All bookings are subject to payment terms which can befound at: www.landor.co.uk/smartertravel/terms.php

Conference enquiries: Gemma [email protected]+44(0)207 091 7865

Organised by:Landor LINKSApollo House359 Kennington LaneLondon, SE11 5QY

Mainstreaming Smarter Travel is organised by Landor LINKS.

Landor LINKS connects with every Local Authority in the UK,Central Government, Universities and research bodies,suppliers, consultants, contractors and service providers.

Professionals depend on us for authoritative information,news and analysis. We deliver this through targeted events,traditional print, such as the respected transport planningand policy journal Local Transport Today, online and throughsocial media.

Mainstreaming Smarter Travel is endorsed by:

Supported by the Department for Transport and hosted byTransport for Greater Manchester, this conference is the secondnational meeting of all the LSTF projects.

The programme features a mix of networking discussion, paneldebate, keynote presentation and streamed sessions providinga knowledge sharing platform for delegates.

It is an opportunity for delegates from a number of differentsectors to network with each other, share good practice, findopportunities for cooperation, and to discuss the future ofsmarter travel.

� Listen to presentations from experts on the future of smarter travel

� Network with practitioners tasked with delivering LSTF projects throughout the UK

� Learn from good practice being delivered as part of the LSTF� Join networking groups to discuss cooperation opportunities

3 & 4 December 2013 |Manchester Town HallLocal Sustainable Transport Fund National Conference

SUSTAINABLETRANSPORTFUND

LOCAL

Supported by:Hosted by:


Documents

Mainstreaming Smarter Travel 2013