How to Implement Mobility Management

On the basis of the research results of each individual MOST site, key conclusions about successful strategies of Mobility Management could be extracted. They are summarised below - but you find more details in chapter 6 of the MOST Final Report (D9).

The initiation of a Mobility Management project should start with the formation of an appropriately qualified and staffed working group with clear responsibilities allocated to it. It should be led by one main key actor who has the resources (i.e. time, finance and official support) to take initiatives, to involve all relevant partners and to coordinate the activities on a day-to-day basis. To involve different stakeholders from the beginning and provide for good coordination among them is a key factor for success (PT providers, transport admin, departments of the company or city, external consultants/universities or user groups). The opinions of the stakeholders need to be heard in order to ensure that different viewpoints are represented, thus minimising the risk of objections at a later stage. The involvement of different stakeholders can also be beneficial in terms of providing data, information, technical and financial assistance, political support or manpower for the actual implementation. In addition, users play a special role, as they are the individuals whom the future Mobility Management services should be targeted at: they guide you in terms of which measures exactly to develop. This should guarantee the selection of the most appropriate services. From the beginning, it is important to clearly define the problem that is to be tackled by Mobility Management and to incorporate it into a mission and vision statement. This statement should be built on consensus by all stakeholders and will accompany the promotion of the project and the whole implementation process.

In order to plan the specific strategy it is recommended that a base line study is carried out so that current mobility behaviour and future needs can be identified. It also serves to sensitise local politicians or PT providers as to the necessity of implementing Mobility Management. The base line study results (together with the mission and vision statement) further help to define the specific project objectives. These objectives should be quantified and measurable, and can be set for different levels of change: knowledge of a service (e.g. % of citizens knowing of a mobility centre), usage (e.g. no. of students using a university bus service from the city centre), satisfaction (e.g. satisfaction with the city buses among commuters), individual behaviour (e.g. car usage among employees travelling to work), system impacts (e.g. travel time during peak hour from city centre to airport). These objectives will help to clearly target the project, to define the most effective strategies for tackling them and to set a benchmark against which project results can be measured. Later in the implementation process, it will help to adjust Mobility Management measures and instruments based on the initial progress towards the objectives.

When designing the Mobility Management project, it is essential to specifically regard the target groups, for whom the Mobility Management services are implemented. When approaching staff and employees of companies, PT related services and work place travel plans seem to work well. For young pupils, accompanied travelling in groups by bike or on foot can address the fears of the parents with respect to traffic safety and 'stranger danger'. Tourists and visitors can primarily be supported in a more sustainable choice by improving PT services: providing combined tickets or establishing specific services like a tourist bus. Services that proved successful for residents were car sharing or access restrictions for cars combined with improved PT services.

Progressing from the base line study, a mobility plan then specifies concrete actions to be taken, responsibilities, schedules etc. It should be used regularly to measure progress and needs to be reasonably flexible, to be revised or adapted when warranted (e.g. by unforeseen developments). It is recommended to have a fixed site location as a headquarter, from where Mobility Management is coordinated. It can be open to the targeted user-groups for suggestions or complaints. If using a mobility centre, its main advantage, compared to PT information hotlines, needs to be specifically promoted, e.g. people may be aware of the mobility centre but may not know what services, apart from PT information, are offered. Therefore, the implementation of a mobility centre should stimulate the demand for a one-stop-service for all aspects of mobility.

Continuous assessment activities should be taken to measure the progress against the pre-established objectives, to modify and improve the project, to compare forecast impacts to actual results and to assess cost effectiveness of the actions taken. These activities comprise the user needs analysis before the implementation as well as monitoring (compilation of data before and even during implementation), and evaluation data (analysing and interpretation of actual results after Mobility Management is up and running). Success is once again measured by looking at different levels of change: knowledge, usage, satisfaction, individual behaviour or system impacts.