Changing commuting in large urban areas - identifying acceptable and effective measures

Commuting by car is one of the main challenges in large Norwegian urban areas. The White Paper 26, 2012-2013 (NTP) states that any future growth in person transport in the larger cities should be absorbed by public transport, cycling and walking. In order to realize such an ambitious goal, the government wants to implement measures to stimulate "green" person transport, and one of the popular measures towards this end is through extending financial support for policy packages in the city-networks. COMMUTE provides knowledge on the current and proposed policies by assessing the effectiveness of measures that can be further included in such packages in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim. The project provides new knowledge on commuting, and on which measures that can be both acceptable and effective for developing sustainable transport solutions in these areas. COMMUTE consists of five work packages. (WP1) includes an analysis of work travel in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim and a study of factors that may explain car use on the work trip (WP2) includes an assessment of potential for reducing car use on commute trips by implementing different measures (WP3) is a study of acceptance and prioritization of transport measures among the population and among politicians in the three cities (WP4) includes a study of the legitimacy of urban packages among politicians (WP5) includes synthesis and dissemination. The project is based on both existing data and on its own collected data. The project has had an international expert group from Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, and a reference group consisting of representatives from the three cities, the Norwegian Public Road Administration, the Norwegian Railway Directorate, the Norwegian Directorate of Health and various interest groups. The results of the project have been published in international journals and in TØI-reports and has been disseminated widely both nationally and internationally. All results of the project were presented in a national end seminar the 11th of June 2020 with more than 100 participants from the public and private sector. Results and an overview of dissemination of results is posted on the following page: https://www.toi.no/nfr-project-commute/category1672.html

Gjennom prosjektet (via ekspertgruppe, utenlandsopphold mm) har deltakere på TØI fått god kontakt med noen av de fremste miljøene både på både reisevanefeltet og det statistvitenskapelige feltet, og vi har kunnet plassere våre studier inn i aktuelle debatter. I tillegg har diskusjoner med referansegruppen (offentlige og private aktører) underveis i prosjektet gitt oss innblikk i deres forskningsbehov samt gitt oss tettere kontakt med disse miljøene. Det utvidede kontaktnettet både i inn- og utland og fra forskning og praksis vil være nyttig i fremtidige søknader til NFR og EU. Vi forventer at prosjektresultatene vil ha effekter både på myndighetene og private aktørers arbeid med å oppnå nullvekstmålet («all økning in persontransport skal tas med gange, sykling og kollektivtransport»), i planleggingen av transportinfrastruktur og i ulike byutviklingsspørsmål. I tillegg er det forventet at noen av prosjektresultatene kan ha effekt på arbeidet med å bedre folkehelsen.

Commuting by car is one of the main challenges in urban areas. It is determinant for the capacity in the road system, as well as for public transport. The predictable nature also makes commutin favourable for measures. Yet, as car traffic is still increasing, we know little about the potential for changing commuting and how this varies between local contexts and commuting groups. We also know little about how measures are acceptable and the importance of government incentives for political priorities. This project will fill such knowledge gaps. The government wants to implement measures to stimulate "green" transport, and one of the most relevant measures is extending financial support for policy packages in the city-networks. COMMUTE will provide knowledge on the current and proposed policies by assessing the effectiveness of measures that can be further included in such packages. Additionally, COMMUTE will emphasise on the paths of adoption for such measures, which will be a vital input for making decisions on policy packaging by the cities. The project will provide new knowledge about commuting, and analyse which measures can be effective to develop sustainable solutions in urban areas. We address issues related to the measures' effectiveness, acceptance and political adoption. Although measures may be effective in theory they might be less relevant to implement. The project is multi-disciplinary through combining theories anchored in sociology, economics, transport planning and political science. The project is a cooperation between Institute of Transport Economics and Institute of Political Science, University of Oslo. An international expert group oversees the scientific quality of the project. The project will establish a reference group that will contribute to improve the research and the results. Results will be published as articles in refereed journals and a synthesis report, together with presentations in popular publications, seminars and conferences.