1. Smoothing the Transition: Personalized Travel Planning to Support Student Travel Choices Adam Arnold Senior Program Specialist UrbanTrans Consultants

2. I’m Adam from UrbanTrans Consultants

3. Let me tell you a story…

4. Mohawk College asked for our help with a challenge…

6. 15,700 students, 1200 employees 3 sites in the Hamilton and Brantford area Growth aspirations, campus development Goal to increase catchment area Strong sustainability focus

7. They were closing their Brantford Campus, relocating 1500 people

8. They were worried about a few things…

9. Disruption to staff and student life Impact on student recruitment – increased travel distances Increased demand on parking infrastructure Increased environmental impact

10. ...but they also saw some big opportunities

11. Chance to stop bad commuting habits before they start… Showcase commitment to student welfare Increase usage of existing TDM infrastructure and programs Increase student recruitment catchment area

12. Sure, we can help…let’s do a study and get a better picture

13. 34% of Brantford population (staff and students) planned to drive alone to the new campus Would require an additional 267 parking spaces to accommodate

14. The study also told us that people would need a bit of help with this move

15. 55% planned to use an alternative mode Personalized travel information identified as one of the most useful TDM programs that could be provided Top recommendation: creation of commuter profiles

16. We thought about it a bit…and figured the best help we could provide was a handy Commuter Profile for everyone

17. Detailed trip plan based on departure location Provide a prioritized range of options based on location, distance etc Identify specific routes, timings and costs Identify cost and environmental savings, compared to driving alone Can be based on one-to-one consultations

18. But…we didn’t quite have the time or money to take 700 people out for coffee, one by one

19. Hmmm….how to make it personal… but not that personal

20. Identify common trips and provide broader commuter profiles based on these trips Travel guidance from your town or locality, rather than your front door Provide additional tools to allow students and staff to find more detailed route plans independently (eg Google Transit planning, Carpool Zone route matching)

21. How did we do it, you ask?

22. First, we mapped all the postal codes

23. Then we clustered all the departure points…

24. Next, we created 10 commuter profiles based on the 10 departure points

25. Ancaster Brampton-Missisauga Haldimand Hamilton Downtown Hamilton Mountain Kitchener – Guelph – Cambridge Oakville-Burlington St. Catharines-Niagara Falls Toronto - Durham

26. Then, we made a handy little database to match up students with their profile

27. Excel based database to sort each student into one of the 10 departure points. Sorting by postal code: If your postal code starts with L2R, you are identified as needing the St Catherines Commuter Profile Each individual in database assigned 1 of 10 commuter profiles

28. And so finally, every student was assigned one of 10 commuter profiles, personalized and mail- ready

29. Detour! What makes a good profile?

30. Multiple commute options Realistic commute options Approximate time and cost guidelines Detailed route plans (street names, bus route numbers etc) Links to further resources and information Clear and clean layout Personalized appearance

31. Looks a bit like this…

33. We also added in some great extras

36. Then, we sent it out into the world!

37. Profiles emailed to 701 students 23% Open Rate 79% click through rate Opens peaked just before and just after first classes started For future projects, hard copy mailing may have more impact

38. So…did it work?

39. 120 additional Carpool Zone users added since September 2012: all since Sept 2013.

40. Mohawk liked it…a lot

41. Mohawk sustainability steering committee chose to expand the program to all Mohawk students Created an interactive, online portal: MoCo Modal Choose your departure point to generate your commuter profile

42. http://www.mohawkcollege.ca/environmental-sustainability/mocomodal.html

44. So kids…what did we learn?

45. Departure point clustering can be used to create broad based commuter profiles Quicker, less resource intensive than traditional personalized travel planning User sorting and mail merging can create profiles with a personal look and feel Commuter profiles can inspire behaviour change….the next step is to find out how much!

46. Give me a shout if you want to learn more! Adam Arnold arnolda@urbantrans.com