Leicestershire’s successful transport behaviour change programme returns for its sixth year
As year five of Leicestershire’s Choose How You Move Rewards programme draws to a close, we are delighted to announce it will run again for a sixth consecutive year.
Choose How You Move Rewards is provided jointly by Leicester City and Leicestershire County Councils to encourage sustainable modal shift away from reliance on single-occupancy car journeys.
In year four alone (2021–2022), it saved an estimated 228,000 kg of CO2 emissions. 52% of journeys replaced a car and 37% of participants reduced their car use.
In September 2021, Choose How You Move Rewards joined forces with the transport consultancy Systra to increase uptake of their Personalised Travel Planning project in Leicester East.
In March 2022 the programme ran a workplace challenge in which 82 workplaces competed for £1,000s worth of prizes and a high ranking on the leaderboard.
As well as encouraging people to change the way they travel, Choose How You Move Rewards helps the councils better understand how and why people choose to travel.
“We get some really good data, and some really, really rich personal testimonies”, says Tony Lenihan, Sustainable Travel Coordinator at Leicestershire County Council. “That’s really valuable because it shows real people making real changes, rather than just a number on a screen.”
During lockdown in 2020, the programme also tracked and measured the use and impact of Leicester’s new pop-up cycle lanes and footpaths.
The longevity of Choose How You Move Rewards is testament to the power of behaviour change programmes to activate and support existing infrastructures for active and sustainable travel.
These programmes let people experience new transport options for themselves, and engage them in the development process as a valued part of it so they see its benefit and enjoy being associated with it – and are therefore much more likely to use the alternatives on offer.
At the same time, the insights and feedback from such programmes help to strengthen the case for further infrastructure development.