NEWSLETTER No 3
Winter/Spring 2003

Welcome to the third edition of the TAPESTRY Newsletter.

We have now entered the third and final year of our project which is aiming to increase knowledge and understanding of how effective communication campaigns can be developed to encourage sustainable travel behaviour.

For those who have not received information about TAPESTRY before, here is a short introduction on what's been happening to date. The major part of the project involves testing different 16 experimental campaigns in different contexts across Europe. There are three "clusters" of case study campaigns:

• Intermodal - looking at campaigns to promote all alternatives to the car;
• Mode Repositioning - focussing on marketing of public transport, and;
• Health & Environment - campaigns which link to wider health or environmental issues.

At the halfway point almost all of the case studies were well into their implementation phase, having completed their 'before' campaign assessment. Now, the case studies are looking at the 'after' assessment and beginning to draw some initial conclusions from their campaigns. In this third edition of our newsletter we will update you with progress on some of the TAPESTRY case studies. There are also features on new campaigns in and around Europe and upcoming events. Throughout the newsletter you will also find weblinks which will lead you to further information about any projects or events that catch your eye.

If you are working on a project which you think complements the objectives of TAPESTRY we would like to hear from you. E-mail your comments and contact details to: tapestry@eu-tapestry.org

For further information about TAPESTRY see our website (http://www.eu-tapestry.org) which now contains some of the project reports for download.

POLIS Conference

On the 21st and 22nd of November 2002, POLIS held its 17th Annual General Meeting and Conference in Brussels. Polis is a network of European cities and regions working together on transport and related environmental and urban issues. This year's event showcased most recent achievements at local level in the areas of clean transport, mobility management, integrated transport planning and impact assessment, flexible transport services, and urban goods distribution.

The conference brought together transport players from across the board to discuss how greater partnership-working could kick start innovative solutions for a sustainable mobility. High level representatives from public authorities and the industry exchanged views on this particular issue during the conference's final debate.

TAPESTRY was represented by its Project Manager Alan Lewis who presented a brief overview of the objectives of the project, as well as some initial examples of campaign content from the most advanced TAPESTRY case studies.

TAPESTRY will be teaming up with POLIS later in 2003 to present some of out findings at a series of best practice workshops. More information will be available on these workshops in the coming months from the TAPESTRY Co-ordination office and/or POLIS. For more information about POLIS activities visit http://www.polis-online.org/.

News from the TAPESTRY Case Studies

In the previous two newsletters we bought you various issues of interest from Mol and Geel in Belgium to Volos in Greece. This time it's the turn of Vitoria in Spain, Dublin in Ireland and Iasi in Romania.

Improving Air Quality in Vitoria, Spain

Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of the Basque Country, with a population of 210,00. Vitoria City Hall is heading the Environmental Communication and Education Awareness campaign in Vitoria. The purpose of this project is to make the general public aware of transportation and environmental air quality issues in order to develop sustainable policies and achieve higher quality of life standards work that will define the Air Quality Improvement Plan and propose a range of soft policies, in line with the EC's directive on air quality.

The campaign included two types of action: the first one aimed to organise an information space for the general public on Transport and the Environment located in the centre of the City and to involve them in a public transport test program.

The main objective of the information space was to inform people about the Air Quality Plan the City Hall is implementing. However in order to convince general public of the importance of their involvement in the planned measures, the campaign also focused on:

• current air quality situation in Vitoria-Gasteiz
• impacts of transportation on Air Quality and Health
• the measures that will be engaged by the City Hall in the framework of the Air Quality Management Plan
• the public transport supply in order to demonstrate people the benefits (economic, environmental, etc.) of this transportation alternative

Communication tools included:

• Posters: the informative space presents a set of posters on the air quality in the city and the impacts on health and the environment
• Leaflets: developers have produced a brochure which contains information on the air quality problems, the air quality situation in Vitoria-Gasteiz and the municipal plan against atmospheric pollution.
• Transport maps and other documents related to public transport
• Questionnaire on current travel behaviour and environmental awareness.
• Travel diary for recording urban journeys and mode used

Having seen the reasons why they should use public transport more often, the public was offered the chance to "test" the public transport with a free ticket and to participate in a questionnaire/survey on their travel behaviours (before/during/after) and on the Information Campaign. The participants will also update a travel diary during the period of the test in which they note all the movements they do and the mode of transport they use.

For more information, please contact Bruno Dubourdieu (bdubordi@ch2m.com) or Joseba Sanchez (jsanchez@vitoria-gasteiz.org).

Tackling vandalism on public transport in Dublin, Ireland

This campaign has arisen from the need to tackle crime and vandalism on local buses which is deterring residents from using the bus because they feel unsafe. The public transport operator Dublin Bus is leading this campaign which has targeted young people to find out why they cause vandalism and to build trust and respect for the buses, by holding competitions in local schools.

The campaign is targeting one particular bus route whilst using another route as the 'control'. Residents on both routes have been surveyed to assess their use and experience of bus use. On one of the bus routes the school children have been surveyed and some have attended focus groups. This assessment process has been combined with a competition to come up with a slogan which conveys what the Dublin Bus means to the community. The winning designs have been displayed and collated in a calendar. A prize was also given to the winning design. The calendar was distributed to all local residents.

A poster campaign also ran on bus sides and shelters. Initial results indicate about 30% spontaneous recall of the campaign and a statistically significant positive shift in attitudes.

For more information, contact: John Porter at Interactions Ltd (john@interactions.ie)

Targeting pilgrims in Iasi, Romania

The City of Iasi in Romania is a Follower of TAPESTRY. Being a Follower means they can actively learn from the project and use the experiences, best practice and information from TAPESTRY workshops and meetings and apply it to new campaigns in their home country.

The City of Iasi campaign aims to promote public transport to visitors who arrive by train to take part in the annual religious festival held in the city each October. A million visitors come to the city each year at this time. Most take private taxis to travel around the city. The campaign promotes a special tram route that links all the religious sites and the introduction of a season ticket for the festival.

The campaign slogan is printed on the season ticket: "Suflet curat intr - un oras curat" = "A clean soul for a clean city".

The campaign run in October 2002 involved publicity at the main railway station, leaflets, maps and posters. A press campaign was also carried out.

For more information, contact Professor Elisabeth Jaba: ejaba@uaic.ro

News from Elsewhere

The Big Wheel starts turning in Nottingham, UK

The Big Wheel is a campaign trying to spread awareness about Greater Nottingham's new transport network. Nottingham City Centre is the hub, the suburbs are the rim, while bus, train and, soon, tram routes will be the spokes. The Big Wheel would like to tempt more people to try public transport, or to take up healthy ways of getting about, such as walking or cycling. Commuters might be able to try different ways of working, too, like teleworking at home. The Greater Nottingham Transport Partnership (GNTP) was formed to address the problems associated with increased levels of traffic and congestion that an ever expanding city like Nottingham can experience. The GNTP represents the City and County Councils, businesses like Capital One, The Boots Company PLC, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Experian, while Nottingham Development Enterprise, the Government Office for the East Midlands, the Chamber of Commerce and the City Centre Retailers Association are partners, too.

Measures include a poster campaign around Nottingham and on local buses - depicting cartoon characters inviting people to "join the revolution", "avoid static" and "improve your circulation". A newsletter, 'Freewheel' is also available in paper and on the website.

The Big Wheel also promotes the "Big Offer Passport" gives people opportunity to travel to local attractions by public transport at a discounted rate, and then get a good deal on admission prices when they arrive at their destination. For more information take a look at the Big Wheel website http://www.thebigwheel.org.uk/

Department of Transport's Individualised travel planning pilot schemes in the UK

The Department for Transport in the UK is funding fourteen local authority-led projects across England and Wales to pilot the use of personalised travel advice and planning. Three techniques are being piloted:

Individualised marketing

Individuals are contacted by telephone and segmented according to their level of interest in using alternative modes to the car - this determines the follow up action. Those that are interested are given tailored information, encouragement and incentives to try alternatives to the car.

Use of travel diaries

Individuals complete a seven day diary which is analysed to give them suggestions on how to reduce their car use and make trips more efficiently. About a month after receiving the suggestions they are asked to complete a second diary, so the travel changes can be measured and further feedback provided.

Personalised journey planning

Personalised journey planners are used to try to eliminate the barriers to using public transport in the form of unfamiliarity with the service, routes or even how to travel by bus. The planners offer individuals comprehensive tailored advice on how to carry out a specific journey from A to B using alternative modes of transport to the car. This can include timetable information, maps and useful contact details and may be accompanied by an incentive such as a free ticket. Follow up surveys can be carried out to monitor the impact of the information provided.

A report has been produced by DfT regarding the effectiveness of personalised travel planning techniques. The report can be found on the Department for Transport website at http://www.local-transport.dft.gov.uk/travelplans

News from Other EU-Supported Activities

Recommendations for Mobility Management: The MOST results

The MOST project has finished its three-year test of various mobility management applications. Now a rich body of experience has become available both for practitioners and researchers. The key insight that changing behaviour is a long-term process has been underlined. It is important that this process is strengthened through quality management, skilled personnel and good monitoring. MOST supports this by the newly developed Monitoring & Evaluation Toolkit (MOST-MET) and a special report with advice on the implementation process.

The research has also shown that framework conditions are not yet developed throughout Europe, but considerable progress is being made. The report on framework conditions for Mobility Management lists some policy highlights: for example, in Sweden demand-oriented policies now receive priority over new road building. In the Netherlands local authorities can demand mobility plans from companies under the Environmental Management Act.

All reports, the Monitoring & Evaluation Toolkit and the Final Report, which includes all results and recommendations, will soon become available on the MOST website (http://mo.st). Also a 12-page summary brochure is being prepared.

For more information, please contact Astrid Wilhelm, FGM-AMOR, Tel.: ++ 43 316 / 81 04 51-16, e-mail: wilhelm@fgm.at

Update on European Mobility Week

Following the success of the European "In town without my car!" campaign initiated in France in 1998 and supported by the European Commission's DG Environment, European Mobility Week will be organised each year from 2002.

From 16 to 22 September 2002 European citizens had the opportunity to enjoy a full week of events dedicated to sustainable mobility. 320 European cities from 21 countries took part in the initiative, whilst a further 111 cites supported the event.

The structure for EMW 2003 has already been identified taking place from 16-22 September 2003 and ending with European Car Free Day. EMW 2003 will have one horizontal theme during the whole of the week - ACCESSIBILITY.

A conference for local authorities interested in taking part this year will be held in Brussels on 11 March 2003.

More information can be obtained at http://www.mobilityweek-europe.org/

'Getting about Town' Photography Competition

This photography competition is part of the EU project EMOTIONS and is organised by Forschungsgesellschaft Mobilitat - Austrian Mobility Research in co-operation with an art organisation.

To enter the competition you must submit a photograph (slides, electronic image) which you think conveys positive emotions about your journey through a city - while walking, cycling or using public transport. The first prize is 800 Euro. The deadline for photos is end of May 2003. Future plans include a travelling exhibition across Europe to display the pictures and images and the best pictures will be collated in a catalogue. If you want more information about the competition visit AMOR's website at http://www.fgm.at

Upcoming Events

ECOMM 2003

The European Conference on Mobility Management 2003 will take place from 21-23 May in Karlstad, Sweden. The conference will address two main questions: how can mobility management help break the link between economic growth and transport growth and how can mobility management be implemented in the planning process.

Specific themes and workshops include:

• The increased mobility demand in the European Union.
• The role of mobility management in Europe.
• How to use mobility management to decouple economic growth and transport growth?
• Implementation of mobility management in the spatial planning process

The full conference programme and invitation will be available by the end of February. For more information go to http://www.karlstad.se/ecomm/

Organisational issues

For more information about TAPESTRY see our website: http://www.eu-tapestry.org

We would welcome your feedback. E-mail us your comments on: tapestry@eu-tapestry.org

If you do not wish to receive this newsletter in the future, please send an email message to unsubscribe@eu-tapestry.org

If you have a colleague or two who would like to receive this e-mail alert too, please send a message with their name and e-mail address to subscribe@eu-tapestry.org