From 'I' to 'we': how theories of social cooperation can inform transport policies designed to reduce reliance on car ownership

Transport decarbonisation demands extensive behaviour change(1), including a shift away from private car ownership and usage to public transport, walking and cycling. Avoiding car use is the single most effective action most individuals can take to reduce their carbon footprint(2). Car ownership imposes localised costs urban air quality, the built environment, transport poverty and existing inequalities. National and city governments are responding with ambitious targets, like Leeds which "has a vision to be a city where you don't need a car" and Scotland which "aims to reduce vehicle distance travelled by 20% by 2030". To achieve change, novel policies have been trialled, such as Mobility Credits, which use mobility-as-a-service technologies to enable households to trade-in their car and receive credit to use alternative local transport services. Such policies are not only economic; people's wider social attitudes, values and habits will influence their appeal and responses(3).

However, with limited capability in behavioural science many organisations designing car ownership policies often focus on individual behaviours in isolation(4), despite empirical evidence demonstrating the insufficiency of environmental information and economic incentives alone to change behaviour(5). This research engages in contemporary debates in psychology discussing the need to shift from the 'I frame' (individual) to the 's frame' (societal) within a transport context, including the role of the individual within the household (6). By partnering with a UK combined authority, Transport for West Midlands, this project has access to travel behaviour data, research participants and policy evaluation.

AIMS - The overall objective is to inform sustainable and equitable transport policy design by applying theories from social psychology in an otherwise understudied setting (transport). By selecting a novel policy, Mobility Credits, this research will be among the first to comprehensively study psychological and behavioural implications of its design, implementation and evaluation. Findings will contribute to literature on social cooperation through conceptual development and empirical studies.

METHODS - Following literature reviews to inform conceptual development, a mixed-methods empirical approach will be used. Qualitative research will explore how residents in West Midlands neighbourhoods think about moving away from car ownership, and the roles of values and social relationships in travel choices. Secondary analysis of longitudinal data on travel behaviour is planned to explore the role of psychological and social factors in changing car ownership and use of alternative transport. Finally, an experimental study will create alternative designs for mobility credit schemes and evaluate observed (if a field trial is possible) or anticipated (if an online study is more appropriate) responses at an individual and neighbourhood level. Collectively, research findings will inform how transport policies can integrate theory and methods from social psychology into their design, communication and implementation.

IMPACT - Results and recommendations will inform local and national government on the effectiveness of mobility credits and may shape their adoption by the automotive sector and mobility as a service provider. Partnering with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) will help ensure findings are used by local authorities.

By pursuing a thesis by publication, this research aims to produce four publishable articles in journals of transport policy, travel behaviour and environmental psychology. Conference presentations and mainstream media articles will be produced throughout.

Impact Summary

This proposal has been developed from the ground up to guarantee the highest level of impact. The two principal routes towards impact are via the graduates that we train and by the embedding of the research that is undertaken into commercial activity. The impact will have a significant commercial value through addressing skills requirements and providing technical solutions for the automotive industry - a key sector for the UK economy.

The graduates that emerge from our CDT (at least 84 people) will be transformative in two distinct ways. The first is a technical route and the second is cultural.

In a technical role, their deep subject matter expertise across all of the key topics needed as the industry transitions to a more sustainable future. This expertise is made much more accessible and applicable by their broad understanding of the engineering and commercial context in which they work. They will have all of the right competencies to ensure that they can achieve a very significant contribution to technologies and processes within the sector from the start of their careers, an impact that will grow over time. Importantly, this CDT is producing graduates in a highly skilled sector of the economy, leading to jobs that are £50,000 more productive per employee than average (i.e. more GVA). These graduates are in demand, as there are a lack of highly skilled engineers to undertake specialist automotive propulsion research and fill the estimated 5,000 job vacancies in the UK due to these skills shortages. Ultimately, the CDT will create a highly specialised and productive talent pipeline for the UK economy.

The route to impact through cultural change is perhaps of even more significance in the long term. Our cohort will be highly diverse, an outcome driven by our wide catchment in terms of academic background, giving them a 'diversity edge'. The cultural change that is enabled by this powerful cohort will have a profound impact, facilitating a move away from 'business as usual'.

The research outputs of the CDT will have impact in two important fields - the products produced and processes used within the indsutry. The academic team leading and operating this CDT have a long track record of generating impact through the application of their research outputs to industrially relevant problems. This understanding is embodied in the design of our CDT and has already begun in the definition of the training programmes and research themes that will meet the future needs of our industry and international partners. Exchange of people is the surest way to achieve lasting and deep exchange of expertise and ideas. The students will undertake placements at the collaborating companies and will lead to employment of the graduates in partner companies.

The CDT is an integral part of the IAAPS initiative. The IAAPS Business Case highlights the need to develop and train suitably skilled and qualified engineers in order to achieve, over the first five years of IAAPS' operations, an additional £70 million research and innovation expenditure, creating an additional turnover of £800 million for the automotive sector, £221 million in GVA and 1,900 new highly productive jobs.

The CDT is designed to deliver transformational impact for our industrial partners and the automotive sector in general. The impact is wider than this, since the products and services that our partners produce have a fundamental part to play in the way we organise our lives in a modern society. The impact on the developing world is even more profound. The rush to mobility across the developing world, the increasing spending power of a growing global middle class, the move to more urban living and the increasingly urgent threat of climate change combine to make the impact of the work we do directly relevant to more people than ever before. This CDT can help change the world by effecting the change that needs to happen in our industry.