'Behaviour Change Lab' launched to find out how to attract more people to use buses
Wed 06 March 2013
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Greener Journeys has launched a real world 'Behaviour Change Lab' comprising four innovative approaches to attracting people onto buses. The trials - based in Sheffield, Leicester, Manchester and the North East - are testing the effectiveness of a range of different approaches designed to encourage people to change their travel behaviour.
The London launch, attended by transport minister Norman Baker, showcased the four different approaches which include:
•Targeting drivers at moments of driving ‘pain’ in Sheffield
•Providing trusted, community-level, peer-to-peer advice in Leicester
•Four projects in Manchester focus on using community groups as messengers.
•Competition amongst sixth form students to think of ways to get people out of cars and onto buses in the North East
Norman Baker said: “I want to make the bus more attractive and it is positive to see operators challenging perceptions which wrongly, in my view, exist. Perceptions of those who don’t use buses are based somewhere in 1963 when they last used a bus!”
He added: “This is new territory. The fact you are doing it in different parts of the country is very interesting and I look forward to the final analysis.”
Greener Journeys’ Chief Executive Claire Haigh said: “If we are to hit the 2050 targets on carbon reduction, we need to break car dependency. Clearly for modal shift to happen, behaviour change has to be on the agenda.
“People lead busy lives and do make shortcuts and are very influenced by their surrounding factors. This is where the Greener Journeys Lab comes in.”
David Hall, Director of the social enterprise – Behaviour Change – the driving force behind the pilot schemes, explained the thinking behind them and the influence of a meeting with the government’s ‘nudge unit’ which develops ways to improve public services through individual decision-making. “We looked at the role marketing has to be play – when allied with good bus services, good marketing has a big role to play.”
For more information see Greener Journeys news page.
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