Gamification - A Tool for Mobility Change

Shared cars, electric scooters, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), bike lanes, car congestion, land-use planning - these are all terms that regularly feature in the news and in political debates. Why is mobility at the heart of contemporary concerns?

The main reason for putting mobility in the spotlight is the paradigm shift from "all-car" to multimodal use of transport modes. Since the Golden Sixties, the car has been considered an essential element of economic development. Its democratization across different social classes is proof of its expansion. The road infrastructure was also developed to facilitate access to urban areas for motorists. The traces of this development are still clearly visible today, with numerous urban freeways penetrating the highly urbanized fabric of cities.

In the Belgian context, it's also worth noting that the authorities have largely encouraged this expansion through the introduction of the company car tax system, which allows companies to grant a car to some of their employees. In this context, the car represents much more than a simple means of locomotion. Indeed, it represents professional success and has elevated the company car to the status of a social credo. However, this granting of a car in no way proves the possession of remarkable skills; it merely proves an evolution in the hierarchy in which the individual works.

At the turn of the 2000s, public authorities became aware of the need to reverse this trend, and introduced more or less proactive mobility policies aimed at promoting public transport through sometimes massive investment and, secondly, through an often timid rebalancing of public space in favor of walking and cycling. Recent years have seen the emergence of a host of new modes of transport and new services that have partially transformed cities and the relationship between them and travel. However, the figures show that, despite the development of a plethora of transport services, travel demand is evolving very slowly, with little change in usage. Indeed, despite rampant congestion, the car still offers a series of perceived advantages that make it difficult to change behavior.

So, is it possible to initiate a transition towards multimodal use of different modes of transport in Belgium or elsewhere? The aim of this article is to present a series of experimental initiatives developed by the Maestromobile laboratory to support changes in mobility behavior. At the dawn of Mobility as a Service (MaaS), the ambition is to demonstrate that the mere development of an alternative mobility offer and digital travel planning tools is not enough to trigger profound changes in the way people travel. Innovative systems will be presented and analyzed in the light of Prochaska and Di...