Propulse winner Keolis pursues its strategy of innovation to serve multimodality

Dijon, Place de la République, October 2022. A new signage system combining colored arrows and pictograms made its appearance on bus and tram stops, sidewalks and some walls. The three-week trial aimed to help users choose the transit option most suited to their needs and personal comfort. The goal: to encourage multimodality (tram, bus, walking, etc.) by gently guiding passengers to use the bus rather than the tram, which is often saturated on this section.

The in-situ trial aimed to validate an innovative model of informative and effective signage, based on the nudge, a behavioral science concept that uses a method or set of methods leading individuals to choose a particular course of action without ever imposing it. The goal of this non-coercive approach is to encourage people to adopt certain practices or, as in Dijon, change their habits and choose an alternative transit option. The three-week trial to end October 2022 was deemed a success, validating the nudge approach.

An innovative approach that encourages multimodality to enhance each passenger’s experience

Changing ingrained passenger habits is no easy matter. The challenge was successfully met in Dijon thanks to collaboration between all the stakeholders: the Dijon metropolitan authority, which has an ambitious urban mobility policy; the consultancy NF Études, which specializes in the behavioral sciences; the designer Studio Lebleu; Keolis Group, through its Innovation Lab, and Keolis Dijon Multimodalité, manager of the DiviaMobilités network (tram, bus, bikes, etc.), which initiated the nudge project. The approach consists of designing then testing several passenger information systems to serve multimodality. The test phase allowed continuous adjustments and targeting of best nudge practices. The October 2022 trial at the Place de la République was the fruit of two years of research and development.

Using nudge to enhance passenger information proved its effectiveness in this trial. The goal is to apply the strategy on a larger scale on other use cases focusing on multimodality or safety. In fact, this potential for multiple applications was one of the arguments put forward by the Innovation Agency for Transport when it selected Keolis Dijon’s nudge project to join Propulse 2. The program, supported by the French Transport Ministry, singles out project leaders presenting concrete and innovative solutions in the transportation sector and gives them nine months to develop their innovations. This support allows Keolis, one of the two winners in the Multimodality and Intermodality category, to carry out further trials on other points of the Dijon network and extend the project to other large cities.