REDUCING CAR TRAVEL THROUGH TRAVEL BLENDING

Abstract

This paper outlines an innovative approach designed to encourage individuals to make changes in their travel behaviour to reduce the use of the car. The project forms part of a five year campaign initiated by the NRMA, the largest motorists' membership organisation in Australia. The overall campaign, known as Clean Air 2000, aims to improve air quality in the greater Sydney region by the year 2000 Olympics. Travel blending is the term used to describe the individual action part of the Clean Air 2000 campaign. It aims to encourage individuals to choose a mixture, or blend, of travel choices over time to satisfy their travel needs rather than being a captive of the private car. Participating households are sent a series of five kits over a nine week period. A unique feature of the project is the inclusion of seven-day travel diaries for each person in the household. To give people a good understanding of their current behaviour, these are analysed and a summary of the household's travel patterns, and the pollution produced by their cars, is sent back to the household in the next kit along with customised suggestions explaining how they could try travel blending. After about four weeks the households complete another set of diaries. The final kit contains details of the changes in the travel patterns and associated motor vehicle pollution. The paper reports results from a pilot test 250 households and gives evidence of voluntary reductions in car use of between 10 and 15%. The method is currently being piloted in Leeds in the UK. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 898930.