Identifying the right people for TDM programs

Residential outreach to promote sustainable modes of travel is always a challenge, especially when engaging with citizens in previously untouched neighborhoods. 

Typical questions that often emerge at the planning stage include: Which neighborhood should be targeted, What types of people should be targeted, What types of incentives should be used, and, What kinds of communications messaging should be employed?

To help answer these questions, Steer Davies Gleave frequently delves into the world of geo-demographic market segmentation using publically available commercial data sets to shed some light. Segmentation is a way to categorize individual households based on a range of criteria including location, demographics, consumer purchasing habits, and travel characteristics, among others. GIS mapping can then be used to supplement this data by layering in the transportation network, land-use characteristics, behavioral data and other elements that influence travel behavior to develop a well-rounded picture of local neighborhoods.

We have recently used this segmentation approach on a variety of projects including:

• High level transportation demand management (TDM) program planning for the San Diego Association of Governments
• Residential marketing neighborhood prioritization for the City of Ottawa as part of an LRT TDM construction mitigation program and
• Residential individualized marketing and community-based social marketing for UK cities and regions including Cambridgeshire, the West Midlands, and the South Coast.

The advantage this type of analysis can provide is a greater understanding of which segments and therefore which types of households are more likely to travel by sustainable modes such as transit, cycling, walking and ridesharing. For example, segments with characteristics such as low vehicles per household, short commutes, positive attitudes towards sustainability, and positive attitudes towards local shopping and fresh produce may indicate households that are more likely to try cycling. Understanding where, geographically, these segments with a high propensity for sustainable modes are may influence which neighborhoods are chosen for residential TDM programs. Beyond that, it may also influence what modes to promote and how to communicate with those residents (maybe they are also significant users of social media or owners of smartphones).

By analyzing cities or regions at the household level, it becomes possible to make more educated decisions about where, how and who to market your residential TDM programs to. Using detailed market segmentation also helps develop an informed judgment of where best to provide incentives, resources and messaging, which can significantly increase the likelihood of higher participation rates, mode shift and ongoing travel behavior change.