For several months, la Fabrique des Mobillités Québec has been addressing this issue in collaboration with Destination Quebec City, focusing specifically on the question: “How can we create incentive mechanisms that promote both sustainable mobility for tourists and balanced traffic across different parts of the region?” While the objectives of balanced traffic and reducing solo car travel for tourists may seem easily achievable, initial research results have demonstrated a more nuanced connection.
Targeting the Relevant Audience for Experimentation
Through surveys of our target audience, namely Quebecois tourists, it became evident that their sensitivity to these issues did not align in the majority of cases. In essence, those who did not use their cars concentrated their stay in Old Quebec to move exclusively on foot. On the other hand, those who were most willing to explore unique places were the least inclined to leave their cars behind. It became crucial to understand the barriers to abandoning the car in the specific context of a tourist stay, considering other variables such as age group, preferred activities, travel preferences, and the rigor of planning.
We identified two major problems: the visibility of existing sustainable transportation options for tourists and their partial inadequacy for this audience. One primary explanation was that logically, a city’s transportation offerings are primarily designed for its residents. However, this doesn’t prevent tourists from using public transport or shared bikes. Still, it implies that messages and incentives (such as free parking, preferential combined subscriptions, etc.) are often not directed towards them.
To understand how a tourist’s journey in Quebec generates friction in the use of public transport as it is, we conducted several series of interviews with volunteers. We determined that the major barrier (beyond visibility) was the mental burden associated with planning public transportation in addition to activity reservations, accommodation, etc. This barrier was reinforced when solo car use was predominant in daily mobility (outside of vacations).
On-site Opportunities to Learn from Users Themselves
These observations led to the idea of prototyping: testing an interactive route in Quebec City that would lead participants to explore central neighborhoods beyond Old Quebec but only offer sustainable mobility alternatives. If successful, it would validate several elements: firstly, that creating a ready-made route reduces the planning burden, making it attractive. Secondly, that reducing this burden increases the use of public transport by participants, validating the problem.
Simultaneously, we are working on the feasibility of integrating data from various transport operators into a journey planner. During our research, we noticed that all operators in the National Capital (especially outside the Quebec City area) were not integrated into all public planners (especially Google Maps), exacerbating the lack of visibility of this offering. This requires collaboration between stakeholders, as well as working on data formats used, the frequency of updates (schedules, stops, construction, etc.), and deepening our understanding of the issues faced by the involved stakeholders.
If you work for a tourist promotion organization, a transport operator in a highly touristy region, and/or wish to better understand the mobility behaviors of a population, we would be delighted to meet with you and discuss it!
Sustainable mobility in Quebec is everyone’s business; let’s develop it together.
The described experimentation, conducted between December 1st and 24th, is currently being analyzed. We will share the continuation of this experimentation story in the coming weeks. Follow us to stay updated on our news!