Flowers & Forecourts
Here at the CTP we like to spread love to motorists and non-motorists alike. So in case you’ve forgotten, St Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and it’s not too late to get some nice gifts for your loved one.
Unfortunately, I’m sure we’ve all managed to forget those presents at one point in our lives. Who hasn’t hoped our nearest and dearest doesn’t detect the scent of petrol on the Garage flowers hastily bought on the way home?
It’s not just flowers we forget, and like any relationship, maintenance is important. It’s easy for people to use a car and forget about all the different ways we can travel. If people don’t maintain links, and haven’t used an alternate mode in a while, then it quickly gains a reputation. We can get suspicious minds when travelling without our own vehicle; new travel modes become unfamiliar experiences away from the security, status and comfort of the car. So how can people’s views change back to liking sustainable travel?
By influencing people to try new travel, even if just for a short while, we can see a real impact. An experiment by Bamberg, Ajzen & Schmidt (2003) examined the impact of providing heavily discounted tickets for buses. The tickets were available for students at a University as part of their tuition fees, and the experimenters measured the use of the bus during their first semester, and again one year later. They found that the number of students using the bus had doubled, and importantly, people’s favourable attitudes towards bus use increased significantly.
But it’s not just students, and it’s not just cheap tickets. Research by Fujii & Gärling (2003) recruited middle-aged commuters who used a main toll road between 2 Japanese cities. The road was closed over 7 days, and the experimenters recruited commuters for surveys before, and one year after, the road closure. Incredibly, they found those who had used public transport during the week’s closure were significantly more likely to use public transport a year later.
By not using public transport, people’s negative beliefs increase. If we can get people to use bus and rail even just a few more times, we have an opening to greater behaviour change. It may not be rekindling a lost love, but it can open public transport as an acceptable choice for people’s travel. And after all, flowers smell much better from a train station florist than a garage forecourt.
If you’d like to find out more how the Centre for Transport and Psychology can help with attitude and behaviour change programs, you can get in touch with us at CTP@jmp.co.uk, or visit our website www.vctp.org for more information.
In partnership with PTRC, the CTP will be holding a seminar series in London from March 2010 on how psychology and transport can work together for sustainable travel. If you would like to find out more about this exciting new venture, you can follow the link http://www.ptrc-training.co.uk/event.php?id=167 or send us an email.
One of our CTP Members, Professor Alan Tapp, will be delivering a keynote speech at the Bristol Social Marketing Centre on Thursday 27th May. If you would like more information, you can follow the link here or contact the Centre at bsm@uwe.ac.uk
References:
Bamberg, S., Ajzen, I. & Schmidt, P. (2003) Choice of Travel Mode in the Theory of Planned Behaviour: The Roles of Past Behaviour, Habit and Reasoned Action. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 25 (3) 175-187
Fujii, S. & Gärling, T. (2003) Development of a script-based travel mode choice after forced change. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 6 (2) 117
Flowers & Forecourts