Site-level mobility management

Summary

Mobility management at companies, schools and events has helped to change the travel behaviour of employees, pupils, parents and event goers by promoting cycling, walking and the use of public transportation.

Implementing sustainable mobility

Traffic flow in Graz has increased enormously in recent years and the city experiences major problems with emissions of particulates, exacerbated by weather conditions in the winter months and by the city’s location in a basin surrounded by hills. With the aim of promoting cleaner modes of urban transportation, this measure was designed to reduce the proportion of single-occupancy private cars by encouraging people to use public transportation and other alternative modes.

The measure was a continuation of an existing mobility management scheme and involved the introduction of mobility management at two large companies and several schools, as well as the extension of the scheme to events such as concerts, football matches and exhibitions. Specific goals were to:

• change the predominance of car usage among visitors to events;
• set the basis for later sustainable mobility choices (by targeting schools);
• change existing mobility behaviour (at companies and schools); and
• influence parents and teachers via the children in schools.

Progress

The first step in the process is the so-called quickscan of the company or school premises in order to identify the potential for mobility management activities.

Examples of activities carried out include:

• offering a bicycle servicing day at the start of cycling season in spring;
• installing bicycle racks;
• providing mobility advice for new employees;
• encouraging parents to form car-pooling schemes for the school run;
• organising “green miles” schemes for pupils walking or cycling to school;
• introducing parking management for employees by making eligibility for parking spaces dependent on distance between home and workplace and availability of public transportation; and
• offering combined tickets, where use of public transport is included in the entry fee for an event.

Outcomes

In the two participating companies, car use decreased by about 15 percent in favour of more sustainable transport modes.

In the schools, there was an increase in safety levels and a reduction of more than 50 percent in car travel. Almost 500 pupils participated in the scheme to collect green miles.

In relation to events, the importance of pre-trip information was recognised as having huge potential in achieving a more sustainable modal share. This includes the integrated public transport and event ticket, as well as web-based information and access maps.