Final Report Summary - USEMOBILITY (Understanding social behaviour for eco-friendly multimodal mobility) Executive summary: The USEMOBILITY project explored what motivates people into switching to environmentally friendly modes of transport to suggest steps and measures towards more sustainable mobility. The area of investigation was local and regional transport used by most citizens for their daily travel which offers a range of possibilities for multimodal transport and changing of transport modes. USEMOBILITY applied an innovative approach and questioned on national and regional level over 10 000 'swing users' - that means persons that already changed their mobility behaviour - in 6 European counties, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, and the Netherlands, about the reasons behind their modal choices. The expression 'swing users' included both, people who completely changed to another mode of transport, as well as travellers who altered the weighting within their mix of multiple transport modes ('mobility-mix'). The survey was accompanied by evaluation of national trends in passenger transportation and the research conducted so far on travellers' behaviour, experts' interviews and workshops in European countries to complete the picture of factors influencing multimodality. USEMOBILITY found out that in choosing their mode of transport, European users behave far more dynamically than one would expect. Almost half of the people contacted during the survey said that they had modified their mobility mix in the last five years. There is a lot of dynamism in people's choice of transport mode, but the movement towards and away from public transport is still nearly balanced. This means: there is no automatism leading to a higher share of eco-friendly multimodal mobility. But there is a chance for policy and providers to motivate more people to switch to public transport and multimodal combinations. Changes in people's personal situation (relocation, a new job, birth of children etc.) strongly influence changes in their choice of means of transport. At the same time, for the majority of 'swing users', multimodal travel is already a reality. The change to public transport is by no means always due to a person's not owning a car. 'Swing users' indicated a mix of several factors in combination as relevant for their behavioural change. Besides peoples personal situation offer-related factors were of decisive influence in this respect, as well as the impact of transport policy on peoples modal choices. The USEMOBILITY survey revealed that classical 'hard' offer-related factors influencing the modal choice have the highest decision relevance in both the decision to use public transport and multimodality more often, but also to quit public transport. 'Hard factors' include reachability, costs, journey time, waiting times, number of transfers and the frequency of connections. The influence of so-called 'soft' offer-related factors is less pronounced, but still considerable. Among the soft factors, flexibility, planning effort, availability of information and environmental friendliness have the highest relevance, followed by comfort of travel, atmosphere on the journey, and staff. Soft factors like atmosphere or social contact were more often a reason to leave than to enter public transport. This means that 'soft factors', with exception of environmental friendliness and travel comfort have rather the character of a booster, if hard factors generally meet 'swing users' expectations. However, in case of poor performance, they have a strong push-out effect. Therefore they should be taken seriously. Looking at 'swing users' attitudes towards mobility, a segmentation identified promising target groups. For instance, in all USEMOBILITY countries mobility pragmatic 'swing users' cover a considerable segment that is considerably bigger than the group of clearly car oriented 'swing users'. The USEMOBILITY insights are very similar in all project countries, suggesting that they are also applicable to other European countries. Based on the survey, future scenarios for eco-friendly multimodal mobility - medium (2020) and long term (2050) scenario - were developed and discussed in workshops with all stakeholders: passenger organisations, political decision makers and transport companies. The main project outcomes were discussed with high-level representatives of European transportation companies, ministries and associations in each project country. The dynamism in people's modal choices, the ongoing change in users' attitudes towards mobility, as well as the influence of changes in people's personal situation have obviously been underestimated. The USEMOBILITY project wants to contribute that these aspects are taken more fully into account when discussing future mobility. The insights gained during the USEMOBILITY project contribute to a better understanding of people's modal choices and give useful orientation for further action to all players involved. Based on all these research USEMOBILITY has formulated strategic recommendations addressing various stakeholders: decision makers in politics, the European Commission (EC), providers of transportation services and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). These recommendations could help these stakeholders to achieve more eco-friendly multimodal mobility in the future. project context and objectives: Summary of project context The demand for people's mobility in Europe is still growing. Labour and business related mobility as well as social mobility is increasing. Urban traffic and congestion is growing as a consequence of increased urbanisation and greater urban sprawl. Growing demand for mobility puts a strain on existing infrastructure and the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by the transport sector continues to rise unceasingly. The society is expecting intelligent and affordable mobility solutions. Citizens expect seamless and accessible collective transport and safe infrastructure for walking, cycling and private vehicle use. A remarkable change in transport usage towards more environmentally friendly modes of transport has been emerging in Europe in the last years. Whereas eco-mobility (bicycle, public transport, pedestrian) enjoy considerable growth, the number of journeys taken by car is stagnating. Public transport in Europe has an enormous potential for growth, with the majority of the total population open-minded towards buses and trains. Numerous citizens in different European countries have already changed their behaviour concerning the choice of transport mode. Such citizens were in focus of the USEMOBILITY project. The USEMOBILITY approach builds on this behavioural change, which already took place (an 'ex post approach'). The choice of transport mode occurs in a competing field of mobility offers and individual life situation and depends on many factors. This question is hardly analysed so far from the perspective of actual users' decisions. The research on the users' perspective done so far was very general and usually positioned in the context of customer satisfaction surveys. Such supply oriented surveys focus often on changes in the supply of mobility services (like technology and pricing) and their effects on the demand. They are usually developed and induced by transportation companies. Such surveys are not able to identify crucial factors that induce change in the user behaviour, because they focus more on the status quo. Thus the factors which really motivate people to switch to public transport or to multimodal transport chains and which keep them off are not very well known. USEMOBILITY aimed to make the picture of travellers behaviour more complete, since it aimed to explore not only 'hard' but also 'soft factors' like, for example, the users' attitude towards environmental issues that influence their willingness to use public transport, amenity values of transport, atmosphere, security, cleanness and many others. Summary of project objectives The project main objectives of the USEMOBILITY project were to find out citizens' real reasons for behavioural change towards eco-friendly multimodal mobility in concrete cases in at least 5 European countries (countries that participate in the USEMOBILITY project Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary and Croatia), to discuss scenarios for future mid-term and long-term citizens' mobility with politicians, providers of transportation services and CSOs like consumers' organisations, environmental organisations and trade unions in these 5 countries, and finally to elaborate strategic recommendations towards more eco-friendly multimodal mobility in Europe. The objectives were: (1) To evaluate the research conducted so far and current trends in passenger transport towards multimodal mobility in countries participating in the project as a basis for the future research. Here the objectives in detail were: (a) evaluation of previous relevant national and European studies; (b) identification of best practices towards multimodal and environmentally friendly mobility; (c) identification of trends towards multimodal mobility in European countries; (d) exploring of factors influencing multimodal mobility behaviour, especially social behaviour for eco-friendly multimodal mobility; (e) selection of different 10 regions where a survey should be conducted in the following work package WP3 Factors influencing behavioural change towards eco-friendly multimodal mobility. (2) To conduct the survey on factors influencing behavioural change towards eco-friendly multimodal mobility in European countries and selected regions. Here the objectives in detail were: (a) development and implementation of a two-phase mobility-user survey designed as a method mix of panel-based online interviews and interviewer-based offline interviews, including development of a comprehensive questionnaire; (b) identification of factors influencing behavioural change towards eco-friendly multimodal mobility; (c) conducting interviews with the European decision makers to complete the picture of factors influencing multimodality. (3) To elaborate future visions of eco-friendly multimodal mobility of citizens in regional transportation and discuss them in workshops in all participating countries with the target groups: politicians, transportation companies and CSOs. (4) To elaborate strategic recommendations to political decision makers in European countries, transportation service providers, EC and organisations of civil society willing to take action in the field of sustainable transport. (5) To accompany the whole project with disseminating the project results. The main objective was to communicate the project aims, progress and results to the target groups, by: (a) establishing the project website and uploading there the relevant information; (b) elaborating and publishing the project flyer in English and 5 other languages; (c) elaborating and disseminating the newsletters to target groups in English, German, French, Hungarian and Croatian ; (d) elaborating the project image film in English, German, French, Hungarian and Croatian; (e) publishing articles and press releases; (f) conducting the final conference and producing a final video with inclusion of the most important findings and testimonials. The USEMOBILITY consortium planned to discuss the project results continuously within a so called 'Business Advisory Group' consisting of high level representatives of transport providers, national associations and ministries in European countries, and also relevant international associations. Project results: Main science and technology (S&T) results / foregrounds The project started with evaluating trends in passenger transport in Europe (in WP2) and assessing the research conducted so far on consumer behaviour in transportation. In the first four months of the USEMOBILITY project theoretical models of systems dynamics, social behaviour and consumer behaviour were analysed to better understand mobility behaviour. The results showed that rational explanations of mobility behaviour are not sufficient and the complex and dynamic transport systems are often beyond a linear cause-effect scheme so that psychological, personal, social and cultural determinants need to be considered. The conducted meta study of European and national studies showed that USEMOBILITY will be an opportunity to fill a gap and provide an European internationally comparable large-sample survey, examining also social factors of multimodality. National trends in passenger transport in 6 European countries - in 5 project countries Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Croatia, as declared in the description of work and additionally in the Netherlands were examined. The Netherlands was additionally included in all investigations since one best practice region in the Netherlands was chosen for the survey. A general increase of mobility and high growth rates in public transport, especially in recent years, as well as political attempts to foster public transport in all research countries were observed. Best practices leading towards multimodal mobility were compiled in a 'best-practice-list'. Ten regions with a regional rail as backbone and a recent passenger increase were selected for the survey. The selected regions / transport systems were: - Austria: Salzburg / S-Bahn Salzburg - Austria: Steiermark / S-Bahn Steiermark - Belgium: Brussels / STIB/MIVB - Croatia: Zagreb / HZ/ZET - Croatia: Varazdin-Medimurje / HZ - Germany: Breisgau / Breisgau S-Bahn - Germany: Hamburg-Cuxhaven (Lower Saxony) / Metronom - Germany: Rhein-Neckar / S-Bahn Rhein-Neckar - Hungary: Budapest-Esztergom / MAV - Netherlands: Gelderland / Connexion Valleilijn In these 6 countries and 10 regions a comprehensive survey has been performed, for which a questionnaire has been elaborated (in WP3). The intention when developing the USEMOBILITY survey design was to reveal new findings regarding eco-friendly social mobility behaviour and to create an innovative approach in the field of scientific transport surveys. Most of the surveys conducted so far are concerned almost exclusively with the current reasons for peoples mobility behaviour in the countries concerned (status quo of the mode choice). In contrast, the objective of the USEMOBILITY survey was to obtain detailed information about the reasons, which actually led to a change in the users behaviour towards more environmentally friendly means of transport, primarily towards public transport. The survey had two main research domains: country-specific surveys (national surveys) where the changes in the general mobility behaviour throughout the whole country have been investigated (in 6 countries) and the case-specific surveys (regional surveys, 10 regions) where the changes in the mobility behaviour of current or former users of certain means of public transport in selected regions have been investigated. The national survey was performed as a country wide, web-based questionnaire. The method mix for the Regional Surveys included: recruitments on platforms and trains and telephone interviews afterwards, interviews in trains, online interviews i.e. Data collection in both domains took place between 30 May and 17 November 2011. In the survey persons who already changed their mobility behaviour - so called 'swing users' were interviewed about the reasons behind their modal choices. The expression 'swing users' included both, people who completely changed to another mode of transport, as well as travellers who altered the weighting within their mix of multiple transport modes (mobility-mix). To identify such persons who changed the users behaviour in each country, all interviewees were subjected to a screening procedure and only persons who describe a clear change in their transport behaviour progressed to the main survey. Part of the questionnaire was a screening module designed to specifically select only the intended target groups into the survey. The USEMOBILITY survey contacted a representative sample of 12 900 citizens on a national level in six European countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, and Netherlands, as an additional country, one more country more than declared in description of work). Those participants who had modified their mobility mix in the previous five years were surveyed about their motives (over 6 000 'swing users'). Additionally, a further 4 075 'swing users' were interviewed on a regional level in 10 best-practice regions in the six surveyed countries. Altogether, the USEMOBILITY survey questioned over 10 000 'swing users' about the reasons behind their modal choices. The main questionnaire contained the characterisation of the participant in general, in relation to the main travel purpose (way to work, shopping / errands and leisure activities) and with regard to the reasons for the change in behaviour. The reasons were analysed, depending on the intensity with which the means of transport are used today, the direction of the reported change and the intensity of this change. More than 10 000 interviews (10 432) passed the data validation process and formed the net data basis of the USEMOBILITY market analysis. The survey results showed that changes in people's mobility mix are common. Reasons for a change towards eco-friendly multimodal mobility were the main focus of the analysis, but also reasons to go back to motorised individual transport were identified. Main factors laid in developments in the personal background of the users. Equally influential was the attractiveness of the means of transport or the lack of it. New user-segmentations based on types of change, reasons for change and personal attitude provided further insights. The choice of means of transport is influenced by the purpose of the journey. Therefore the survey design distinguished between three main journey purposes: way to work, shopping / errands and leisure activities. The main questionnaire was structured accordingly into three parts, the characterisation of the participant (i) in general; (ii) in relation to the main travel purpose; and (iii) with regard to the reasons for the change in behaviour. The reasons for the change were analysed in four groups, depending on the intensity with which the means of transport are used today, the direction of the reported change and the intensity of this change. The four groups include users with: - Group 1: more frequent use of public transport, and a higher degree of mobility in general. - Group 2: more frequent use of public transport, less frequent use of private motorised transport. - Group 3: less frequent use of public transport, and lower degree of mobility in general. - Group 4: less frequent use of public transport, more frequent use of private motorised transport. It was decided to develop the questionnaire in eleven versions, one general version for all countries and one specific version, including regional topics, for each of the ten selected USEMOBILITY regions. The key objectives of the survey were integrated in all versions of the draft questionnaire. The general survey was set up as an interactive, web-based questionnaire. The region specific questionnaires were set up to work with all required sampling methods. The objectives, topics and the effectiveness of the draft questionnaires were tested in a series of pre-tests. The pre-tests were performed by a selected group of panellists and interviewers for all languages in the survey. The pre-tests showed that all versions of the interviews take between 20 and 25 minutes. After the testing phase, the questionnaires were optimised towards the final questionnaires, avoiding any ambiguities, omissions and inefficiencies. The survey in 2 phases was conducted and the final sample plan was determined per country and region. All required sub-contractors were selected and instructed according to the subcontracting rules. Regional traffic providers were contacted in order to facilitate the regional interviews. They were asked to allow access to the platforms and trains or to place information about the survey on the web or to contacted subscribers directly. Interest in and assistance with the performance of the survey was high with all providers. The first phase of the survey was conducted, starting from early June and the incoming results were monitored closely with regard to the quality of the results as well as the size of the response of the target groups. Response rates differed depending on method and region, but on average a representative sample of 500 general and 200 region specific interviews was achieved until mid-July 2011. All incoming data was validated per question, per interview and per region. Questionable issues were clarified with the panellists. Based upon the consolidated findings of phase one, the alignment of the second part of the survey was calibrated with regard to a reduced, focused sample plan and a re-tailored questionnaire by the end of August 2011. The data collection in phase 2 of the survey started at the beginning of September 2011, was adapted to counter additional challenges in the regional data collection and completed by mid-November 2011. After completing the survey, extensive data consolidation and validation routines were per-formed. During data validation, implausible or inconsistent answers were marked as missing. Unreliable interviews were removed from the data set. Only interviews with a high degree of completeness were kept in the net sample. Altogether response and data quality were on a high level. After finalisation of the net-sample data-set the compilation of the basic tabulation volumes started as basis for the analysis and reporting. The tabulation volumes for the country-specific national surveys were completed by the end of 2011, those for the region specific surveys by January 2012. Tabulation volumes were shared with the project partners. The results of the survey have been analysed, evaluated and discussed within the consortium and with national parts of the Business Advisory Group in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Hungary and Croatia. A report 'Factors influencing behavioural change towards eco-friendly multimodal mobility' was elaborated in March 2012. The report was disseminated to the target groups, in 5 project countries, the Netherlands and additional European countries (members of EPF in 19 European countries). To complete the picture of factors influencing multimodality interviews with decision makers were conducted (led by BSL Transportation), in the regions surveyed. The target was to obtain deeper knowledge and understanding of the implemented measures for attracting customers. The interviews were conducted with public transport authorities responsible for ordering transportation services, with transport companies operating in the regions, with representatives of CSOs and science. 23 interviews were carried out, 3 interviews more than declared in DoW. A list of good practices was completed ('best-practice list'). The interview partners were fully aware of the current 'window of opportunity' for public transport. However they pointed out that they did not consider 'soft factors' alone to be dominating the people's choice of transport mode. However, they admitted that soft factors have a supporting function, especially in two cases. Firstly, when new service offers are implemented, they bring new people into the public transport system. In this case soft factors contribute to an additional attraction but only in a complementary way. Customers remain in the system later on if the 'hard factors' are working well. Secondly, 'soft factors' have a supporting function during normal operation as they contribute to enhanced customer satisfaction and are able to compensate, to some extent, deficiencies of the 'hard factors'. Transport offer needs to have a certain minimum service level in order that soft factors can come successfully into play with the customers. The comprehensive report on interviews with decision makers was submitted by the end of 2011. Than in 2012 the consortium worked on 'Future visions of eco-friendly multimodal passenger transport chains' (WP4). The 'Best-practice catalogues' was elaborated that was based on the best-practice list composed during USEMOBILITY since the beginning of the year 2011. The measures on this list were collected from the research for the state-of-the-art assessment, the national trends in passenger transport regarding the choice of transport mode in WP2 and the interviews with decision makers in WP3. The best-practice list contained measures that have proven to be particularly successful for fostering environmentally friendly, multimodal mobility. These measures formed the basis for the future scenario development: the 'Change-Nothing' scenarios 2020 and 2050 and the USEMOBILITY scenarios 2020 and 2050. The difference between the developed 'Change-Nothing' and the USEMOBILITY scenarios lies in the extensive implementation of the best-practice measures. In the best-practice list which was compiled with the contribution of the whole USEMOBILITY consortium, 52 measures have been included. In order to compile well-founded, country-specific best-practice catalogues, the best-practice measures have been filtered according to their date (time-to-market) and possibility (country relevance) of implementation as well as their cost effectiveness and their impact on enhancing environmentally friendly multimodal mobility. The filtering process of the best-practice list was executed by the expertise of the task leader and then agreed upon within the USEMOBILITY consortium. The consortium discussed and developed four scenarios per country for a medium- and long term (2020 and 2050) using existing data and results of USEMOBILITY: a 'Change nothing scenario' and a 'USEMOBILITY scenario'. Difference between both scenarios was the extensive use of measures that foster multimodality. The deliverable Detailed definition of assumptions for the four scenarios was elaborated. The four scenarios were based on different assumptions regarding the development of the framework for eco-friendly multimodal passenger transport chains. It was not the aim of the scenarios to prognosticate the likeliness of a certain positive scenario or framework for multimodal passenger transport in a comprehensive way. The scenarios illustrated to which extent the implementation of the measures identified within USEMOBILITY can help foster the share of environmentally friendly, multimodal mobility and served as a basis for the debate within the workshops. The following scenarios were elaborated: 'Change-nothing 2020' scenario 'Change-nothing 2050' scenario (both illustration of the effects if the trends revealed in the status quo analysis will continue until 2020 respectively 2050) and USEMOBILITY 2020' scenario, 'USEMOBILITY 2050' scenario (compilation of measures and framework to support multimodal mobility and modelling of its effects for multimodal mobility that could be realised in a period until 2020 respectively 2050). The scenarios were a basis for discussion in the workshops in the surveyed countries (Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia). One workshop per country was conducted. The common schedule for the workshops was agreed and the guidelines for the workshops were jointly elaborated and discussed with all project partners. Project partners translated the workshop materials (scenarios, charts etc.) into their national languages. All six workshops ware successfully conducted in June 2012: in Croatia (6 June 2012), Hungary (15 May 2012); Germany (18 June 12) and Austria (20 June 2012), Belgium (26 June 12) and - additionally - in the Netherlands (27 June 12). During six national workshops, the scenarios and the potentials they depict were discussed with important stakeholders in the field of mobility: transport service providers, decision makers in politics, representatives from CSOs and the scientific community. The evaluated feedback on future scenarios' reflected the workshop participants' collected feedback on whether / which of the measures that are referred to in the scenarios can realistically be implemented within the suggested timeframe, taking into account specific national framework characteristics, and which resistances would have to be overcome in order for those measures to be successfully implemented. This evaluated feedback report contributed significantly to the elaboration of useful and realistic strategic recommendations towards decision makers, CSOs and transport service providers in WP5. All the findings: the assessment of trends and best practices in passenger transport, the survey results, experts interviews and workshops results built a sound basis for developing strategic recommendations from the travellers point of view (in WP5). These recommendations are directed to transportation companies, to political decision makers, to the EC and to European CSOs willing to take action in the field of sustainable mobility. The strategic recommendations were elaborated under the leadership of the APS in an interactive process with all project partners. They were finalised in January 2013 and translated into the national languages. They are introduced at the final conference on 13 February 2013. The USEMOBILITY strategic recommendations are focusing on the main areas of action, and are of a general nature, which means that they are transferable and applicable to a variety of situations, countries and regions, as the given status quo (exact constellation of stakeholders and their respective levels of authority, legal framework, financial potentials, available infrastructure, technical situation, level of public transport services etc.) differs considerably from country to country. The strategic recommendations are intended to help stakeholders to recognise opportunities in their own country or region, and to inspire them to work out a strategy for user-oriented development of the public transport system, and therefore to foster eco-friendly multimodal mobility. All public project findings and deliverables are uploaded on the project website: http://www.usemobility.eu. Additionally to the deliverables declared in the description of work a short summaries of D2.1 D2.2 D2.3 (short presentations), and a summary of the survey (of D3.6) in English and German were elaborated and published. Additionally, at the end of the project, a summary of the project (so called 'Policy brief') was elaborated in English and German. A video with main project findings and testimonials of the stakeholders from the target groups of USEMOBILITY were produced and uploaded on the USEMOBILITY website. Potential impact: The results of USEMOBILITY project can enable political decision makers, transport operators, CSOs, such as passengers associations and other decision makers to influence people's mobility behaviour in more systemic manner and to understand better peoples' / passengers' needs and behaviour. The USEMOBILITY survey has shown a lot of dynamism in peoples modal choices, but also that movement towards and away from public transport is still nearly balanced. This means: there is no automatism leading to a higher share of eco-friendly multimodal mobility. In fact, all players involved should take action. Based on the projects results, USEMOBILITY has formulated strategic recommendations addressing various stakeholders: decision makers in politics, the EC, providers of transportation services and the CSOs. These strategic recommendations are focusing on the main areas of action, and are of a general nature, which means that they are transferable and applicable to a variety of situations, countries and regions, as the given status quo (exact constellation of stakeholders and their respective levels of authority, legal framework, financial potentials, available infrastructure, technical situation, level of public transport services etc.) differs considerably from country to country. All strategic recommendations include the best practice examples to illustrate the opportunity of action. The strategic recommendations are intended to help stakeholders to recognise opportunities in their own country or region, and to inspire them to work out a strategy for user-oriented development of the public transport system, and therefore to foster eco-friendly multimodal mobility. Transportation companies could benefit from the results of USEMOBILITY that enable them to adapt their services to what the customers want. The areas of action most relevant to providers of transportation services are the characteristics of the services offered and taking into account the travellers' personal background. Transportation companies aiming at more passengers and a higher market share for public transport and multimodality should work systematically on both attracting new customers for public transport by strengthening pull-in factors towards public transport, and keeping public transport users from leaving the system by minimising push-out factors of existing public transport offers. Within the area of action related to travellers' personal background, transportation companies could, for instance, tap the potential that lies in directly addressing people in situations of change. In all USEMOBILITY countries 'swing users' stated that changes in their personal situation had a major impact on their behavioural change. Now, a systematic assistance to people whose personal situation is changing is still usually missing. Therefore providers could proactively send comprehensive information on public transport and multimodal services to this promising target group (e.g. welcome packages to people who have moved recently). The packages can be combined with further marketing tools, such as welcome discounts for new passengers. The USEMOBILITY consortium is happy to see that the insights gained during the project already had practical consequences. Inspired by a meeting of the USEMOBILITY Business Advisory Group in 2011, the Austrian transportation company S-Bahn Salzburg (ÖBB) has started in 2012 cooperation with housing enterprises. People moving in receive a comprehensive information package about the S-Bahn services (suburban railway services) including a gift coupon for public transport tickets. The method is currently being rolled out to other regions in Austria. The decision makers in politics at national and international levels receive the USEMOBILITY strategic recommendations how to better adapt the political framework in the field of transportation to the peoples needs. These recommendations to political decision makers could support transport policy aiming at more sustainable transport and a higher market share for public transport and multimodality, in setting clear targets and clear policy choices in favour of public transport and in following a dual approach: on the one hand improving the attractiveness of the public transport services offered, and on the other hand abandoning incentives for monomodal car use. Policy choices in the field of transport have considerable influence on users' decision making processes. USEMOBILITY strategic recommendations to the EU level could support the future European Union (EU)'s strategy, the EU funding policies and initiatives on member state level to foster public transport and multimodality. The results can be very useful for CSOs willing to take action in the field of sustainable transport which contribute to a rising awareness of potentials and problems concerning public transport and multimodality, both at political level and in the population. Using the USEMOBILITY strategic recommendations the CSOs could contribute to bridge the gap between users and decision makers in politics as well as in transportation companies. They can contribute to connect the debate on mobility with environmental issues, social issues (e.g. demographic changes), energy policy, health aspects and urban and spatial planning. Besides sensitising providers of transportation services and public transport authorities to users concerns, CSOs can also take action themselves, e.g. by taking part in projects addressing people in situations of change, by offering information and advice regarding eco-friendly multimodal mobility, by taking part in research projects or projects on knowledge transfer or by running awareness-raising campaigns. The project USEMOBILITY and its results initiated a permanent dialogue between passengers organisations, transportation service providers and political decision makers on how to create a concept for environmentally friendly multimodal transport that satisfy peoples needs and at the same time save the environment and resources. This dialogue will be carried forward by the Allianz pro Schiene and other CSOs participating in USEMOBILITY also after the project concluded. MAIN DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES The main objective of the WP6 Dissemination of project results was to communicate the project aims, progress and results to the target groups in Europeans countries. The consortium discusses all topics and publications draft with all partners and thus dissemination was conducted in a very democratic work that took into consideration all partners ideas. Internet based dissemination of results by a project website The website was the main communication tool of USEMOBILITY project. The project partner, CAAG was responsible for maintaining the website and developed the website structure. The content was agreed with all project partners. All reports and different material were uploaded and made downloadable from the website. The web-address is www.usemobility.eu. The core information of the website was translated into 5 languages of the project partners: German, French, Hungarian, Croatian and Dutch. Interesting information that was relevant for the USEMOBILITY research topic was also selected and uploaded on the project website under 'Other resources' or News with corresponding links to the documents. All project partners placed information concerning USEMOBILITY on their websites and placed there links to the USEMOBILITY project website. Here are the links: - http://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/eng/eu-projects/USEMOBILITY/ - http://bsl-transportation.com/en/USEMOBILITY-eu-research-project-on-mobility-behaviour/ - http://www.quotas.de/home/index.php - http://www.epf.eu/ - http://www.vcoe.at/de/netzwerk/eu-projekt-USEMOBILITY - http://www.levego.hu/hirek/2011/04/elindult_a_USEMOBILITY - http://www.szz.hr/projekti/USEMOBILITY-eu-projekt The actuality of the USEMOBILITY website is continuously maintained by CAAG with support of the Coordinator and all project partners. The submitted deliverables that are approved by the EC were placed on the website for public download. Project flyer In cooperation with all project partners a flyer was designed for a wider target group that summarise the main facts of the project in a short, attractive and comprehensive form. Project partners sent out the flyer to their database of contacts: to partners and national stakeholders. The coordinator distributed the flyer to international organisations. Project partners translated the flyer into 5 languages: German, French, Hungarian, Croatian and Dutch. All PDF files for print were provided to be able to print the flyer to be distributed. As declared in description of work the flyer was printed in a huge amount, but according to demand (e.g. for meetings and conferences). Newsletters Three project newsletters were issued during the USEMOBILITY project. The content was agreed together with all project partners. The newsletter's articles summarised the steps and milestones of the project. The newsletters were made in English, afterwards the translation into 4 languages was made by project partners: into German, Dutch, Hungarian and Croatian. The newsletters were sent out through the mailing lists of each project partner. The important mailing list used was the list of the European Passengers' Federation in 19 European countries with more than a thousand relevant European contacts. Press releases: The coordinator (APS) issued three press releases about the USEMOBILITY project: (a) about the aims of the project and the kick-off meeting on 20 - 21 January 2011 in Berlin (Statistics Office: rail passenger numbers increasing. Rail travel increases while car travel shrinks: http://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/eng/press/press-releases/2011/06-statistics-office-rail-passenger-numbers-increasing/); (b) on the results of the survey on 06.11.2012 (EU project USEMOBILITY: survey on choice of transport mode, Half of travellers are willing to change: http://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/eng/press/press-releases/2012/28-eu-project-USEMOBILITY-survey-on-choice-of-transport-mode/) and (c) on the final conference on 13 February 13 and results of USEMOBILITY (EU project USEMOBILITY findings: transport market is highly dynamic. Travellers in Europe are more flexible than expected: http://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/eng/press/press-releases/2013/06-travellers-in-europe-are-more-flexible-than-expected/). Press releases and information about the project activities were issued also by other project partners: By VCOE: - http://www.vcoe.at/de/publikationen/vcoe-magazin/magazindetails/artikel/print/true/items/vcoe-magazin-2013-01-mobilitätsverhalten - http://www.vcoe.at/de/presse/aussendungen-archiv/details/print/true/items/vcoe-umfrage-was-oesterreicher-zum-umstieg-auf-oeffentlichen-verkehr-bewegt-13022013 By CAAG: - http://www.levego.hu/hirek/2011/04/elindult_a_USEMOBILITY - http://levego.hu/kapcsolodo_anyagok/a_szemelykozlekedes_fejlesztesenek_lehetseges_utjai - http://levego.hu/kapcsolodo_anyagok/miert_valtanak_az_emberek_autorol_vasutra By SZZ: - http://www.szz.hr/petnaesti-skup-o-prometu-u-portorozu-icts-2012 - http://www.szz.hr/uspjesna-skupstina-saveza-za-zeljeznicu - http://www.szz.hr/uspjesna-USEMOBILITY-radionica-u-zagrebu - http://www.szz.hr/sastanak-svih-partnera-USEMOBILITY-projekta-u-zagrebu -http://www.szz.hr/dostupan-sazetak-istrazivanja-iz-projekta-USEMOBILITY - http://www.szz.hr/zavrsna-konferencija-projekta-USEMOBILITY-u-berlinu -http://www.szz.hr/ictte-2012-medunarodna-konferencija-o-prometu - http://www.szz.hr/foto-galerije/ictte-2012 By BSL transportation: - http://bsl-transportation.com/abschlusskonferenz-des-eu-forschungsprojektes-%E2%80%9EUSEMOBILITY%E2%80%9C-am-13-02-13-in-berlin/ Short film The consortium discussed and figured out the purpose of the USEMOBILITY image film and the content. The film in which the film scenes were shot in all project countries was successfully produced in English and uploaded on the YouTube channel. The translations in German, French, Croatian and Hungarian were made and uploaded in January 2012. All partners placed links to the film on their websites. The films are available for on-line use and the following links: - English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k2EhNeThfU&feature=plcp&context=C3c799d3UDOEgsToPDskKheS2VXqOw9SNHRIMmq0k1 - German: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpkgpSOBzB4 - French: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIjJZQsR_U8 - Croatian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCDLgfA07Ww - Hungarian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhHCSq2xW-Y&feature=youtu.be Scientific publications Several articles on the USEMOBILITY results were published in various national journals and magazines (14 publications). - In Germany: in 'Verkehrsmanager' 6-2012, 'Signal' 6-2012, 'Deine Bahnv 12-2012, Bremer Nachrichten. Die Norddeutsche' and 'Weser Kurier. Bremer Tageszeitung' 7 November 2012, in 'Der Fahrgast' 1-2013 - In Austria, in VCÖ publication 'Mobilität mir Zukunft' 2011-03, 2011-04, 2012-01, 2012-03, 2013-01, in VCÖ-Magazin 2013-01 - In Belgium: In the railway magazine: Mondig Mobiel number 101 published in September 2012 and in the national journal DeWereldMorgen (see http://www.dewereldmorgen.be online for further details), published 20 September 2012. - In Croatia: in the magazine Zeljeznicar of the HZ (Croatian railways) 2012-06 and 2012-12. Further publications in different media and magazines will be published in 2013 after the official project end: - In Austria, further publications in VCÖ Bahntest, in VCÖ - Magazin, in magazine Regionale Schienen. - In Germany, articles in magazines Internationales Verkehrswesen and Der Nahverkehr. - In Croatia, in railway magazines: eljeznicar International: Railway market (Poland), Railway Pro (Romania), both in English with international distribution, in regional magazines, websites and organisations: www.evarazdin.hr www.aktualno.hr Varadinski tjednik, Varadinske vijesti, MeDimurje, MeDimurski list (local media in Varadin and MeDimurje area), Autonomni centar Cakovec, local civil organisation, Croatian autombile club magazine (the magazin from Croatian automobile club) - national magazine Scientific and expert railway magazine eljeznice 21 (Croatia), in international Scientific magazine Promet (see http://www.fpz.unizg.hr/traffic/index.php/PROMTT online). - In Hungary, planned scientific articles in Magyar Közlekedés (Hungarian Transportation, fortnightly scientific magazine), expected publishing in 15 April 2013, and in Vasutas (Railman, monthly magazin of the Hungarian National Railways MÁV), expected publishing in 6 May 2013. Presentation at relevant events USEMOBILITY was presented at various national and international events suggested by all project partners and jointly agreed (at 11 events): - at the 10th annual conference of the European Passengers Federation on 09.10.03.2012 in Salzburg, Austria (see http://www.epf.eu/en/conference2012/2012-conference-report.pdf online for further details) - at the International conference on transport science on 28.05.2012 in Portoro, Slovenia (http://www.sdzp.org/?p=1076&lang=en http://www.szz.hr/petnaesti-skup-o-prometu-u-portorozu-icts-2012) - at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy's Sustainable Transport Summit Implementing Best Practices, on 27.-29.06.2012 in Budapest, Hungary - at the 25th European conference on operational research on 8 - 11 July 2012 in Vilnius, Lithuania(see http://www.usemobility.eu/sites/default/files/resources/USEMOBILITY_euro2012_vilnius.pdf online for further details) - at the fair InnoTrans 2012 on 19 September 2012 in Berlin, Germany (see http://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/projekte/USEMOBILITY/projektveranstaltungen/USEMOBILITY-auf-der-innotrans-2012/ online for further details) - at the conference Salzburger Verkehrstage on 08.-09.10.2012 in Salzburg, Austria (see http://www.regionale-schienen.at/3_10ISVT.asp?bereich=3&content=programm&show=10isvt online for further details) - at the conference 'new mobility' on 23 October 2012 in Leipzig, Germany (see http://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/projekte/USEMOBILITY/projektveranstaltungen/new-mobility/ online for further details) - at the conference Dworzec Salon lokalnego zbiorowego transportu publicznego, Konferencja Publiczny transport zbiorowy - priorytet dla publicznego transportu kolejowego w wymiarze lokalnym i regionalnym. Stan, zamierzenia i oczekiwania (conference on public transport), on 21.11.2012 in Poznan, Poland (see http://USEMOBILITY.eu/sites/default/files/resources/USEMOBILITY_vortrag_poznan.pdf online for further details) - at the BSL-Transportation Forum 2012 on 29 - 30 November 2012 in Hamburg, Germany (see http://bsl-transportation.com/bsl-transportation-forum-2012/) online for further details) - at the International Conference on Traffic and Transport Engineering, ICTTE 2012 on 29 - 30 November 2012 in Belgrade, Serbia (see http://www.ijtte.com/uploads/news_files/ICTTE_Belgrade_2012_Program.pdf online for further details) - at the annual meeting of Hungarian Environmental Civic Organisations, Transportation section, on 21 - 24 March 2013 in Gödöllo, Hungary. Further presentation of USEMOBILITY results are already conducted and scheduled for 2013 after the official end of the project: - In Munich, Germany (meeting with representatives of the MVG: Munich transportation company) on 8 March 13 (already done) - In Freiburg, Germany, at the congress on innovations in public transport (6. ÖPNV Innovationskongress) on 12 March 2013, on request of the Government of the Federal State Baden-Wuertemberg (already done) - In Münster, Germany, at the national bicycle congress in Münster (Nationaler Radverkehrskongress) on 14 May 13, on request of the Federal Ministry of Transport. - In Würzburg at the seminar on tariff fixing, revenue increase and customer loyalty in public transport on 22 - 23 May 2013, on request of beka GmbH. Final conference The conference was conducted in Berlin on 13 February 2013 (see http://www.allianz-pro-schiene.de/veranstaltungen/2013/abschlusskonferenz-des-eu-projektes-USEMOBILITY/ online for further details). The conference reflected on only the internal sight of the project but put a strain on the use of the USEMOBILITY findings in practice. Therefore a panel expert with practitioners - high level decision makers - was conducted. They represented all target groups of USEMOBILITY: politicians, transport companies, civil society and science. A video from the final conference containing key results of USEMOBILITY and testimonials of was produced (6:21 min., available at the link: http://youtu.be/3HDxXP8xqBc). Policy brief (additional work) Additionally to all deliverables declared in the description of work a summary of the project as a 'Policy brief' was elaborated, published on the website and distributed at the final conference. Also a German version of the Policy brief was provided. EXPLOITATION OF RESULTS Since the project results are considered as very valuable by the project consortium, all project partners decided to use and work with the USEMOBILITY results after the official end of the project. Particularly the survey results and the strategic recommendations (in national languages) are considered to be extremely important for the future activities. The project consortium will be ready to approach actively the public transportation sector in European countries in order to disseminate further the USEMOBILITY results achieved during the project lifetime. If the stakeholders need additional analyses and evaluations based on the USEMOBILITY findings the consortium will be willing to prepare such reports and to make appropriate offers. The exploitation activities planned so far will comprise: - Direct talks with decision makers in politics at different levels: national, regional and local, in all USEMOBILITY countries. For example in Germany the USEMOBILITY results will be used by the Allianz pro Schiene (APS) for discussion and preparation a 'Schedule for the future' (in German: Fahrplan Zukunft) for the new legislation period starting from September 2013. In preparation of this document several meetings with the members and supporting members of the Allianz pro Schiene (APS) will be conducted. - Establishing a permanent working group at the Allianz pro Schiene (APS) on 'Passengers' mobility' involving transport operators, industry and passengers organisations. - The USEMOBILITY recommendations gave the European Passengers' Federation in Belgium (EPF) important hints for discussion on the future development of the federation. EPF will use the recommendations towards CSOs in empowering and strengthening the passenger organisations throughout the EU. As well EPF will try to incite organisations to build upon the project results and do some country specific research projects on behavioural change. CSOs can act as a bridge between transport service providers and different decision makers which do not often meet on strategic issues in multi-modality. A strategy can be developed by EPF on how CSOs should lay this role. - In Hungary, since the Hungarian workshop was very successful gathering 24 leaders of transport companies, developers etc. and showed their very deep interest in the USEMOBILITY issue, the Clean Air Action Group (CAAG) plans to maintain this platform in the future. The experts highlighted that there is a niche in Hungary between developers, urban planners, service providers, decision makers, and there is no platforms to discuss the ideas, and to work strategically on transport development. Keeping this platform alive by organising further meetings would help to determine a common message shared by all the experts in order to speak with one voice and represent the position in front of the decision makers in Hungary. - In Austria the project partner VCÖ adopeted questions of the USEMOBILITY survey as aditionell questions in its yearly 'Bahntest' to make the aswers compareable over the next years and see if there is a change. Further ideas on exploitation of USEMOBILITY results were developed and discussed by the USEMOBILITY consortium: - further use of the acronym USEMOBILITY as a brand for action to improve public transport and eco-friendly multimodality; - organising an annual international USEMOBILITY conference; - organising national conferences; - establishing a working group USEMOBILITY by EPF and their national partners; - starting a further European 'USEMOBILITY 2.0' project to implement the findings and best practice measures (e.g. to reply to calls of Intelligent Energy Europe 2013 and Horizon 2020). The USEMOBILITY consortium discussed further ideas for future European and national research. These are for example: (a) detailed research on push out factors from the motorised individual transport; (b) research on how do the energy prices influence travel habits; (c) research on why is the young generation not so keen to use cars and how can this development be used to foster the use of public transport and eco-friendly multimodality; (d) research on how education can positively influence the attitude towards eco-friendly multi-modal mobility; (e) research on the behaviour of senior citizens with regard to multi-modality as this group of passengers will grow within the next years and will aggregate more and more people who are used to using cars (while many of them will not be able to use cars any longer); (f) research on what is the basic service level of public transport (a must) to be a serious alternative for people; (g) research on how important is the cultural influence for the choice of transport means; (h) research how high is the potential for non-rational (emotional) advertisement; (i) research on how to make the first / last mile of transportation chain attractive in order that people come to train by bike, walking, public transport or e-mobility (instead of focusing on P&R), how can communities, train providers, etc. improve it; (j) research on how does the interurban / city road toll influence the people's travel patterns; (k) research on how transport companies and public authorities can enforce eco-friendly multimodality (not only P&R) as supporting means for public transport. List of websites: The dedicated project website (see http://www.usemobility.eu online) has been developed and launched in early April 2011. The project website has been linked to the websites of project partners and disseminated in their communication activities. All public deliverables are available on the project website: http://www.usemobility.eu Related documents Final Report - USEMOBILITY (Understanding social behaviour for eco-friendly multimodal mobility)
