In November 2007, JMP were contracted by TfL to investigate the potential for Personalised Travel Planning in a new context, as part of their 3-year ‘Smarter Travel Sutton’ project. CTP members developed a program focused on the disruption and breaking of habits, with a tailored intervention aimed at people moving home in the Sutton area, and promoting sustainable and healthy travel.
This was developed from work done previously by JMP in the North of England on Personalised Travel Planning with the recruitment and methods adapted towards the context of house-moving. Several estate agents in the area were recruited to the project, in order to promote the scheme to participants, and JMP staff were trained and taught specific measures to maximise the effect of such travel advice.
The project ultimately became a victim of the credit crunch , and was ended prematurely due to people no longer moving house and therefore a shortage of potential participants. Nevertheless, targeting behaviour change strategies to times of key life events remains significant field of interest to CTP members.
Research into habit discontinuation by Verplanken et al. (2008) has shown that influential events and changes in the environment of a person’s life can weaken a person’s habits. Research by JMP staff member Karen Stanbridge has shown that when moving house, 87% of people considered their travel options when selecting a house, and 57% reported a change of travel mode for at least one regular journey. These findings highlight a unique opportunity to influence habitual travel behaviour, and establish new patterns of sustainable travel.
