Modal Share Change Following Implementation of Travel Demand Management Strategies

The demand for urban mobility has seen a marked increase over the last few decades. The expansion of road networks, the increase in distance travelled and in the number of trips made has created car dependent cities. One solution for achieving the switch from private car to public transport is the introduction of a new public transport line that improves accessibility and frequency of the service. However, an important behavioural process underpins travel choices and often a change in choice context is not sufficient to evoke behaviour change. Voluntary Travel Behaviour Change (VTBC) programmes were developed for the purpose of heightening individuals’ awareness of the consequences of their travel choices and of the benefits to be reaped from using sustainable alternatives, through information provision and communication strategies. The objective of the present paper is to analyse the effect on travel mode choice of introducing a new light railway line into the choice set (hard measure) when implementing a VTBC programme on a large scale, but with a high degree of personalisation (soft measure). Although numerous studies have demonstrated the need to implement a (hard) measure that acts on the choice context, in combination with a (soft) measure that acts in a personalised way on demand, as far as the authors are aware, few have put this into practice. The first results have shown that a combination of hard and soft measures is more effective in evoking travel behaviour change and personalised travel plans produce better results than generalised soft measures.