Education and promotion programme

Summary

There is a gap between the general awareness of environmental problems - greenhouse effect, air quality problems, noise etc. - and travelers' recognition of their contribution to these problems. If this gap is closed it may become easier to promote sustainable transport.

Implementing sustainable mobility

By educating people about the benefits of sustainable transport and encouraging them to think about their transport habits, it may become easier to promote sustainable transport.

The main aim of this measure is to encourage people to travel in a more sustainable manner and to be aware of the alternatives to private cars. This will lead to traffic decongestion in the centre of the city and a reduction of air and noise pollution, making Iasi a cleaner and healthier city. Iasi partners are introducing a promotional campaign through media and on public transport routes to demonstrate the benefits of using ecologically friendly transport modes.

Progress

To increase the chance of successful implementation of the sustainable transport promotion measures, efforts to sensitive citizens to transport issues have being made. The main target group are students but all passengers will benefit from the measure.  A marketing company contracted the campaigns for promoting the transportation and printed maps, guides, brochures, appear on radio-TV shows, created substantial and positive presence in local press and made presentations in schools and universities. This campaign has been assisted by Iasi City Hall and specialists from the Regia Autonoma de Transport Public (RATP).

Outcomes

Events, products and services of the promotion campaign were structured around four important periods: • 5 June - World Environment Day; • 16 -22 September - European Mobility Week; • 6-30 October – Iasi Celebration; • 8 November - World Town Planning Day. From June to September 2010, promotional materials (see section 4.2 for examples) were distributed in parks and on the main boulevard of the CIVITAS Corridor. Thus the campaign reached students from two major campuses. The intention to reach the target audience was led by the slogan ”We move the future” broadcasted through TV and radio spots, newspaper promotional layouts and the website www.viitorinmiscare.ro.

From the questionnaires’ results we noticed that the percentage of people aware of the sustainable transport benefits increased after the promotional campaigns to 50% in 2012 compared to 2009. Within the acceptance level indicator, we evaluated several aspects. First, people were asked about the negative effect that heavy traffic has on the environment. We noticed that citizens’ agreement level, regarding this matter, increased from 67% in 2009, to 77% in 2011 and 87% in 2012. Secondly, in 2012, 77% of the interviewed persons have agreed that using PT vehicles, instead of personal cars, helps to create a cleaner, less polluted city in 2012, compared to only 47% of them registered in 2009. Thirdly, in case of a proper bicycle lane infrastructure in the city, 42% of citizens answered in 2012 that they would use bicycle as a daily mean of transportation. In 2009 only 12% of them were willing to change their transportation habits. The last indicator assessed was the perception of accessibility. Surveys revealed that passengers’ perception regarding the accessibility to a modern public transport service increased from 25% in 2009, to 47% in 2012.