Green Mobility Shift
Despite the ongoing climate and resource crisis, CO2 emissions from the transportation sector, as well as the number of car sales are still increasing. To address this issue, there is a need of developing more appealing and sustainable mobility options where active and shared modes of transport are more widely used. Previous experience has shown that introducing new technologies like electric bikes and scooters or mobility apps alone is not enough to convince people to make the switch from cars. When it comes to changing transportation habits, we need to have the people themselves in focus. For example, parents driving their children to school and commuters who drive to work need to feel supported by their workplaces, schools, municipalities, and transportation companies to walk, bike, or take the bus instead of driving. Direct contact with citizens provides legitimacy to investments in green mobility. However, the challenge is to structure and scale this localized approach and determine who has the mandate to do so.
Greater Copenhagen, with its strong connections and well-developed public transportation network, provides an ideal setting for promoting alternative modes of transport to private cars. To address this, transportation companies, regions, municipalities, research institutions, and civil society organizations in the Øresund region have teamed up to develop the SHIFT model in this project, a joint Danish-Swedish initiative based on the European framework Avoid-Shift- Improve (A-S-I). SHIFT aims to promote sustainable transportation through a more comprehensive planning process that focuses on citizens’ demand. This contrasts with traditional transport planning, which focuses on projecting transport needs and delivering infrastructure accordingly.
Over the course of three years, the project partners will first clarify the common starting point for the SHIFT model, targeting the model to meet the needs and desires of the public transportation actors and regions (AP2). In a methodological track (AP3), the methods for the model are identified and impact assessed based on the latest research on citizen involvement and the promotion of travel behavior change and are also followed up with new research and teachings on sustainable mobility initiatives and a more holistic approach to transportation planning. This is supplemented by a practical track (AP4) where the methods are tested and evaluated in the real world. The project will result in the creation of methods to involve citizens and influence their transportation habits to and from work, school, and leisure activities, as well as mobility hubs. The three types have been chosen as they represent significant travel patterns in transport commuting to/from work, school, and leisure activities, family journeys with children, and the seamless journey in the public transportation network.
Ultimately, the project will result in a SHIFT model to promote the shift to green mobility, anchored in the Øresund region’s public transport (AP5). The model will serve as a basis for Greater Copenhagens public transport companies and regions to strengthen their efforts to promote the change to green mobility and provide a toolbox of cross-regional methods for citizen involvement and travel behavior change. It will also result in research evidence for the effectiveness of the model in transforming the regions collective mobility, action plans for integrating the model into mobility and climate strategies, and dissemination of the model and related knowledge and skills to decision-makers and professionals across the Øresund region and beyond.
In the long term, the project will lead to a greater focus on sustainable, intermodal, and inclusive mobility in public transportation, regions, and municipalities, as well as strengthen cross-regional cooperation on green mobility initiatives between the public transport actors.