Understanding 'what works' is key to improving personal mobility options in the future. ITP is regularly appointed to independently evaluate the impacts of a wide range of initiatives.
These have included Personalised Travel Planning interventions, Travel Plans, Smarter Travel campaigns, cycle hire schemes, local transport strategies, BRT systems, and active travel programmes.
Our robust but pragmatic approach to evaluation helps us to evidence both the work we do, and that of other transport service providers. We aim to understand the true impact of, and critical success factors for, sustainable transport initiatives.
By adopting different approaches to suit the nature of the transport intervention being evaluated, we provide meaningful results that offer clients detailed feedback and insights into the effectiveness of transport interventions and services.
From 2013 to 2015 Centro delivered the Smart Network, Smarter Choices sustainable transport project in the West Midlands. It sought to improve sustainable transport options across the region to encourage more people to travel by walking, cycling, public transport and car sharing.
ITP's role was to set up, manage and engage with a stakeholder panel of 165 high-level policymakers and businesses across the region to evaluate the programme’s impact. Key research questions focused on behaviour change, attitudes to sustainable travel, employment opportunities, business confidence and perceived impacts of the programme.
Our impact evaluation report fed into the future development of transport options in the West Midlands, providing insights into the needs and expectations of local people.
Tower Hamlets was one of nine areas supported by the Department of Health's Healthy Community Challenge Fund. The Council's Heathy Borough programme supported children, families and the wider community to be more physically active, eat well, and maintain a healthy weight throughout their lives.
ITP undertook an output, outcome and process evaluation of the walking and cycling components of the programme. Our evaluation identified the most-successful projects delivered in Tower Hamlets and drew on process-learning findings to recommend how they might be replicated in other parts of the country to achieve wider uptake of active travel modes.
The Scottish Government funded the ‘Smarter Choices, Smarter Places’ (SCSP) behaviour change programme to help save people money, improve their health, build stronger communities and improve the environment.
Alongside Aberdeen University and Derek Halden Consultancy, ITP’s role was to evaluate the SCSP programme to establish whether, how, and where benefits were achieved - and to identify ways of improving delivery. An extensive quantitative survey programme; including area-wide travel diary surveys, telephone surveys, local data collection and user consultation initiatives, formed the basis of the evaluation. Our team members worked closely with local delivery teams in the participating towns of Barrhead, Kirkintolloch, Dumfries, Dundee, Glasgow East, Kirkwall, and Larbert-Stenhousemuir.
The findings from our research have informed the continued delivery of the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme in additional towns and cities across Scotland.
