What Moves You? : A Study of Mode Shift Motives in Stockholm

Abstract: What causes people to change their primary transportation mode and sustain the change in the absence of an incentive? Shifting towards sustainable modes is a vision shared by many municipal, regional, national and international bodies around the world, but it is difficult to change individuals’ behaviour, especially when there is no incentive to do so. Through understanding how individuals make decisions about their planned behaviour and determining what are opportune moments to re- learn travel habits, it may serve as a key opportunity to influence sustainable mode share. This study focuses on residential relocation to understand if the act of relocating serves as a catalyst to change transport behaviour. It further studies if car-lite developments under the Stockholm Green Parking Guidelines have impacted changes in travel behaviour towards more sustainable modes. By using surveys and interviews based on behavioural theory, it is possible to understand how individuals change their transport mode. The data collected also show how individuals may have a bias towards a particular transport mode and how policies can work to persuade them to choose another. The findings recommend measures to target programs for mode shift to the right people, at the right time to maximise effectiveness. They further recommend that proactive notification from information available in official databases can be used to implement this within the capabilities that currently exist in many jurisdictions.