Can health information promote active transport?

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.