Conference Agenda

Informing individuals about the health effects of their transport choices offers a promising strategy to increase active transport. However, only a few empirical studies use randomized experimental designs and observed transport behavior, which are necessary to reliably assess the effectiveness of information provision in real-world choice contexts. We conduct a randomized field experiment in the Pirkanmaa region of Finland to examine whether health information can influence transport choices and reduce externalities from driving. The treatment is implemented through a smartphone application that automatically tracks users' daily transport choices and provides personalized feedback on the health impacts of walking and cycling. We find that the treatment group received and internalized the information, but we do not find a statistically significant effect on their active travel behavior. There is some evidence that the treatment group moderately reduces their transport-related carbon footprint on the weekends. Our results indicate that information-based nudges in transport may be insufficient to attain meaningful changes to transport behavior. However, mobile phone applications with a tracking feature can be scaled up at very low cost, potentially providing other benefits such as data for researchers or urban planners and valuable information to users.

In this study, we use a randomized controlled trial in Germany and GPS-based mobility data from over 400 participants to evaluate the impact of a one-month free public transport ticket on individual travel behavior. Our findings show that the subsidy causes a statistically significant increase of approximately two trips per month—primarily through local rail services—during the subsidization period. This increase does not substitute for car trips, nor does it lead to persistent behavioral changes after the subsidy expires. These results suggest that short-term free passes may have limited effectiveness in promoting lasting shifts toward sustainable mobility.

Using a large-scale randomized field experiment, we study behavioral responses to and public support for Pigouvian road pricing. Leveraging financial incentives, we find that drivers subject to distance-based charges reflecting external costs of driving—varying by location, time, and vehicle type—reduce their driving-related externalities by 5.3%, corresponding to a price elasticity between –0.07 and –0.15, with much weaker effects among users of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). Furthermore, providing information on the expected benefits of road pricing enhances public support for such policies, whereas experience with road pricing has little impact.

This study presents results from a randomized controlled trial involving 1,085 participants in Switzerland that have access to an E-bike, a car, and public transport. The participants' transport choices are monitored by means of a GPS-based tracking app. The treatment consists in a monetary incentive that approximates the main external costs and benefits associated with transport in the spirit of a Pigovian tax.

This tax reduces transport-related external costs by 6.9%, which corresponds to 78 Swiss francs per person and year (currently equivalent to 94 US dollars). The main underlying mechanism is a mode shift away from driving towards E-biking, public transport and walking. The results are primarily driven by individuals who own an S-pedelec with support up to 45 km/h, rather than users of the more common E-bikes that provide support up to 25 km/h. The pricing also induces a travel shift towards less congested time windows.