Archived decisions

Contact: Caroline Bonner, ext 6592

1. Summary

1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide an update on the County Council's partnership in a three year European Community project for Travel Awareness, Publicity and Education supporting a Sustainable Strategy in Europe (TAPESTRY).

1.2 Stage 1 of the `before' monitoring and evaluation of the study area was completed in February 2002. Stage 2 of the project started in March 2002 with a series of focus group meetings with members of the local community and key stakeholders.

2. Background to the TAPESTRY Project

2.1 The TAPESTRY in Europe project is designed to demonstrate how new approaches in the development and implementation of transport policies can help to achieve changes in travel behaviour.

2.2 The aim of the TAPESTRY project in Hampshire is to explore an 'interactive' marketing campaign designed to promote sustainable travel in a rural setting and, in particular, aims to encourage greater use of existing bus services.

2.3 The specific campaign objectives for the TAPESTRY project in Hampshire are to:

(i) increase awareness of the implications of individual transport decisions;

(ii) change attitudes and perceptions;

(iii) develop `interactive' marketing to increase public transport use;

(iv) raise awareness of the availability of public transport in rural areas; and

(v) make greater use of existing rural transport services.

2.4 There are three discrete stages of work in this project:

(i) Stage 1 provides `before' monitoring and evaluation of travel behaviour, public transport provision and perceptions of marketing and public transport in the area.

(ii) Stage 2 includes the development and implementation of `interactive' marketing initiatives and more in-depth analysis of main issues and requirements in the study area.

(iii) Stage 3 consists of the `after' monitoring to evaluate the impact of the TAPESTRY project and implemented marketing measures.

3. Stage 2 of the Project

3.1 The development of the interactive marketing initiative of TAPESTRY involved two groups of people. These groups were known as the Stakeholder Forum and the Learning Network. Meetings were overseen by an independent facilitator.

3.2 The Stakeholder Forum included representatives from local authorities, transport providers, parish councils and Non-Governmental organisations. Stakeholder Forum meetings were held between March 2002 and May 2002. Twenty-four people were involved in one or both of these meetings. Stakeholders also attended a joint feedback meeting in June 2002.

3.3 The role of the Stakeholder Forum was to critique the ideas of the Learning Network, and to work in partnership with the County Council in the implementation of the marketing initiatives.

3.4 The Learning Network group consisted of residents from villages within the study area who were both users and non-users of public transport. The group consisted of a variety of people, some employed, some unemployed, some retired, some still at school, and also disabled public transport users.

3.5 Three focus group meetings were held with the Learning Network in April 2002. Eighteen people were involved in one or more of these sessions. Members of the Learning Network also attended a joint feedback session in June 2002.

3.6 The role of the Learning Network was to produce an appropriate, tailored marketing campaign for the study area utilising knowledge of local travel and transport, and to disseminate information gained about bus services to potential users.

4. Learning Networks and Stakeholder Forum

4.1 The first meeting of the Stakeholder Forum took place on 4 March 2002. The strengths and weaknesses of the existing rural bus service in Central and East Hampshire and the quality of the information available about it at that time were examined.

4.2 Three Learning Network meetings were held on 13, 18 and 29 April 2002. Participants described local bus services and information available about them, then explored the barriers that would need to be overcome if more use was to be made of the services. Finally, participants set about designing the detail of six information services they felt could be used to increase local bus use. Facilitators worked up the information campaign briefs. These included: bus stop panels, leaflets, posters, telephone hotline, texting service and website. These were evaluated at the second Stakeholder Forum, held on 27 May 2002.

4.3 Presentations on the outputs of the Learning Network and the action plans for implementing the information campaign were made to a mixed group of Learning Network and Stakeholder Forum members on 17 June 2002. Several parish council representatives requested involvement in the production of leaflets.

5. Development of Information Campaign Briefs

5.1 Since the joint feedback meeting on 17 June, discussions have taken place with potential implementers and interested parties as to the design and production of the information formats.

5.2 A newsletter has been distributed to each household in the primary study area. As requested by the Learning Network, this will include information on bus services and key attractions within and outside the study area. The newsletter highlights how these key attractions can be accessed using available public transport services (primarily rural bus services). The newsletter also contains signposts to further information, including the `Traveline' telephone number and the County Council's website. Local community information is provided, as suggested by the Learning Network. Ticketing initiative vouchers will be included in the newsletter, and a Stagecoach promotional Isle of Wight ticketing leaflet will also be included.

5.3 The second element of the marketing campaign involves the development of a poster campaign, promoting the use of local bus services. These will be distributed from the end of September and will be displayed at key locations, such as post offices, parish notice boards and local police stations.

5.4 The final element of the campaign involves the production of innovative timetables and route descriptions, which will be displayed in bus stop panels along bus routes in the study area. Discussions are currently taking place with local bus operators regarding implementation and maintenance of this element of the campaign.

5.5 In conjunction with this marketing campaign, the Central Hampshire Rural Transport Strategy is funding improvements to the bus stops in each of the ten villages in the study area. This will include new bus timetable display cases, new bus stops and shelters and two solar powered bus stops and shelters.

6. Control Study

6.1 In order to isolate the impact of the marketing campaign, research was carried out in a `Control Study' area between July and August 2002. This involved the use of a qualitative questionnaire survey.

6.2 The control study focuses on an area in Central Hampshire to the north-west of Winchester. The number and nature of villages to be surveyed at this stage were selected to be representative of the primary study area. Existing travel patterns, attitudes and perceptions of a group of randomly selected residents living in the control area are to be examined, based on the questionnaire used in the primary study area, as per University of Westminster guidelines. During the month of July 600 questionnaires were sent out to 5,000 households. A response rate of 33%, which was needed for analysis, was achieved.

7. Stage 3 `After' Monitoring and Evaluation

7.1 Stage 3 involves `after' monitoring to evaluate the impact of the interactive marketing initiatives.

7.2 Matched qualitative after monitoring of both the primary and control study area will begin in November 2002. Both areas will be subjected to the same questionnaire, to identify if any changes in perceptions and use of public transport have occurred since the before monitoring completed in December 2001 and August 2002.

7.3 `After' quantitative monitoring of the primary study area is scheduled for November of this year. Full classification surveys will be carried out. This will be compared against `before' quantitative monitoring results to assess the impact on modal share and travel behaviour following implementation of the marketing campaign.

Recommendation

That Members note the progress on the TAPESTRY project and that further reports will be submitted in future.

7405/CB