Personal travels planning advisors trained by Steer Davies Gleave targeted 8,667 households in Solihull, offering tailored travel advice to residents with the aim of encouraging local people to switch some trips from driving alone to public transport, cycling or walking.

Our role

Steer Davies Gleave was commissioned by Centro to deliver a Personal Travel Planning (PTP) project, focussing on households between Stratford Road and Shirley rail station. The project targeted 8,667 households in the area.

How we did it

A team of local travel advisors were recruited from the local area to deliver the project on the ground. They were trained in behaviour change techniques and simple cycle maintenance skills. This enabled them to remove some of the barriers to cycling for residents who had bicycles but which needed simple maintenance performed to make them roadworthy. The team also provided detailed information on local public transport options following  a local review of bus services. 

Steer Davies Gleave also worked with Centro’s own design and communications team to develop a range of local literature including a local travel map and community guide as well as information for drivers on how to reduce the impact of their car trips.

In total 4,216 households were spoken with by a PTP Travel Advisor and 2,778 households participated by requesting tailored travel information as a result of the discussion with the Travel Advisor. The customer satisfaction survey immediately following the project showed:

• 15% of participants stated they had made a change in their travel behaviour;
• 14% stated an increase in bus use; and
• 6% of respondents made a reduction in their car use.

The small scale travel diary evaluation undertaken two months after the PTP Travel Advisor engagement, compared with a baseline collected before the project, also provided indications of reduced time spent travelling by car.

For more information contact

John Geelan
t +44 (0) 141 224 0990
e sustainable@sdgworld.net

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