Loyalty and Incentive Program to Promote Alternatives to Single Occupancy Vehicle Use in Sherbrooke

The Société de transport de Sherbrooke (STS) is a para-public agency responsible for ensuring the mobility of people in the region of Sherbrooke, which it does with professionalism and efficiency, while contributing to the quality of life of residents and the sustainable development of the city. The partnership between the City of Sherbrooke and STS relating to sustainable mobility was formalized more than 10 years ago with the creation of the Centre de mobilité durable de Sherbrooke (CMDS). In this sense, the CMDS, managed jointly by the City of Sherbrooke and STS, is a meeting place that enables all sustainable mobility and urban planning components to be taken into account to operate the various modes of transportation. It is in this context and with the strength of these partnerships that this funding application for a sustainable mobility structuring project in Sherbrooke has been submitted. This project targets the workforce, students, public transit users, single occupancy vehicle users, and all residents in general. Its objective is to encourage the population, via a rewards system, to make greater use of other modes of transportation than single occupancy vehicles, including active transportation (i.e. cycling, walking, using a scooter), public transit or even carpooling. This system aims to reward sustainable mobility in the community, while at the same time enable a better understanding of travel flows in the region and significantly improve the transport offer. The trips rewarded will be those either coming from or going to a place of work or study. Thus, only trips from home to work/place of study will be eligible for the rewards. This loyalty program, offered as a downloadable smart phone app, enables users to accumulate reward points that can be redeemed at local participating businesses. The app automatically records trips, including their place of origin and destination, the mode of transportation used, distance traveled, and time and speed of travel. The mode of transportation will be detected automatically from the speed, the GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification), the number of stops and the route taken. For trips made by carpooling, the app will feature a QR code validation option or some other tool to confirm the presence of at least two users in a car. Innovative aspect(s): · The collaboration between the CMDS and the Bureau de coordination du développement économique de Sherbrooke, the City’s economic development coordination office, to develop this initiative makes it an innovative project. · The mobile app that drives the loyalty and incentive program and showcases various innovative technologies will be based on positive reinforcement and the principle of gamification. · The data produced by app users will inform STS and the City of Sherbrooke about the GHGs saved as a result of the trips made by users of the platform. This will make it easy to determine the environmental impact of the pilot project and the relevance of making the project permanent. Replicability: · The consultation process behind the current development of the loyalty and incentive program for other means of transportation than single occupancy vehicles can be replicated. · The City of Sherbrooke is a member of IVÉO, an organization that supports small and medium-sized towns to deploy sustainable mobility solutions. The development of this project and the lessons learned will add to the expertise of the organization, which supports several cities in Quebec. · The choice of the mobile app provider has been made on the basis of several criteria, including potential for replication. The CMDS and its partners want the mobile application to be fully customizable for other municipalities that might want to use it. Environmental benefits: The reduction in GHG emissions from the transportation sector in Sherbrooke is the main direct environmental benefit targeted by this project. The estimated reduction in GHG emissions from the project is 908 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Economic benefits: · The application is based on the principle of gamification and, with this in mind, promotions will be offered by stores as well as Sherbrooke companies. As a result, the latter will benefit from a visibility that promotes and supports the local economy. · The objective of the application is to retain existing users of sustainable modes of transport and to encourage motorists to try an alternative driving alone. Thus, the modal share of sustainable modes of transport, e.g., public transport, is expected to increase. Social benefits: · Promote an increase in physical activity among residents of Sherbrooke. · Improve air quality and, as a result, public health in general. · Raise public awareness about sustainable mobility and its benefits for the sustainable development of communities. · Bring about behaviour change while making program users feel proud through positive reinforcement. · Enable the potential optimization of this public transport network thanks to the starting point-destination data collected via the app. (Project description from original funding application)