New mobility trials and travel behaviour change for the context of a UK University campus: Insights from the “Choose Your Way Warwick” mobility hub ecosystem

• We study the “Choose your Way Warwick” pilot, a state-of-the-art University campus-based mobility hub eco-system initiative, to evaluate how this inspired (or not) modal shift. • Twenty-six interviews with students and staff of the University of Warwick were conducted to understand how e-scooters, demand responsive transport, cycle hire, and a smartphone application that was used for nudge messaging and system rewards could support travel behaviour change. • A data-driven thematic analysis identified six themes, each one of them expressing challenges and opportunities for embracing the new mobility service offering. • These themes are: a) cost of travel, b) scheduling and flexibility, c) pro-sustainability attitudes and perception of sustainable travel, d) awareness and norms, e) availability of services and amenities, f) journey experience, health and safety. • Awareness-raising schemes, inexpensive service pricing, traffic safety enhancements, effective public transport, a strong rewards system, easy to use technology and further investment in and beyond the campus could support modal shift. The “Choose your Way Warwick” was a travel behaviour change Living Lab exercise funded by the UK’s Department for Transport as part of the West Midlands Future Transport Zone programme. The aim of the trial, located in the University of Warwick campus, was to introduce and test new mobility services and interventions and investigate the extent to which these initiatives – collectively forming a mobility hub ecosystem − can encourage a shift from private car use to sustainable transport modes. During the trial, several new services and technologies were introduced, including e-scooters, demand responsive transport, cycle hire, and a smartphone application that was used for nudge messaging and rewards for sustainable travel. This paper presents the results from our qualitative interviews with staff and students at the University of Warwick. The interviews explored participants’ adoption and perceptions of the new mobility services as well as their current travel choices (inside and beyond the campus) and barriers to sustainable transport modes. The interviews, analysed using a data-driven thematic analysis, highlight six distinctive and diverse themes related to factors affecting the potential for travel behaviour change, namely: a) cost of travel; b) scheduling and flexibility; c) pro-sustainability attitudes and perception of sustainable travel; d) awareness and norms; e) availability of services and amenities; f) journey experience, health and safety. Significant barriers to the uptake of the mobility hub services were identified, including low awareness of the new transport services , habitual choices of car users , lack of infrastructure for active travel , and lack of transport alternatives outside of the trial area and the zone where the new services operated.