Hello, My name is Sébastien Munafö. I am research assistant in the laboratory of urban sociology at EPFL. Today I'll talk about modal choice, about the choice of means of transport in town, and especially its evolution an evolution which has been observed in the last two decades, in three cities: Geneva, Lausanne and Bern from a study we conducted in LaSUR and that specifically addresses this issue. Here is the layout of my presentation today. Firstly to talk to you about the context and the objective of this study then discuss the main results of the investigation we conducted. First, the image of transport. Then the use, the frequency of use of these same means of transport. And from these first two elements, the typology of users or of the logical modal choice we could highlight. Then in the third part, I will talk about lessons that can be derived, from this survey: operational lessons, but also more macro-sociological teachings. The contexts and objectives: our study was to understand the modal choice. Why ? Because today, modal choice is a crucial issue in the city. Today, the majority of urban policies, the planning policies of the territory in cities, aim to a modal shift from car to public transport and sustainable mobility. Why ? Because these transport means are less generators of nuisance than the automobile. Nuisances such as congestion, accidents, noise, etc. To encourage modal shift, to encourage citizens to use other means of transport than the car suppose to understand how these townspeople think this modal choice how they choose between a transport means and another. As Koffman Vincent well reported in the previous course, There are on modal choice a multiple of rationalities. The modal choice is summed up a little or not at all, to a desire to reduce travel time or costs of the trip. These multiple rationalities must be taken into account. These predispositions, reflexes, habits, anchors in the lifestyles of different means of transport we have at disposal. The objective of this study was to identify these multiple rationalities according to two main bodies of results: representations, the image of transport and their use, the effective ownership by citizens. Our study focused on three Swiss cities: Geneva, Lausanne and Bern. agglommérations which have specific profiles on planning policy and transport policy. Cities that were also discussed in 1994, as part of the doctoral work of Vincent Koffman which highlighted in these cities the multiplicity of rationalities the various logics of modal choice that I mentioned in the introduction. The idea was to repeat with the same methodology, the study in 2011 to understand the logic in terms of changes in mode choice and especially to try to identify the impacts, the attendances of the great changes that took place between these two years, including massive investments that have been made in terms of public transport infrastructure, but also in railway, Switzerland. The study focused on a specific target in 1994 and in 2011. It was question of urban people, people who live in cities or in the nearby suburban crown, well served by public transport, assets, people who have to travel every day or almost to work. And people in theoretical situation of modal choice. I.e. people who have a car in their household, but are well served by their residential location, with efficient public transport. This study was funded by various institutional partners such as the Canton of Geneva or Vaud, but also transport operators such as TPG in Geneva or Lausanne public transport in Lausanne. Partners who were interested in understanding the logic of modal choice in the cities of Geneva and Lausanne. Why these cities are interesting? Well, because they have specific paths on policy of transport and territory planning. Geneva is a city that has long been turned to the car but had to, due to economic growth and significant population growth, had to change of paradigm, and had to end the all-car. A paradigm shift has been reflected in by political measures aimed at restricting access to the center, including a policy of more rigorous parking but also by the infrastructure that reduced the ease of city traffic. In parallel, a public transport offer was redeployed including the tram network. Lausanne is a city a little different, smaller, but which also experienced in those years, a strong economic and population growth, growth that has been synonymous of a transport demand even more important that Lausanne has faced. To cope with this demand, Lausanne has invested notably in a major offer in public transport, the metro M2, an automatic metro that you see here in the picture. A massive investment was commissioned in 2008, and therefore, it was very interesting to see if this very important investment had consequences on the composition of the demand for modal choice. Finally, Bern, the third city studied, was already considered, in the 90s, as an example, an example in coordinating transport and urban planning, a city that already recorded at the time of the first study, in 1994, very important modal shares for public transport, soft mobility, ie walking and cycling. So it was particularly interesting to see how these three cities have evolved over the 17 years, and see if the two French cities, Geneva and Lausanne, had in 2011, in a way, caught the Bernese model. Now for the main results of the investigation. As I mentioned in the introduction, a cornerstone to understanding the mode choice notes some predispositions, representations of individuals confronted with different means of transport. To identify these representations, well, we invited respondents to name three spontaneous adjectives to qualify the car, public transport and cycling. By bringing together key adjectives given in large aggregated categories, positive, negative or neutral, we get this picture. Here you have the picture of the car in the three cities and during the two years of investigation. Here we have the picture regarding the car. As we see, the image among respondents is overwhelmingly positive. This is not a surprise since these are people surveyed who have a car at disposaé, and have therefore made an investment in this direction. What is interesting, is that the image between the two survey components has significantly deteriorated in both cities studied. thus going from a positive side 80% in 94 in Geneva, to a coastline of 71%. In Lausanne, the coast of 85% goes to 76%. In Berne, the overall positive picture in 94 remains roughly similar in 2011. So a picture, finally, quite positive. If this image has deteriorated in Geneva and Lausanne is particularly due to congestion issues, circulation difficulties, but also an ecological awareness related to pollutants aspects of the car. This means that even people that have this means of transport available, are aware of a certain harmful appearance for the community of this means of transport. Here are the results of the image for public transport. We note out of hand that this image is largely negative among respondents in the three cities. But the trend observed between the two surveys is reversed, ie that there is a jump to the positive side, which saves a great leap from 39 to 52%, in Geneva, but a more dramatic jump in Lausanne passing from 30 to 61% on the positive side. One item that already reflected in attitudes of great influence, the great impact of investments that have been made and which were translated by the automatic metro commissioning that I spoke of to you just now. In Berne, an image that was already very positive in 94 you see that it is more positive than in Geneva in 2011, Well, this picture has continued to improve since motorists of his agglomeration quoted adjectives that are, for 77% of them, positive. Third result regarding the image of transport: that concerning cycling. Cycling, unfortunately, has not been investigated in 1994 but it seemed interesting to do in 2011. That's why you only have here the graph of the situation in 2011. This element teaches still an interesting element, in so far as the image of the bicycle, in the three agglomerations, among city dwellers, in theoretical situation of modal choice is very positive, with a slightly negative image in Lausanne, mainly because, topographically, a city that is very steep and where making use of this means of transport is more difficult. An element, therefore, shows that in general, on all the images we just discussed, until now, public transport, car or bike, finally, in 2011, even if you have a car available, one is generally open to using other modes, and this is already a very interesting result of the survey. Second set of results: the use of means of transport. In addition to image issues we were interested in whether these urban people finally had a frenquency of use of these means of transport which had evolved. Here you have the graph regarding the frequency of use of the car as a driver in the three cities and for the two surveys. It is noted that this type of transportation is still very widely used, This is not a surprise, insofar as all people we interviewed have a car available. We also find that the frequency of use has still very clearly evolved. A use which reduces very clearly, for example, in Geneva, which goes from 60% to 38% of daily use. In Lausanne, the share of 70% of daily users goes to 53%. In Berne, the trend is the same, 45 to 34%. What does that mean ? Well, it means that we have not abandoned the car but we reconsidered its frequency of use during the period between the two surveys. So we have, for some journeys, city dwellers who use other means of transport. Here you have the same graph for public transport. The public transport usage frequency has clearly increased between the two surveys. The daily use frequency, as you see, goes from 15%, in 94, in Geneva, to 29%. Said unit from 16 to 27 in Lausanne. And the part that was already very high in Bern, 33% goes to 39%. On another side, what we observe is that public transport entered the habits of these citizens, it is especially seen through the share of these urban people who say they never use public transport. It is only 9% in 2011, in Geneva. It is 10% in Lausanne and it is only 3% in Bern. What about the bike? Well, here we see the image of the bicycle use frequency in the three cities, only in 2011 because, unfortunately, this question was not asked in 94. We observe that the bicycle is a means of transport widely used by these city dwellers in theoretical situation modal choice that we interviewed. 14% of them say using the bike every day, almost. This share reached 26% in Bern. In Lausanne, it is less, it was mentioned, in particular because of the topography of the city. So we finally have townsmen that not only are open to using different means of transportation, but use them very clearly, whose use has become customary. From indications concerning the image and those related to the use, so we highlighted this typology of logics of modal choice, or this type of users. This typology has been presented to you during the previous course by Vincent Koffman. Here we have six types which are: Exclusive motorists that group in the case of this study exclusive motorists open and confident, in the typology presented by Vincent; motorists forced to use other modes; those predisposed to alternative modes; civic environmentalists; multimodal people and finally, individuals anchored in the vicinity. What image gives this typology, in 94 and in 2011? What improvements can be observed in this area? When we apply this typology of two branches of investigation, we get this picture. We see very clearly that in the three cities of study, there are convergent logics, including a clear decrease in the share of proprietary drivers, which rose from 21% to Geneva in 94, to 9%. They go from 20, Lausanne, to 10, in 2011. This share is extremely low in Bern, of 3% in 2011. Faced with this clear decrease of exclusive logic, related to the daily use, unique, of the automotive, in parallel, a significant growth has been observed of predisposed alternatives. It goes from 4 to 11% in Geneva from 4 to 9% in Lausanne and from 3 to 10% in Bern. Above all there is a very significant growth of multimodal. A relatively reduced growth in Geneva, from 29 to 32%, but very consistent in Lausanne from 22 to 42%. In Berne, the jump is spectacular because goes from 40 to 59%. In 2011, therefore, we in Berne have a majority of the sample that falls within this multimodal logic, open to all modes, a category that juggles between different means of transport. Finally, these three cities, in our different results, have specific profiles, in Geneva, the largest decrease was finally registered about the frequency of use of the car. It is in this city where the modal shift was the most net and most visible in the field. In parallel, the use of public transport is observed which is relatively constrained. The share of forced motorists is consistent. So we have people who use public transport, but this is not necessarily the project. In Lausanne, the picture is different, we have a spectacular image gain, caused notably by renewing the offer of public transports translated by setting the M2 metro service. But this very important image gain was not completely reflected in use, frequency of use of the car, where finally, the car is used in Geneva or Berne. And in Bern, yet another profile where the virtuous circle already in place in the 90s, continued to take effect, with today an excellent picture of all means of transport and public transport usage frequency and soft modes quite considerable. In the end, a logic of multimodal modal choice that dominates among urban people of this agglomeration. From these three cities and their trajectory, we can emphasize three fairly caricatured models but interesting in terms of modal shifts. We first observe a Geneva model which ultimately from the cross-reading of our results, we understand that the most powerful element for modal shift remains the gridlock and constraints that exist in terms of traffic. It is primarily because motorists have a hard life, face a number of obstacles that there was a large modal shift. Of course, this modal shift has been possible thanks to the extension and the provision of an interesting alternative offer, including trams in Geneva. In Lausanne, we have another model. A model where seduction and image of means of transport played an important role, promoted, stimulated, the modal shift, with precisely the great image gain caused by M2. Finally, in Bern, we have a model where consistency is the key word, where this consistency over time, but also in the space, acts as the main lever at work, in terms of modal shift. Finally, at the operational level we understand, through these three models, that there is a recipe which finally combines these three elements to encourage modal shift in town. A recipe that involves playing on the efficiency of the automotive system with ultimately an efficiency that must be seen to the downside, in some way, or in any case which should not be improved. In response, an attractive offer, Attractive alternative offer, attractive, which makes gain users by a more positive representation of predispositions, more open on the subject. Finally, a model that has to focus on a coherence in time, be pursued in time as well as in space, ie, that must involve the entire metropolitan area, as is the case in Bern. Finally, what are the main sociological teachings that can be learned from this study? First, I think it should be emphasized that, behind these results is hiding the emergence of new lifestyles. lifestyles among urban motorized assets that is the target of our study which is largely focused on multimodality. One is not exclusive to a single mode, but juggles between these modes according to one's constraints, timetable, constraints at the destination, constraints at the origin, etc. Lifestyles among urban people using different means of transportation, which are translating changes in values and attitudes that we have been able to demonstrate, through the questions of images. Representations have changed, attitudes have changed, we took into account the harmful sides of the car and we upgraded the public transport and soft modes as a means of transport attractive in a city. In the emergence of these lifestyles and the observed change in mentality, policy measures were essential and quite decisive. It's because we implemented a policy aimed at reducing the place of the car in the city and in parallel, increasing the attractiveness of alternative accessibility, soft modes and public transport. It is through and by implementing this recipe that we could get a real modal shift. We ultimately could direct demand towards means of transport less harmful to the community and for the city. Finally, these elements give an optimistic note about the possibility to act on mobility. Demand changes: we can direct this request. This is what we observed in the three cities studied. This request is malleable and therefore, by implementing policy measures, courageous investments in some areas, well, we can act on this mobility and direct it to behaviors which are synonymous with a better quality of life in cities.
