Meath Co Co - MH-TRA-24-16 - Provision of specialist services to design and deliver the BusIt2School demonstrator project and report on findings

Description

The BusIt2School project, which will be delivered by Contracting Authority, forms part of the Pathfinder Programme of sustainable mobility demonstrator projects. The Pathfinder Programme is designed to capture learnings from creative and innovative projects across the country so they can be replicated and scaled up elsewhere. The project is also highly relevant to objectives set out in the Climate Action Plan, including the CAP23 target of a 30 percent shift of Escort-to-Education journeys to travel by sustainable modes by 2030. It aligns with SMP Research Network priorities 3 (key drivers and barriers to sustainable mobility, and identification of the most impactful changes, particularly in relation to communication and information campaigns) and 5 (factors which lead to car shedding and reductions in private car use, including workplace and community interventions). Building capacity on how to develop, replicate and scale up successful sustainable mobility projects, learn from research and learn from evidence of before and after impacts, is a significant support to the step change required toward people focused mobility across Meath and Nationally. Over the course of the project, the Contracting Authority will work with Three (3) schools in Navan located close to and/or along the town bus network to encourage greater use of the bus service as a means of getting to and from school. The ‘BusIt2School’ project is aimed at school children who are typically driven to school (and for whom walking and cycling are not practical) to learn and experience using the bus with the intention of changing long term behaviour on how they travel. The project will promote the health, economic, sustainability and environmental benefits of bus travel, helping students and their families build confidence in public transport as being a safe and efficient way to /from school. The BusIt2School project, which will be delivered by Contracting Authority, forms part of the Pathfinder Programme of sustainable mobility demonstrator projects. The Pathfinder Programme is designed to capture learnings from creative and innovative projects across the country so they can be replicated and scaled up elsewhere. The project is also highly relevant to objectives set out in the Climate Action Plan, including the CAP23 target of a 30 percent shift of Escort-to-Education journeys to travel by sustainable modes by 2030. It aligns with SMP Research Network priorities 3 (key drivers and barriers to sustainable mobility, and identification of the most impactful changes, particularly in relation to communication and information campaigns) and 5 (factors which lead to car shedding and reductions in private car use, including workplace and community interventions). Building capacity on how to develop, replicate and scale up successful sustainable mobility projects, learn from research and learn from evidence of before and after impacts, is a significant support to the step change required toward people focused mobility across Meath and Nationally. Over the course of the project, the Contracting Authority will work with Three (3) schools in Navan located close to and/or along the town bus network to encourage greater use of the bus service as a means of getting to and from school. The ‘BusIt2School’ project is aimed at school children who are typically driven to school (and for whom walking and cycling are not practical) to learn and experience using the bus with the intention of changing long term behaviour on how they travel. The project will promote the health, economic, sustainability and environmental benefits of bus travel, helping students and their families build confidence in public transport as being a safe and efficient way to /from school.