TravelSmart
Watford
TravelSmart works with households in Watford and across the UK offering tailor-made information and support, enabling people to walk, cycle and use public transport more often.
It delivers measurable and sustained reductions in car use by enabling people to make a few changes to their daily travel choices when and where it suits them best.
Previous projects have delivered reductions in car use averaging more than 10%, along with corresponding increases in walking, cycling and public transport use.
Sustrans delivers TravelSmart in co-operation with Socialdata, an international social and travel research consultancy, which has pioneered the approach in Germany, other parts of Europe, Australia and the US over the past 20 years.
The TravelSmart process – known as Individualised Travel Marketing (ITM) – uses direct contact with households to identify and meet their individual needs for support, and to motivate people to think about their day-to-day travel choices.
In Watford, a total of 25,000 households will be targeted with the offer of personalised travel information and support over a two year period.
Working with Hertfordshire County Council, Watford Borough Council and other partners, a range of maps, timetables and other information will form the basis of the marketing package. The project will also complement other local transport initiatives taking place during the same time period
TravelSmart’s uniquely customer-focused approach, in which decisions at all stages of the process are left to the participant, is critical to its success.
Extensive travel behaviour research has shown that :
- Most of people’s day-to-day trips are local
- A quarter of all car trips are less than two miles
- Most people are concerned about traffic growth and support policies favouring walking, cycling and public transport, above car travel
- Around half of all local car trips could be replaced by sustainable transport modes using existing facilities
- Lack of information about the alternatives to the car, and motivation to try them out, are key barriers to change
In common with other TravelSmart projects, the Watford project will be evaluated using a series of detailed travel behaviour surveys, together with monitoring of other data such as bus patronage where available.
Increasing levels of physical activity is a vital objective for tackling obesity and other life-limiting health conditions. By promoting walking and cycling for day-to-day journeys, TravelSmart will enable people to adopt more physically active – and healthy – lifestyles.
Project progress
During 2008 around 14,300 households were targeted in Stages 1 and 2 of the project in west and central Watford. The response to the project has been very positive with a large number of households requesting personalised travel information packs and further support, such as home visits. The third and final stage of the project is currently taking place, targeting almost 11,000 households in north Watford.
News
During the first stage of the project a number of dignitaries visited the field office at Holywell Community Centre. In May 2008 the Minister for Transport visited (pictured), along with the MP for Watford, Clare Ward, and representatives from local and county councils. The elected Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill, also visited in May 2008, as did Stuart Pile, Head of Transport for Hertfordshire County Council.
Local impact
Comments from TravelSmart participants in Watford illustrate how the project has made an impact:
- One of our canvassers was approached by a couple after they noticed the TravelSmart logo on his fleece. They said “TravelSmart, we know you! That's why we're out walking today.”
- A mother and her three children came to our field office to thank us for the information and advice we had given them. They told us how they had walked the full length of the Ebury Way at the weekend. The little boy said: “Yeah and it nearly killed me!”
Results
Here are some of the key results from stage 2 of TravelSmart in Watford:
We contacted 5139 households. 3237 of these households received a delivery of information materials and/or reward.
The most popular items were the local travel map, the Croxley Common Moor walking leaflet and the Merry Hill Walk leaflet.
Nine walking, cycling and public transport home visits were conducted.
Results from stage 3 of the project will be available in late 2009.
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External link: Sustrans website
External link: TravelSmart project pages
