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In the spring of 2001 the City of Malmö initiated its work with Mobility
Management. The overall objective of the effort is to change attitudes and
behaviour, primarily by spreading information about sustainable transportation.
In the long run it all comes down to creating an
environmentally adapted transport system within the city.
During the first year and a half
the efforts were directed towards one specific area of the city, the Western Harbour, where a Mobility Centre was
located. The centre provided the people living in the area as well as the
companies situated here with information and guidance on sustainable
transportation. From the beginning the efforts in the Western Harbour were synchronised in time with an
international exhibition on sustainable housing and living environment (Bo01).
Bicycling Campaign towards the
Public
In may
2002 the centre carried out a campaign with the aim of bringing about a modal
shift, from the use of personal cars towards more bicycling among the
residents. A total of 200 residents were contacted by mail, and got detailed
information about the campaign.
25 registered for the campaign,
mostly people who already use their bicycle frequently. A meeting was carried
out and they got further information about the campaign and what was expected
from them. An agreement was made with them saying that during six months they
had to use their bicycles instead of their cars as much as possible. They also
got a travel diary to document their travel behaviour. As a trigger and reward
they got equipment to use when the campaign started. A raincoat, lights for the
bicycle, helmet and a computer for the bicycle. During the meeting they also
had to complete a questionnaire concerning their travel behaviour.
After three months the
participants in the campaign were contacted by phone in order to give feedback.
The questions were about their experiences using the bicycle as means of
transportation. What advantages and disadvantage had they experienced?
After six months the campaign came
to an end. Further meetings were carried out with the participants. Here they
could express their opinion and give further feedback about the campaign. They
also had to complete the same questionnaire as they did at the first meeting,
to document their travel behaviour once more. After this the two questionnaires
were matched.
The result of
the campaign were quite convincing. 18 of the participants had a sharp
increase in use of their bicycle for shorter distances. They also thought that
this behaviour would continue in the same extent after the campaign.
In November 2003 a new campaign
about travel behaviour was carried out in the Western Harbour. At the same time the campaign
from 2002 will be followed up a second time with a personal phone call to the
25 participants. Are they still using their bicycles in the same extent as in
October 2002?
Starting in the fall of 2002
Mobility Management in the City of Malmö became just that; the scope of
the efforts were widened, now spanning over the whole city. Today
four officials, situated in the City Hall in the city centre, are occupied full
time with the issues at hand, working towards three main target groups: the
public, the companies and the municipal organisation itself. The
latter is actually the largest employer in the city, with over 20 000 employees
divided between 21 departments.
Travel Behaviour in the Municipal Organisation
In
May 2003 a pilot project focusing on one specific department of the municipality,
with 180 employees, was launched. Starting out with a weekly publication of the
“Environmental Commuter of the Week” on the Intranet of the department the
campaign got a flying start with a lot of attention from the employees. The
criteria for becoming “the chosen one” was of course that they went by bicycle,
bus, train or foot to and from work on a regular basis.
The
first day 25 employees registered their interest to become the “Environmental
Commuter of the Week” on the Intranet. Today a total of 41 employees are
registered and 30 of them have been interviewed for the project. An article
based on the interviews is weekly published on the Intranet. In the article the
“Environmental Commuter of the Week” describes how he or she commuted in a specific
way. What is the main reason and what are the main benefits? As a reward they
get a T-shirt with the logo for Sustainable transportation in Malmö printed on the chest. They
are all photographed in the T-shirt and the pictures are later used in the articles
on the Intranet. The main reason for giving out the T-shirt is to make the
campaign visible and present. The reaction from the participants is positive,
it is a great thing to be associated with an act that saves the environment.
Following
this “interest-trigger” on the Intranet the campaign included individual
counselling and the handing out of individual travel plans specifying all
possible alternatives for sustainable commuting for every employee. During the
personal counselling the employees travel behaviour was discussed as well as
the time factor, costs and negative environmental impacts. During the
counselling, timetables for the public transportation and a brochure about travel
behaviour and environmental impact was available. During this meeting
all employees also got information about the next step in the campaign, an
eight-week competition between the divisions within the department. The “best”
division, based
on the number of people that commute environmentally friendly, won a party with
free food, drinks and entertainment. A great trigger that
motivated a lot of the employees to be active in the competition.
The
employees that already had environmentally friendly travel behaviour got a cup
for encouragement,
with the same logo as the T-shirt. Those that were willing to change their non-friendly
travel behaviour during at least tree weeks of the competition were rewarded
with a backpack and an umbrella.
Information
about the competition was published on the Intranet. During the eight weeks the
employees had to report every day by signing a list that they travelled
environmental friendly. The status in the competition was published several
times during the competition on the Intranet to remind the employees and keep
them to be active.
Just
recently a winner was announced and the party is near by. A questionnaire has been sent out to
all employees at the department which will give information about the
campaign’s impact on the employees travel behaviour and feedback on the
campaign. Information to be used in the future development of the project.
It
is still to early to come to any real conclusions about the campaign.
One thing is very obvious though, travel behaviour and environmentally
friendly travel behaviour have been a pressing issue at the department.
The use of the Intranet for publication of information and the logo to
visualise the campaign have been important parts to make this an attentive
issue.
The
pilot project is carried out with the overall aim of expanding the campaign to
several/all the departments of the municipality over time. The planning of this
is the next step in this pilot project.
Sustainable Transportation
within Companies
The activities towards the
companies consist mainly of two projects, a series of seminars about
sustainable transportation and a pilot project concentrated on counselling.
The five seminars all have
different approaches towards the subject, sustainable transportation. They
carry on from May to December 2003.
The seminars related to the
following subject areas; the first seminar brought up clean vehicles and the benefits of alternative fuel. The second seminar focused on
EcoDriving, how companies have the possibility to save energy, environment and
money by initiating their employees into the methods of economical driving.
Business trips where the subject for the third seminar, how a strategy can make
a great difference for the company’s environmental
impact. The fourth
seminar focused on virtual communication, alternative meetings without need for
transportation. The last seminar takes place in December and will concern the
employees travel behaviour to and from work.
All seminars consist of lectures
based on experiences, scientific facts and practical demonstrations, to show
different aspects of the subject sustainable transportation. The series of
seminars will soon be evaluated.
To enable
cooperation between companies and the Traffic Environment Section a pilot
project were initiated in the fall of 2003. Eleven ISO 14001 certified
companies were contacted and offered counselling within sustainable transportation. What can
the company gain by creating a strategy that in the long run decreases their environmental
impact? A first meeting is carried out and it gave important information about
the companies different needs. The next step in the
project is to produce a proposal to
the companies about a long time partnership. |