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Designing a Community Engagement Strategy for Smarter Travel Limerick
Kay Cullinane
Research Masters Student of Civil Engineering, University of Limerick
Kathleen.Cullinane@ul.ie
Abstract
This research encompasses a review of what is known
and what has been documented about Smarter Travel to
date, an investigation into how and why people in
Limerick travel the way they do and a comprehensive
study of exemplar Smarter Travel Cities internationally.
This research has been carried out to find out how best
to ensure that a plan for Smarter Travel Limerick is
successful in developing a local culture of Smarter
Travel, which involves the local community and delivers
best practice behavioural change programmes based on
experiences and lessons learnt from elsewhere.
Almost 7 out of 10 people in Limerick drove to work,
school, or college in 2006. However in Groningen in
the Netherlands, an average of 1.4 bicycle trips per
person per day in the city were made by bicycle, making
up more than 50% of the total journeys in 2008.
Successful change has been implemented in particular
cities in Europe, and more recently in UK and
Australian cities, to reverse the effects of unsustainable
travel. In Limerick 63% of residents commute a
distance of 1 to 9km, this shows the potential for
encouraging and achieving a Smarter Travel Limerick.
Figure 1 Limerick City Modal Split for Trips to
Work (Census of Population, 2006) [1]
However, travel patterns are extremely complex
phenomena and the reasons for individual travel
behaviour vary significantly. Focus groups are
employed to discover the reasons behind Limericks
existing travel patterns. The design of a Smarter Travel
program requires effective community engagement,
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recognising that it is essential to improve decisions and
listen to and respond to community needs.
This research focuses on designing a set of
interventions including physical infrastructure (also
known as hard measures), to promote lasting travel
behaviour change in five pilot zones in Limerick based
on best international practice. Prioritising and
promoting Smarter Travel in particular cycle traffic
over cars plays an important role in building a
reputation for Limerick City as a best practice
demonstration Smarter Travel Irish City.
Figure 2 Cycling in Groningen
Being a relatively new field of study particularly in
Ireland there is still much to be learned about Smarter
Travel. All of the benefits are still unknown, but the
benefits which have been documented cannot be
ignored. Research is required to analyse how to design
the optimum strategy for implementing Smarter Travel
soft policy measures in terms of target groups, timing,
methods etc. Research on an international scale is fully
justified for determining how to maximise the synergy
between hard and soft measures in designing a Smarter
Travel strategy. The results on the potential travel
behaviour change programmes offer are quite recent,
and further research into how the potential
disadvantages of induced traffic can be minimised and
how travel behaviour change can be sustained is also
justified.
References
[1] Central Statistics Office (CSO) (2006) 2006 Census of
Population. Vol 12, Travel to Work, School and College, full
report available at:
http://www.cso.ie/census/census2006_volume_12.htm