On 9^th and 10^th November, over 250 people from 18 countries attended a European conference called

‘Wheels of Change - Effective strategies for changing travel behaviour - to reduce car use’.

The conference was organised by the University of Westminster’s Transport Studies Group - being the Co-ordinator of the INPHORMM Project - and Local Transport Today. It was sponsored by the partners of the projects INPHORMM and CAMPARIE, the DETR and the European Commission’s Transport Directorate DG7.

The conference presented some of the findings and examples from INPHORMM and from CAMPARIE, another European Commission project looking at this issue. The work of two other European projects also featured (ADONIS and WALCYNG) - both of which investigated options for substituting short car trips for walking and cycling. The UK government used the event to present their latest thinking on the subject and their plans for introducing nationally-co-ordinated campaigns.

The conference was opened by Glenda Jackson MP and Under Secretary of State for Transport and Professor Wim Blonk (Director of DG7 research), followed by a total of around 50 other speakers and presenters. The first day considered some success stories of campaigns and programmes from different countries and looked at the role that different organisations can play in influencing travel behaviour. On the second day, the focus was more practical, with speakers and workshops explaining the use of different tools and approaches.

The audience consisted of over 170 delegates from the UK and 80 delegates from other countries. They included Local Authorities and governments, transport consultancies, public transport operators (mainly from outside the UK) and environmental and voluntary organisations (mainly from the UK). A number of partners in other European projects also attended. National workshops are now planned as follow-up events in the UK, Sweden, Germany and Spain, before the end of January.

The event has provided a forum for people and organisations being interested in using transport information and publicity tools to reduce car use and promote cycling, walking or public transport. The desire to network, share good practice and co-ordinate events in this field has proven to very strong. One message from the conference was that it should be tried to capitalise on the energy and interest in the UK at the moment - and seize the chance to establish some kind of European home for activities in the field of information and publicity. This includes the establishment of a European Platform on Mobility Management (EPOMM) - which is already supported in principle by a number of countries.

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