Transportation behavior at Laval University: Studied, shown on maps and inspiring the elaboration of efficient informative strategies

Background: Climate change is one of the key challenges of the 21st century. Despite the efforts to increase fuel economy in road transport, GHG emissions due to personnal transportation continue to rise in Canada and Quebec (Environnement Canada, 2013; MDDELCC, 2014). Rather than focusing solely on hard transportation policy measures that modify the objective environment, we chose to take a closer look at soft transport policy measures that could take place on Laval university’s campus. By disseminating information, these methods aim to lead to a voluntary shift in behavior. The earlier this information is given to people, the better chance there is that their behavior will be affected. Many students or staff who start university have not yet developed transportation habits, and it may be possible to influence more sustainable transportation choices through information at that point. With that in mind, we asked ourselves: are there specific types of information that influence specific types of people, either in terms of sociodemographic or behavorial caracteristics (following Bamberg et al., 2011)? Based on the principles of sustainable development, three types of information were chosen: economic, environmental and social. Methods: A survey of 37 questions was emailed twice in July 2014 to Laval University’s community in Quebec, i.e. employees and students registered in the summer semester, for a total of 31 808 email addresses. 926 respondents completed surveys, or roughly 3% of the mailing list. The survey contained questions relating to: general travel behavior, values towards transportation, transportation habit questions,  transportation infrastructure on campus, perceived transportation norms, one of three types of information (economy, environmental, social), and finally general sociodemographics. The respondents were randomly assigned to one of the three information treatments. The economic information related to individual transportation costs (specifically car ownership and use costs). The environmental information related to climate change (specifically greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions). The social information related to health guidelines (specifically physical activity). Factor analysis was used to reduce the over 30 variables relating to habit, values, perceived norms, mobility resources (e.g. car ownership, bus pass, bicycle ownership), and sociodemographics. We then proceeded to a cluster analysis to regroup our respondents into categories, distinguishing first between those who owned a car and those who didn’t, following the method of Anable (2005). Results: The factor analysis and clustering resulted in ten groups. Six of the groups were composed of respondents who owned a car; the four others were composed of indivuduals who did not own a car. As the interest is to create more sustainable travel, likely changes by car owners are highlighted here. Of the car owners, two groups were evaluated as more likely to use sustainable modes because of their positive attitudes towards other modes of transportation and their actual habits. The Convinced Environmentalists were more likely to state that they would possibly switch to bus use  if bus passes were either included in municipal taxes or in the university’s  registration fees. The car owners from the group of “Pedestrians” were mostly interested in improvements of pedestrian infrastructures and their maintenance. Spatial analysis confirmed that this latter group was primarily located in the neighbourhoods surrounding the campus. Finally, a group termed “Resilient Drivers” were found to feel guilty of their high car use, suggesting that despite their high car habit, it may be possible to influence a mode change. As pertains to a willingness to increase physical activity in response to information on benefits of active travel, more staff members than student (13% versus 5%) indicated that they would be unable to do more physical activities even if they wanted to. (A similar result was found for respondents who had to pick up kids from kindergarden (21%) versus those who did not (6%).) Most respondents to this survey were aware and concerned about climate change. The Convinced Environmentalists (who typically take express buses from distant locations) were the group most likely to say that they will reduce their emissions (as opposed to planning to). However, both high habit car user groups (Car lovers and Resilient Drivers) were likely to respond that they were planning to reduce emissions (51% and 41% respectively). Economic information on car use costs influenced car owners more, which is logical due to the saliency of the information. The desire to reduce transportation costs followed similar patterns to the environmental information in terms of car owners being less likely to say their costs were already low, and more likely to say they’d like to, but are unable. The high habit car users (Car lovers and Resilient Drivers) were both very likely (47% and 44% respectively) to report wanting to reduce, but not being able to. The analysis suggests that both the environmental information and the economic information have the potential to influence choices, if they are applied before habits begin. For both types, the individuals replied that they planned to make changes in the future, however at what point in the future it is not clear. Changes in one’s life situation such as a new job or a new residential location can stimulate a change in travel patterns.  Thus, these individuals, if reached before their habits are estabilished could be influenced to make that change that they envision for themselves in the future. Conclusions: Laval university’s community has a good transportation profile. Most of its members commute to campus by another mode than the car (70%). However, a majority of our respondents still mentioned owning a car (62%). Some of these even have a positive attitude towards the car; and even of those not owing a car yet, some are aspiring to. While dissemination of information is essential and must be made as soon as registration process starts, keeping the actual community members happy of the way they commute by other modes than the car is highly important for Laval University.

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