Overview
The NRP 41 was launched by the Federal Council at the end of 1995 to improve the scientific basis on which Switzerland's traffic problems might be solved, taking into account the growing interconnection with Europe, ecological limits, and economic and social needs.
The NRP 41 aimed to become a think-tank for sustainable transport policy. Each one of the 54 projects belongs to one of the following six modules:
- A Mobility: Socio-institutional Aspects;
- B Mobility: Socio-economical Aspects;
- C Environment: Tools and Models for Impact Assessments;
- D Political and Economic Strategies and Prerequisites;
- E Traffic Management: Potentials and Impacts;
- F Technologies: Potentials and Impacts;
- M Materials;
- S Synthesis Projects.
Recently, mobility management has become a generic term for multi-modal transport concepts in research and practice.
The present project within the framework of the Swiss National Research Programme 'Environment and Traffic' (NRP 41) explores the possibilities and limits of mobility management.
At the same time, this project was the Swiss contribution to the EU project MOMENTUM (Mobility Management for the Urban Environment), the research group Synergo-Mobility took being the Swiss partner. MOMENTUM co-ordinated their work with the MOSAIC (Mobility Strategy Application in the Community) project.
The general objective of MOMENTUM was to give an overview of existing mobility management strategies and measures in Europe, to develop guidelines for the implementation of mobility management, and to test different measures and strategies in 13 demonstration projects.
The following work packages have been defined in MOMENTUM:
- State-of-the-Art of mobility management in Europe (A1),
- Guidelines for the development and implementation of mobility management, and the realisation and operation of mobility centres (A2),
- Demonstration projects (A3),
- Conclusions, recommendations and dissemination of results (A4).
This research includes the main results of the work packages of M
The core of this research project was formed by the demonstration projects. Altogether, 13 pilot projects were carried out in 10 European countries, where different measures for mobility management were instituted. The report summarises the results from these demonstration projects in foreign countries.
For Switzerland, 2 pilot projects were launched: a demonstration project in Zug and one in Zurich.
Tarifverbund Zug has, in co-operation with partners from outside public transport, tried several times to find new approaches to the improvement of customer loyalty or for winning new customers. In the case study 'Zugerpass Plus' in the Zug region, combined service offers were implemented and evaluated. New partnerships were created and more tickets sold, but it detected little impact on shifting travel from private to public transport.
The Zurich demonstration project, in co-operation with the Town Planning Departments of Dübendorf and Dietikon and the Transport Office of the City of Zurich's Department for Civil Engineering, investigated opportunities for mobility management under the supervision of government authorities. New residents moving into the region of Zurich appreciated receiving information packs on public transport, but they had little impact on public behaviour.
Funding
Results
The results from the demonstration projects were used to develop general conclusions and recommendations on mobility management (see MOMENTUM, 1999), the most important of which are listed below:
- forming partnerships is a central factor for the increased success of mobility management;
- a step-by-step approach, focusing activities on certain services and target groups, is recommended;
- the quality of the existing offer of sustainable modes of transport is crucial for the impact of mobility management activities;
- the guidelines for the implementation of mobility management activities must be adapted to specific local circumstances.
From the viewpoint of the Swiss participants involved in MOMENTUM, it has to be said that the consortium underestimated the relevance of the Swiss National Action Programme Energy 2000. In no other country a comparable governmental programme exists which supports and co-ordinates initiatives of public and private transport providers, traffic and environmental organisations or local authorities, and which assists in the launching of new multimodal mobility packages.
Several activities and measures, which can be identified with the mobility services defined by MOMENTUM, are already being practised in Switzerland, and the issue is rather more about how to spread the implementation of successful activities. Based on the relevant features of mobility management, the following sections discuss the most important areas of activity that need to be retained or developed further.
Policy implications
The most important recommendations of the MOMENTUM consortium: the results from the demonstration projects were used to develop general conclusions and recommendations on mobility management.
The most important of which are listed below:
- forming partnerships is a central factor for the increased success of mobility management;
- a step-by-step approach, focusing activities on certain services and target groups, is recommended;
- the quality of the existing offer of sustainable modes of transport is crucial for the impact of mobility management activities;
- the guidelines for the implementation of mobility management activities must be adapted to specific local circumstances.
Although public information alone has little impact on the shift from private to public transport, it was demonstrated that well co-ordinated offers and optimised, customer-focused marketing aimed at mobility management are of crucial importance for a modern, environmentally friendly transport system.
The report and the handbook provide a good foundation for these objectives.
Based on their experience, the partners of MOMENTUM have developed guidelines for the development/implementation of mobility management measures and for the realisation and operation of mobility centres.