Policy paths encouraging behaviour shift for sustainable mobility

The recently completed iMOVE project, Behaviour change for sustainable transport, sought to guide policymakers, transport operators and authorities in encouraging more sustainable public and active travel behaviour.

For the project, iMOVE partnered with the University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (ITLS), ITS Australia, Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads, and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts.

The final report, which details the most likely attitudes and actions for tangible change, is available for download below. It offers a pathway to decarbonise transport, a sector responsible for nearly one-third of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Literature report

The project’s comprehensive literature review showed that infrastructure and incentives were most effective when combined with psychologically informed approaches. Behaviour change theories highlighted the role of attitudes, norms, and perceived control in shaping everyday travel decisions.

Overall, the literature supported a life-course perspective that integrates infrastructure, incentives, and behavioural insights. This approach offers a way to achieve lasting, system-wide shifts in sustainable and inclusive mobility, which the project investigated further.

The review identified the main behavioural drivers, policy gaps, and intervention frameworks, categorising them by:

• ‘Push’ versus ‘pull’, i.e., disincentives for high emissions travel (such as congestion charges) v incentives or measures that make sustainable travel options more appealing (such as bicycle lanes or reduced public transport fares).
• ‘Soft’ versus ‘hard’, such as working from home v low emission zones.
• Time frame and impact.
• Location, geography, the physical environment, as well as the surrounding circumstances.

Methodology

The study combined qualitative and quantitative methods. It began with the literature review outlined above, followed by roundtable discussions with transport professionals and an international online survey across seven countries. Using the project’s analytical framework – which explains mobility choice and behaviour change through the lens of “windows of change (WoC)” – the researchers examined how life events shape travel behaviour. The results were then incorporated into a sustainability index to identify the influences most closely associated with more sustainable transport decisions.

Additional analysis explored the role of socio-demographics, tested support for transport initiatives across different respondent groups, and examined conditions under which road user charging attracts public support.

Round table discussions

Government, industry, service providers, academic, and international experts took part in stakeholder round table discussions. This step helped refine the project’s survey, plus clarified how attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and interventions worked at individual, social, and system levels.

The discussions suggested that lasting change depends on coordinated, mutually reinforcing action, such as:

• Individual interventions that make sustainable travel feel positive and practical, highlighting wellbeing, convenience, and cost savings.
• Social mechanisms that build normative support through policy alignment, public–private partnerships, and employer engagement.
• System measures that strengthen trust and user control via integrated modes, coordinated land use, open data, and institutional capacity.
• Targeted behavioural segmentation of WoC to turn short-term trials into lasting habits, backed by clear progress markers and reinforcing incentives.

Online survey results

The project received more than 4,000 valid responses to an international online survey spanning Australia, the United States, Finland, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The survey explored public attitudes, opportunities for change, and responses to sustainable transport initiatives.

Respondents reported a wide range of influences shaping travel behaviour in the two years to 2025. Thirty-eight per cent of respondents cited greater awareness of the environmental impact of travel as an influence on their travel behaviour.

Other commonly cited influences included increased use of public transport for commuting, more walking and cycling, uptake of e-bikes and e-scooters, improved access to public transport, reduced car use due to cost, exercising for health reasons, and increased use of click-and-collect services.

Windows of change and actionable policy initiatives

Windows of change (WoC) refer to major life transitions — such as relocation, family formation, or job change — during which people may reassess their travel routines. The study identified 71 potential WoC associated with reported changes in travel behaviour between 2023 and June 2025.

Survey respondents selected up to three influences within each of four WoC classes:

• Lifestyle and household.
• Work and community.
• Transport and mobility.
• Social and environmental factors.

Responses were then incorporated into the project’s sustainability index, which compares the direction of travel behaviour changes across modes to indicate whether outcomes represent a gain or loss for sustainability. The index highlights influences most closely associated with more sustainable mobility outcomes.

The strongest influences included increased use of public transport for commuting, more walking and cycling, uptake of e-bikes and e-scooters, improved public transport access, reduced car use (overall and due to cost), exercising for health reasons, and greater use of click-and-collect services.

The Three-Class LCA model

The Latent Class Analysis (LCA) model divided respondents into three distinct classes of traveller groups: Urban Strivers, Settled Simplifiers, and Dynamic Jugglers. Resources, routines and receptivity to interventions / initiatives distinguish each group.

In terms of identifying circumstances in which the introduction of road user charge regimes garner support the study found that promoting environmental awareness across media and other channels, particularly among younger generations, is the most effective way to build support for one or more of the eight car-use repricing regimes.

Few WoC influences support congestion charges on private car use. Those that do often work against shifts to more sustainable modes, such as free workplace parking (“the elephant in the room”), switching from ICE to EVs, and office EV charging.

The way forward and recommendations

The project demonstrated that effective transport policy should address infrastructure, economics, and the behavioural, social, and time-based dimensions shaping how people travel.

Recommendations were to:

1. Capture insights from current experience;
2. Integrate behavioural timing linked to windows of change into policy design;
3. Develop targeted strategies for different classes of travellers;
4. Encourage employer-led mobility initiatives;
5. Identify and scale effective, actionable change initiatives; and
6. Revisit the role of road-pricing reform.

Specifically, the most effective actionable change initiatives included:

• Employer incentives that support sustainable commuting, including public transport subsidies, end-of-trip facilities, and flexible work policies.
• Public transport upgrades that boost convenience and reliability through higher frequency, stronger last-mile links, and micromobility integration.
• Targeted marketing and education that highlight environmental, health, and wellbeing benefits while normalising sustainable travel choices.

For most impact in embracing the initiatives above, policymakers should consider how each aligns with different travel types and the broader policy environment, encompassing road pricing and investment decisions.

Other issues include coordinating employer initiatives (which are often unrecognised in a transport policy context), public transport improvements, communication campaigns, and road-user charging. The report found that a holistic approach recognising these interdependencies is essential to deliver durable, equitable, and politically viable transitions to sustainable mobility.

Expected project impacts

This research provides a powerful evidence base for transport decision makers who are serious about shifting Australia onto a more sustainable path. It shows that if we match good infrastructure and incentives with a deep understanding of people’s lives and motivations, we can unlock real and lasting change in how communities move.

The insights on windows of change, traveller segments and public attitudes give governments, industry and employers a practical toolkit to design policies that work in the real world, from targeted employer initiatives to smarter, more equitable road user charging. ITS Australia is proud to have contributed to this project and we look forward to working with our members and government partners to translate these findings into on the ground actions that cut emissions, improve access, and make everyday travel better for everyone.

Susan Harris, Chief Executive Officer, ITS Australia

This project has allowed us to develop and test mobility choice and travel behaviour through what we termed “Windows of Change” (WoC) in a far more detailed way than is usually achieved. The findings provide a rich array of policy advice on what key WoC influences suggest actionable ways to support the switch to more sustainable modes, and what remain as clear barriers to achieving such an outcome.

Drawing on international and Australian evidence the project findings highlight several initiatives that government, businesses or other organisations could introduction either separately or together to facilitate policymaking.

John Nelson, Chair in Public Transport, ITLS.

Download the final report

Download your copy of the final report, Behaviour Change for sustainable Transport: Final report on the overall project outcomes, by clicking the button below.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT