Between December 1995 and June 1997, Hampshire County Council (HCC) in England participated in the international project "Switching to Public Transport". This project was coordinated by the International Union of Public Transport (UITP), and aimed to increase the use of public transport by people who knew little about it and did not use it often. This paper presents the methodology and results of the project's trial in the city of Winchester, in relation to HCC's transport policies. The Socialdata consultancy designed the study's research framework and evaluated its results. The reasons why journeys were not made by public transport included `constraints', `no connection', lack of information or awareness, negative subjective evaluation, and free choice not to use it. Socialdata recommended using `soft marketing' by face-to-face contact to attract potential user households giving the third and fourth reasons. 269 households were selected and given travel diaries for the `before' survey. They were then given a home visit for marketing, and completed travel diaries for the `after' survey at least three months later. The `before' and `after' results were evaluated and compared. Although perceptions of local bus services were improved, there was a significant reduction in car use and rise in bus use only for shopping trips.
Abstract