Within the transport community, when it comes to “behavioural change” (oh don’t we use some strange terms), we all know that nothing beats “feet on the street”. Gillian Merron heralded the early results from the three Sustainable Transport Towns (Worcester, Peterborough and Darlington) as “astounding”. Surveys all point to the fact that people want better transport. However there is a huge gap between what we say we want and what we do. In the lingo, the approach taken in the three towns was called “Individualised Travel Marketing” – where information is sent to every household, followed by a visit to establish a personalised travel plan to suit them. All the evidence seems to suggest it works. People can’t change their behaviour if they don’t know the options available to them. It is too easy to stay stuck in a rut and stick to your old habits. However, the “personal touch” seems to make all of the difference and I’m not really at all surprised.
Well I thought I’d have a go too and they say that “charity begins at home”, so I have been working with a national charity and a local church to pull together some travel options for my local community of Hartley Wintney, all as part of an event called Operation Noah Day, which is on Saturday 5th July. I hope to keep you posted on the blog on how it goes.
Style of communication really does matter and I’ve just had one of the sweetest messages from one of my fellow volunteers to say that “I love the really local and practical approach and gentle, non nagging style, it will really make people think. Yes please and more – if you have time to produce it!”.
