Taxi drivers as information multipliers

Summary

One taxi company in Graz is ensuring that its customers are informed about renewable fuels and sustainable travel by training its drivers to act as lay disseminators of clean urban transport information.

Implementing sustainable mobility

With thousands of personal contacts each year, taxi drivers were identified as potential information multipliers, able to spread important messages about clean transportation, especially if their own vehicles have been adapted to run on cleaner fuel. The specific aims were to encourage modal shift and increase the collection rate of waste cooking oil.

Progress

As part of CIVITAS TRENDSETTER, the Graz taxi company Taxi 878 began to educate its drivers in order prepare them to pass on information on sustainable transport behaviour to their customers during taxi journeys. The taxi drivers also offered passengers information about the municipal collection of household waste oil. Most inhabitants in Graz were not previously aware of this project, although the city had successfully carried out pioneering work in the field of biodiesel use.

Outcomes

The technical difficulties encountered during the introduction of biodiesel in the taxi fleet affected the training programme for the taxi drivers, which could not be completed in full. It also meant that biodiesel acquired the image of being “problematic” among many drivers. However, once biodiesel started to be used on a larger scale the image changed to being far more positive.

Measure implementation highlighted the need to create a quality-assurance mechanism and carry out more practical on-the-job training.