REWARDING FOR AVOIDING THE PEAK PERIOD IN ROTTERDAM

To keep the harbour accessible the peak avoidance project Rotterdam stimulated car drivers, who were frequently using the A15, to reduce their peak trips in return for a monetary reward and new information services. The project was unique in several aspects, namely the long duration of more than three years, the use of smartphones and a fee for the number of peak avoidances and not, as with other projects, on the a number of participants. A monitoring system was developed to measure the daily travel behaviour of each individual participant. Different types of data were collected: intentions, GPS data sent by the smartphone and camera detection. Web-based surveys also provided insights into personal characteristics and satisfaction ratings. In total more than 800,000 peak avoidances were made by approximately two thousand participants. In the morning peak hours 54% of the trips were converted to non-peak trips. A lot of alternatives were used for the first time, so participants became more aware of other travel options. For participants the project was the beginning of a long-term change. More than half of the participants said they maintain their peak avoidances without a monetary reward.