BEHAVIORAL CHALLENGE: Get more people to choose sustainable travel options in everyday life
Many people want to start traveling more climate-smart but have difficulty getting started. Everyday stress and old habits are often in the way. Travel habits are also the kind of habits that are a little extra difficult to change, as they are deeply rooted and partly determined by infrastructure, distance, and wallet. How can nudging help more people create sustainable travel habits?
SMART NUDGE: The digital platform Smart Nudges Mobility gives a friendly push along the way
We have created the digital platform Smart Nudges Mobility that uses behavioral science, smart nudges, and target group-adapted messages at just the right time, to make it easier for more people to build new sustainable travel habits.
The user receives an SMS or e-mail with a customized message and a unique link to the platform. The user is then nudged in several stages to more climate-smart travel habits. The entire process is measured and analyzed to best evaluate the sustainability investment.
RESULTS: 76% more positive about switching to cycling
Together with a handful of municipalities and funding from the Swedish Energy Agency, we conducted a detailed pilot study at Smart Nudges Mobility in 2018-2019. The questionnaire responses showed that the nudge group compared to the control group was:
- 76% more positive about switching to bicycles as their main means of transport in everyday life
- twice as positive about switching to walking as their main means of transport in everyday life
- more than twice as positive about switching to public transport as their main means of transport in everyday life, among those who currently mainly travel by car
- 62% more positive about switching to an electric, gas, or hybrid car, or carpool (a figure that grew to 200% among those who currently mainly drove petrol or diesel cars)
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1/3 of the users state that Smart Nudges Mobility has influenced them to choose a more sustainable mode of travel
"We are currently seeing, during the pandemic, that many people choose the car and the bicycle instead of public transport. We want to encourage more people to take up the positive trend of cycling at the same time as we want more people to park their cars, not least when the pandemic is over."
- Elin Asplind, Communications Manager for Masthuggskajen at the traffic office, 2021
76 %
were more positive about switching to bicycles as a means of transport in everyday life with Smart Nudges Mobility
SELECTION OF CUSTOMERS
- GoCo Health Innovation City
- City of Gothenburg
- City of Helsingborg
- Jönköping municipality
- City of Mölndal
- Strängnäs municipality
- City of Sundbyberg
- Uppsala municipality
- Umeå municipality
WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
Read more at the Smart Nudges Mobility website or in our nudge database Smart Nudges.
Do you have questions about Smart Nudges Mobility or do you want to find out how your organization can use the service to e.g. nudge your residents, employees, or visitors?
Contact Ola Rynge, CTO Nudgd.
THANK YOU
Many thanks to the Swedish Energy Agency and all the municipalities that were involved in the pilot study and the municipalities and actors involved in the ongoing study. We want to emphasize how important your participation is in developing the service.
And many thanks to our customers who have chosen to use Smart Nudges Mobility - together we create more sustainable travel habits.
MORE
Smart Travel Habits (Smart Nudges Mobility) has, after proper screening by a majority of independent internationally recognized experts, been placed on the list of the world's most sustainable solutions and has been awarded The Solar Impulse Efficient Solutions Label.