SWITCH project
SWITCH. Embracing Active Travel for Health
SWITCH supports local decision-makers to promote active and healthier transport choices for short journeys.
SWITCH stands for a personalised travel planning process; addressing people at points of change in their life to change their travel behaviour by substituting short car trips with active travel choices like walking and cycling. In addition to positive environmental effects, people individually and communities as a whole, can benefit from positive health improvements.
The personalised approach is supported by the application of information and communication technologies for motivation, gaming and behavioural change measurement. SWITCH promotes alternative transport for citizens in a period of life change.
Additionally to the elaboration and implementation of targeted local campaigns, SWITCH uses lessons learnt to define guidelines and a clear methodology to help replicate such campaigns across Europe. Although all cities are different, a common framework can be defined for targeting particular groups of citizens, ensuring that the campaign is well delivered and followed by switchers, while effectively monitoring results. This allows decision-makers to analyse the impacts of their campaigns in terms of both individual and societal benefits.
SWITCH has received funding under the Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme from June 2014 until May 2016.
Participating Cities
...are Antwerp, Donostia-San Sebastian, Gdansk, London Borough of Hounslow and Vienna.
SWITCH Final report
The Report sums up all of the project activities and highlights the results from the 5 city partners as:
- Total number of car trips saved for all the cities: 668 trips
- Total number of GHG-emissions saved: 25796 kg
- Total number of primary energy consumption saved: 2318 litres
- Increase in number of days with more than 30 minutes of physical activity over all cities: 2682 days.
The SWITCH Final report can be downloaded in English.
SWITCH Campaign guide and Toolbox
>> SWITCH Campaign guide
The SWITCH Campaign guide, an easy to read and attractively illustrated document, covers the following aspects:
- 1. Key principles of a SWITCH campaign
- 2. How to prepare a campaign
- 3. Step-by-step implementation advice
- 4. Evaluation guidelines
- 5. Success stories from five pilot cities
The SWITCH Campaign Guide to help cities to implement an effective SWITCH campaign is available for you to download as PDF file or ePub (only for ePub readers):
- PDF file in English (also available in German, Spanish, Polish and Romanian)
- ePub version in English
>> SWITCH Toolbox
The Campaign Guide also includes a so called Toolbox with all kinds of support material (e.g. checklists, sample surveys, postcards etc.) that can be used and adjusted to each city’s local context:
More Information
Project Coordinator: DI Wiebke Unbehaun (BOKU, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna), wiebke.unbehaun@boku.ac.at
Project Communication: Florinda Boschetti and Thomas Mourey (Polis), FBoschetti@polisnetwork.eu and TMourey@polisnetwork.eu
Project website: www.switchtravel.eu
Social networks: Twitter: @SWITCHTravel LinkedIn: SWITCH Travel; Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/switchtravel/
SWITCH is a two‐year project started in June 2014 which has received funding from the European Commission.
The sole responsibility for the content of this webpage lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EASME nor the European Commission are responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.