Behaviour Change 

Increasing cycling levels through an innovative behaviour change campaign

Creating and delivering a unique cycling campaign to encourage people to cycle and use the groundbreaking new Cycle Superhighway in West Yorkshire, with key insights into developing engaging and unique campaigns that can lead to sustained long-term behaviour change

Carly Wood, Marketing Team Manager, DIVA Creative

Lessons from a walking pilot project  

UWE Bristol has targets to reduce car travel to all its campuses and increase active travel. At the same time, demand for the bus service is both high and growing. By promoting walking as a feasible transport option, pressure on the bus service can be mitigated and the number of students who take relatively short bus journeys to university reduced, with associated health and well-being improvements. This presentation provides an overview of a pilot project aimed at promoting walking as a feasible transport option to students living within a 30-minute walking radius to UWE’s Frenchay Campus. The project ran during Big Green Week (13th -20th October 2016) and involved the organisation and monitoring of three led-walks to campus. It will discuss the experience of the participants as well as the lessons learnt in designing, delivering and monitoring the pilot project. Recommendations for scaling up and replicating the project will be provided.

Lizzie Johnson, University of the West of England

Walking works in Greater Manchester

Transport for Greater Manchester’s ‘Walking Workplaces’ initiative aims to encourage people to become more active and healthier by making walking an accessible, inclusive and attractive mode of transport. Working with Transport for Greater Manchester’s Travel Choices business network of 507 employers and 268,000 employees, the initiative encourages and promotes walking as part of the daily commute by undertaking workplace walking events, promoting and participating in national walk to work events; and developing bespoke mapping and information resources for workplaces. 70 Walking Workplaces events took place in 2015/16 with over 600 employees attending tailored lunch time led walks delivered by local walking group volunteers or approved tour guides and over 1,500 employees engaged with at events seeking additional walking information and resources.   

Carragh Teague, Walking Coordinator, Transport for Greater Manchester

Days out by train

The presentation will provide an overview of the Days Out by Train in the West of England scheme which aims to deliver health & social inclusion through free access to rail for disadvantaged communities. It aims to remove financial barriers to rail use and contribute to improving health, wellbeing and social inclusion for low-income, disadvantaged communities living in the West of England area and, more recently, neighbouring communities in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Somerset and South Wales. To achieve its aims, the scheme is providing complimentary rail tickets for groups of people from disadvantaged communities in the above areas wishing to spend a day out in a variety of local destinations. Not-for-profit organisations, e.g. charities, schools, council social services, NHS services, community associations etc., can apply for free travel on behalf of groups of disadvantaged people they work with and/or help. The presentation will show how the scheme is contributing to deliver health and wellbeing through sustainable transport, by discussing the lessons learnt from scheme operation, including the findings of a qualitative survey of participants and the rail operator. Recommendations for scaling up and replicating the scheme will also be provided. The scheme is funded by Great Western Rail (GWR) under the Customer and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF) 2016/17 and is managed by UWE in collaboration with the Severnside Community Rail Partnership (SCRP).

Dr Miriam Ricci, Centre for Transport & Society, University of the West of England 

Network legibility encourages healthy choices

Designing legible and engaging information can improve the experience of cities and encourage sustainable and healthy choices. 

City ID are based in Bristol and develop wayfinding systems both in the UK and internationally, including New York, Moscow and Birmingham. Their collaborative design process places walking and sustainable modes of transport at the heart of safe, healthy, vibrant and economically successful cities and regions. 

City ID have recently been working with Bristol City Council on projects to improve the legibility and user experience of the city and promote sustainable transport. This has included a range of projects including new ‘Bus Hubs’ information to better reveal the bus network to new and experienced users alike, an improved cycle print map to promote leisure routes through the city centre and beyond, and a new wayfinding totem at Temple Meads Station with an enhanced level of content and information.

As well as Bristol, Cal will touch on a recent project in San José revealing public transport and promoting cycle routes through printed maps and interactive PDFs.

Cal Jepps, City ID

Walking and Cycling Research in The Royal Parks 

Widely known as London’s ‘green lungs’, The Royal Parks form a key environmental resource and cultural destination within central London, attracting more than 80million people every year.  With such high visitor numbers, The Royal Parks has been engaged in detailed monitoring and analysis of walking and cycling conditions for more than a decade to inform planning and design decisions within the parks.  Atkins has been working with The Royal Parks to develop a technical design guide bringing together the current methodologies for data collection, analysis, planning and design for walking and cycling related matters into a single resource.  This guide provides a consistent approach for managing walking and cycling infrastructure in historic parkland environments and looks to promote a wider design dialogue on planning for walking and cycling across urban parks and busy open spaces in general.

Gordon Webster, Atkins Global