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TRANSPORT-Transport 2025

Finding Routes to Active Mobility in Everyday life through Digitalization

Alternative title: Digitalisering og aktiv mobilitet i hverdagen

Awarded: NOK 8.0 mill.

Can electromobility and digitization contribute to a more sustainable urban transport system? How can today's public health challenges be met by increasing active mobility in everyday life? In project FRAME-D we investigate how smart digital solutions can aid decision makers and companies in a transition from a car-based urban transport system to a system based on clean energy and active mobility. Digitization provides opportunities to measure, promote and organize sustainable travel behavior. In order to achieve the goal of increased use of active and sustainable transport, we have during 2021 in collaboration with Epigram AS developed the app Fotefar. The app will automatically log all journeys and will also use elements from the computer game world ("gamification") to create behavior change, something we have previously tested in a collaboration with Ruter (RuterPIlot). The app is now ready to be rolled out in a trial version. The project has a holistic perspective that includes both private decisions about daily transport and working life's considerations of efficient logistics and profitability. We are therefore exploring the potential of electric cargo bikes to contribute to changes in private transport and freight transport in urban areas. As a separate case study has conducted interviews with commercial and public actors, to look at electric cargo bikes from a business perspective. We have also done a separate study among recipients of support that was given to electric cargo bikes in Oslo municipality in 2016/2017 and 2021. of cargo bikes. We have used physiological measurements to compare energy consumption on the same route when using an electric cargo bike with and without cargo, and when using a car. This is to look at differences in energy consumption between different means of transport. We have evaluated the short-term effect of the support scheme for electric bicycles in Oslo and find a clear connection between support for electric bicycles and an increase in the share of bicycles and total cycling. In an improved design (randomized controlled study), we will look at changes in transport mode and total physical activity among those who received support in 2021, and thereby shed light on the support schemes from both an environmental and public health perspective. The last part of the doctoral project has been to investigate how the use of electric bicycles affects other forms of physical activity. Specifically, we have looked at whether e-cycling leads to a reduction, increase, or no change in the level of activity. We have followed a group of participants who have received support for an e-bike through a leasing scheme for employees. Over a 12-week period, we have collected data using activity monitors, questionnaires, and the Fotefar app. More knowledge about the connections between e-cycling and other physical activities is crucial to understand whether the use of e-bikes actually contributes to increased physical activity. The doctoral degree is expected to be completed and ready for defense after project end in the summer of 2024. A planned publication that would look at cargo bikes in a life cycle perspective unfortunately had to be discontinued due to lack of data, but has been replaced by a scientific article analysing the support scheme for e-bikes from a socio-economic perspective, including many of the factors that would have been included in a life cycle analysis. The pandemic situation characterized this project. A planned data collection on active transport, mood and productivity was due to start in March but had to be postponed. The data collection was nevertheless carried out and changed the focus slightly from looking at the seasonal effects of changing travel habits, to looking at the effect of working from home and the experience of travel. The survey ran as a panel survey with a new data collection in 2021. We've written two scientific papers with this data, one looking at the effects of active transport on mood and productivity, and one looking at the effects of working from home on mood and productivity. One was published in 2022, and the last one is expected to be published after the project has ended in 2024.

Prosjektet har bidratt til langsiktig, nasjonal kompetansebygging ved at involverte forskere og institusjoner har utviklet sin kompetanse på feltet. Dette gjelder særlig ph.d.-kandidaten som finansieres av prosjektet. Ph.d.-kandidater ved TØI har fast stilling som forskere ved instituttet og fortsetter sin forskerkarriere på feltet etter endt utdanning. TØI har en sterk posisjon innen forskning på sykling (inkludert elsykler) og bylogistikk, og forskningsaktiviteten på disse feltene har blitt styrket. Vår studie av produktivitet og humør analyserte data med en multivariat modell som viser at de som i denne perioden pendlet med gang og sykkel rapporterte å være i bedre humør, og å ha høyere arbeidsproduktivitet. Når vi ser på de som endret fra passiv mellom aktiv transport (N= 151) fant tilsvarende funn. Resultatene har implikasjoner for beslutningstakere og for arbeidsgivere som leter etter begrunnelse for å bruke selskapets penger på tiltak for å øke aktive reiser Evaluering av støtten som ble gitt til elektriske sykler for enkeltpersoner og bedrifter i Oslo kommune viste at fra de som fikk støtte (N = 382) økte med om lag 20 prosentpoeng sammenlignet med de som ikke fikk støtte. Våre funn indikerer at økonomiske insentiver kan bidra til et løft i aktiv transport, selv når tilskuddet er av en forenklet type som ikke retter seg mot bestemte befolkningssegmenter. Vår etterfølgende samfunnsøkonomiske analyse av støtteordningen viser at nytten i implementeringsåret har trolig overgått kostnadene ved programmet. Analysen var relativt robust overfor alternative forutsetninger for veitransporten (andelen elbiler, belegget Digitalisering og innovasjon er sentrale områder i den interne strategien som gjennomføres ved instituttet. FRAME-D har bidratt til langsiktig kompetansebygging ved TØI og prosjektpartnerne. UiA har en produktiv forskningsgruppe som jobber med bærekraftig livsstil og har gjennom prosjektet fått nyttig kompetanse om dette, og også blitt involvert i andre NFR- prosjekter om aktiv mobilitet. De digitale gründerne Epigram har brukt resultatene fra prosjektet i sin egen utvikling av smarte løsninger for å støtte aktiv mobilitet. Lette elektriske kjøretøy er et blomstrende marked, og mer kunnskap om markedspotensialet for ulike typer brukere er verdifullt for sykkelprodusenter, grossister og forhandlere. TØI har skrevet en rapport om dette. Den primære nytten av denne har nok vært mest hos beslutningstagere. Prosjektet har gitt nyttige bidrag til kunnskapsdannelsen om elektriske sykler, særlig knyttet til subsidiering, ved å tallfeste helse-effektene av disse. Disse funnene har fått internasjonal spredning, og brukes også som del av beslutningsgrunnlaget for politikkutformingen. Den ikke planlagte korona-studien hadde et meget nyttig utfallsmål, i det den viste at aktiv mobilitet bidrar til bedret humør og produktivitet hos ansatte. Hvorvidt denne kunnskapen tas i bruk av arbeidsgivere er foreløpig et åpent spørsmål.

Can electromobility and gamification, driven by digitalization provide a more sustainable urban transport system? How can modern-day public health challenges be met by increasing active mobility in everyday life? We explore the role for smart digital solutions to aid policy-makers and companies in a transition from a car-based urban transport system to a system based on clean energy and active mobility. Digitalization offers opportunities in terms of monitoring, promoting and organizing sustainable travel behaviour. To achieve goals of increased active and sustainable transport, we will develop and refine a pre-existing open source travel behavior app (MEILI) aiming to provide an integrated tool for registration of travel behavior/physical activity and motivation. Novel elements of gamification will be incorporated in the mobile app to stimulate active transport. This project takes a holistic perspective, considering private decisions about everyday transport and professional considerations about logistics and efficiency in conjunction. We will explore the potential of the electric cargo bike (ECB) for transforming both personal travel and freight transport in urban areas. This will be done through focus group interviews with commercial and private actors, as well as through the evaluation of a recent policy intervention that subsidized electric bikes for individuals and firms. We study the effect of these two interventions (subvention and gamification) through policy evaluation methods and randomized controlled trials, capturing short and long-term effects. In case studies with business actors, we will investigate the use of electric cargo bikes from a business perspective, as well as capturing the health and productivity benefits. We will give validated life cycle assessments of different modes of travel: changes in physical activity, substitution effects, productivity, changes to CO2 emissions, and the financial viability of cargo bike for urban logistics.

Funding scheme:

TRANSPORT-Transport 2025