Personal travel planning, Cloughjordan, Tipperary, Ireland
Level 2, Tasks 8 (all): Travel plans and Mobility advice
Local context
Cloughjordan is located in North Tipperary in the centre of Ireland about 100 km west of Dublin and about 55 km northeast of Limerick. It is equidistant (16 km) from the two main towns in the area, Nenagh and Roscrea with the smaller town of Borrisokane about 10 km away. However, Cloughjordan is regarded as “not being on the way to anywhere”; in other words it’s somewhere that one has to want to visit rather than find oneself passing through it. This has led to it being quite isolated albeit quite self-sufficient in the past.
Cloughjordan is a small town of about 800 people (300 households). It is the location of an extension to the existing town, which contains Ireland’s first “Eco Village” housing about 300 people (130 households), which was due to be built from 2007 to 2009. However, this timescale has been considerably delayed and building of houses started in late 2009 with an uncertain completion date. The town itself comprises approximately 50 hectares with the residential part of the EcoVillage being nearly 10 hectares.
Cloughjordan is served by a rail line, which enables connections to the nearby towns of Nenagh and Roscrea as well as to Limerick and Dublin cities. There are also some limited local bus services operating on certain days of the week to a variety of local villages and towns, where connections can be made to the national interurban bus network. It is located about 10km from a primary road, the N7, and a new motorway, the M7, is being constructed alongside the N7.
Rationale for application
The amount and quality of the information available to local inhabitants on transport provision was quite poor. In order to find out this information, people had to search for it in different locations and from different sources. None of it however was available in a single document or from a single source. In order to enhance the information provided, it was considered important to implement a more intensive and participative approach to supporting local inhabitants to make different choices about how they get around.
The target groups were the existing residents of Cloughjordan and the existing and future residents of the EcoVillage and so the objectives were
- to work with the existing and future inhabitants to ensure that they can live and work without having to own a car whilst guaranteeing their mobility
- to promote a range of sustainable mobility services, which will offer the opportunity to influence inhabitants to reduce their use of energy through sustainable transport use
Key steps taken
Production of a local travel information pack, which included an updated version of the local travel information leaflet, the car cost calculation leaflet, information about longer distance bus services, a modern lift giving service using mobile phones, cycling and walking routes, national public transport tax incentives and cycle purchase scheme, questionnaire and travel planning log.
Implementation of a personal travel planning process with 100 households, which also involved the distribution of the local travel information packs. In order to carry out this activity, Mendes partnered with a local third level educational institute, the local energy agency and the local development partnership organisation, which is responsible for managing the operation of the local rural transport service.
In order to design, plan and deliver the PTP process, staff from Mendes, a local third level educational institute, the local energy agency and the local development partnership organisation participated in a training workshop on PTP. The workshop was designed to be a very practical event during which the team actually designed and planned the PTP process, which was implemented. This involved preparing the approach to be taken, the procedures to be followed, the materials to be used and deployment of the staff who would carry out the household interviews.
Performance indicators
- They were they chosen as they were measurable in relation to the items produced and the level of participation.
- They were measured by the number of information packs delivered, households visited and responses to the questionnaire received.
Participants found the information provided to be very interesting and useful. The majority (90%) of respondents found the information as supplied in the Travel Information Packs to be useful. This was considered to be a significant finding and points to the fact that households have rarely (if ever) received in one concise manner, relevant mobility and travel information. 50% of respondents indicated that they found the Travel Logs useful while 42% indicated that they did not find them useful. Asked about the PTP process as a whole, 49% of respondents stated that they were more likely to make more informed travel choices, 16% of respondents stated that they were less likely and 35% of respondents claimed that they did not know.
General comments on PTP processSaves time, fuel and energy
Produces stronger communities
Public transport more relaxing way to go
Shared driving helps to question the need for travel
Makes you think about trips and costs
Lower emissions
Facilitates greater efficiency and multi-purpose trips
Helps keep use of car to a minimum
Helps in considering options, reflecting on alternatives, questioning the need to travel
Planning ahead makes room for shared driving
Given that the PTP process was carried out right at the end of Pro.Motion and that the effects of the PTP process are long term it was not possible to indicate the energy savings.
Lessons learned
There is considerable evidence to suggest that respondent awareness of the potential benefits of PTP is significant. The exercise also suggests that some facilitation is needed if households are to realise the benefits and to appropriate these. If anything the exercise has shown that providing a reflection space and framework helps economically, socially and environmentally. This also supports the value of providing local travel information in a comprehensive way.
On the basis of the exercise undertaken and of the responses received, it is considered that there is considerable scope for the development and design of an integrated Personal Travel Programme which needs to be embedded at community level in North Tipperary. It is evident that households are aware of its potential benefits but that greater strategic dissemination is required.
Rather than being viewed as an isolated issue, rural transport affects all aspects of life for those living in rural areas and a continued and sustained effort is required to ensure that the needs of those living in rural areas are adequately addressed and that existing resources are optimally used. Personal Travel Planning can assist in this process.
Transferability of the approach taken and the tools used to both other rural areas and indeed to urban areas should not experience any major problems.
Indexing
Cycling
Flexible mobility services
Integration, intermodality, organisation of transport
Mobility management & Travel awareness
Public passenger transport
Transport for people with reduced mobility
Walking
Key words:
Consultation
Energy-saving behaviour
Information campaign
Public participation
Research
Contact Person
Graham Lightfoot
Mendes Limited
AE House
Main Street, Cloughjordan
Co.Tipperary
Ireland
+353 505 42801