Falkirk Council is leading the way in changing transport attitudes by selecting an innovative business engagement solution, provided though a new partnership between transport consultancy Ansons Consulting and behaviour change technology company BetterPoints.
The collaboration will give businesses the tools to encourage staff to choose sustainable travel over car use, thereby reducing parking requirements and promoting the availability of alternative methods of transport in the area.
Falkirk is already a key innovator in greener travel in Scotland. Its Active Travel Hub encourages and supports local people in making healthier and greener travel choices, and it is building a Low Carbon Electric Vehicle Charging Hub that will be powered by renewable energy.
This project will be part of the successful Take the Right Route campaign, which promotes walking, cycling, car sharing and the use of public transport for all journeys but particularly for every day short journeys.
Take the Right Route
Take the Right Route covers a wide range of projects including:
• Improvements to paths and cycle ways
• Personal Travel Planning
• Marketing and promotion
• Practical support for those wishing to take up active and sustainable travel
• Cycle training.
This exciting new partnership between Ansons Consulting and BetterPoints takes that innovative work to the next level by leveraging technology to incentivise and motivate large groups of people to use the transport alternatives on offer. This programme is the first of its kind in Scotland.
Ansons Consulting is working with two local employers to build behaviour change challenges for their employees over the next few months. The BetterPoints smartphone app will track their journeys on sustainable forms of transport, and reward them with an array of incentives that encourage such behaviour to become habitual. Anson’s Consulting has been at the heart of sustainable travel and behaviour change in Scotland for more than a decade, implementing active travel schemes such as Smarter Choices, Smarter Places at local authority level and delivering site-specific travel plans and advice to hundreds of business clients.
BetterPoints is an award-winning technology company that is leading the way in behaviour change.
Although new to Scotland, its scalable and customisable behaviour change platform has been used to great effect elsewhere in the UK and in Europe, most famously in Bologna where the Bella Mossa programme motivated 22,000 people to use cars less frequently and was the subject of the BBC’s documentary ‘Travelling Green’.
John Pinkard, Managing Director of Ansons Consulting, said: “Almost two decades ago, I created a paper-based workplace challenge, designed to encourage employees to leave their cars at home and use active and sustainable forms of transport.
“Our new partnership with BetterPoints gives us access to an incredibly powerful digital platform that offers to do the same thing we were trying to do all those years ago, but more much effectively and at greater scale.
“I am truly excited to be working with BetterPoints in Falkirk and by the potential to deliver similar initiatives more widely across Scotland.”
Councillor Paul Garner, spokesperson for Environment, said: “We have a good track record of promoting active and sustainable travel throughout the Council area.
“Our Take the Right Route campaign is now in its tenth year and continues to deliver innovative projects to encourage residents to walk, cycle, use public transport and car share.
“This new initiative will complement the good work already taking place by offering a reward-based system to encourage commuters to travel to work more sustainably.”
Suzie Millar, Co-founder of The Scottish Bee Company, said: “We’re really excited to be following in the footsteps of Scotch whisky by bringing our own unique taste of Scotland to the Far East."
“Foodies in Japan and Singapore demand premium quality honey like ours, so it’s a buoyant market. They test everything and want to know that they are getting a great tasting product with clear health benefits.
“It’s good to know that even during a global pandemic that we’re doing our bit to help drive Scotland’s position as a global leader for healthy and functional food.
“The provenance and heritage of Scottish honey is also akin to the Scotch whisky market, adding to its appeal in the Far East.”
With support from the Scottish Business Network and The Honey Colony in Singapore, it has taken a year of planning and negotiations for The Scottish Bee Company to finally access the Far East market with its premium ‘superfood’ product.
Russell Dalgleish, Chair of the Scottish Business Network, said: “Following on from the news of the UK completing a trade deal with Japan, it’s excellent to see this dynamic Scottish company entering the market.”
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