How can we encourage more commuters to cycle to and from work? That is the question of a new collaboration project where researchers at the Service Research Center (CTF) at Karlstad University will investigate the driving forces and incentives behind car travel and the transition to more sustainable commuting.
The research is conducted within a new collaboration project that aims to develop and disseminate knowledge about behaviour-changing solutions that can encourage more people to choose cycling for their daily commute. In this project, CTF, in collaboration with the Swedish 2030-Secretariat, Akademiska Hus, Helsingborg City, Nordic Behaviour Group, Studio Berget and Örebro Municipality, will delve deep into understanding what can prompt commuters who currently use cars for their daily commute to change their daily routine and instead choose cycling.
– Examining the driving forces and incentives behind car travel and a transition to more sustainable modes of transportation is crucial. Without this understanding, achieving long-term behavioural changes is challenging, says Jessica Westman Trischler, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at CTF. We aim to identify key barriers and driving forces when it comes to choosing transportation modes and then present suitable intervention functions and behaviour change techniques with the potential to convert car trips into bike trips.
In a time when climate change and public health are two of our most significant societal challenges, cycling emerges as an environmentally friendly and health-promoting mode of transportation with the potential to play a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions and improving public health. Currently, cycling represents only four percent of the total travel in Sweden, while 35 percent of the country's daily car trips are under 10 kilometers. By focusing on human experience, the project hopes to develop solutions that can encourage more cycling and simultaneously reduce short car trips.
Through interviews with drivers and stakeholders such as employers, innovation companies, housing companies and policymakers, the project will result in a so-called behavioural diagnosis, providing an overview of the barriers that must be overcome by policymakers, employers, municipalities, property companies and other stakeholders aiming to promote active and sustainable mobility.
– We draw on the latest behavioural science research and create strategies for more and new solutions to reach the hard-to-change, says Niklas Laninge, CEO of Nordic Behaviour Group.
The project is part of Vinnova's initiative Human-Centered Mobility, which seeks a psychological and behavioural science perspective on mobility issues. Results are expected to be presented in the summer of 2024. Ongoing updates will be available on the Swedish 2030-Secretariat website.
