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Residents of a Minnesota community are driving less and walking, biking and busing more — thanks to St. Paul Smart Trips’ efforts to promote sustainable transportation alternatives.

Since its inception in 2008, the Smart Trips program has used direct, individualized marketing techniques to help more than 3,000 households in three St. Paul communities make smarter trips. According to the follow-up survey of the most recent program in Highlands Park, residents…

• Increased biking by three percent
• Increased walking by five percent
• Reduced drive-alone trips by three percent

... all during a six-month period. Even more impressive: More than 80 percent of survey respondents reported taking new walking, biking or transit trips as a result of the program!

Smart Trips achieves these impressive results through direct mailings, bike deliveries of Smart Trip Kits and free events that engage households and get them the information they need to explore sustainable transportation options. “We’ve found that the more engaged neighborhood stakeholders are in the development and implementation of the program, the more successful it is,” says Program Director Emma Pachuta. “Each of our past programs has included a coupon book for neighborhood businesses and has engaged local experts to lead rides, walks and classes. These local connections have helped to foster an excitement and commitment to our program.”

Smart Trips also tailors each new program to suit the unique transportation needs of the target community. Highland Park has a high percentage of senior citizens, so Smart Trips held focus groups on the best ways to engage older residents.“Our results concluded that having events that included all members of the community, regardless of age, income, ethnicity, was the best way to engage residents in any neighborhood,” say Emma. “For example, a group ride would be advertised as a “no drop ride” where no one is left behind, regardless of pace.”

St. Paul Smart Trips envisions a future where sustainable transportation is a safe and easy choice for all St. Paul residents. They hope to bring the Smart Trips Program to every neighborhood. “For our future programs, we have discussed how lack of good bike/walk infrastructure, higher rates of crime, and language barriers may impact participation,” say Emma. “Thus far, the selected neighborhoods have been fairly similar to each other without the need to address those barriers.” So, right now, the advocates are looking at ways to adapt the model to serve the diverse needs and characteristics found across St. Paul neighborhoods.

For more information, contact Emma Pachuta at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), or visit the Alliance Resource Library to access Smart Trips final reports and maps.

When a federal judge ruled that Canadian Pacific Railway had no obligation to give up land for the St. Paul Greenway, the trail easily could have been declared dead. But local advocates aren’t letting the ambitious plan flat line just yet.

Late last month, St. Paul Smart Trips packed a gymnasium for a visioning session that breathed new life into the Greenway concept — an off-road path for cyclists and pedestrians that would connect the Twin Cities.

The air buzzed with energy and excitement as a crowd of more than 120 listened to presentations from Laura Baum, Smart Trip’s residential outreach specialist, and then broke off into smaller groups to get their vision down on paper.

Baum says the participation sent a loud and clear message that residents want the greenway built, no matter how long it takes. And Smart Trips is taking the mantle to make sure it happens.

“They encouraged us to keep at it and continue to build support for the project,” she says. “The legal setback was certainly a disappointment, but we’re energized by the enthusiasm we continue to hear from people and plan to keep working to get a world-class biking and walking facility built in this corridor.”

With just one meeting Smart Trips added another 50 signatures to its petition and rallied residents for monthly meetings to maintain the momentum.

Read more from Smart Trips about the Greenway project.

On December 9, St. Paul Smart Trips launched a campaign with the city of Saint Paul to educate renters and property owners about the rules for sidewalk snow removal.

Timed with the first major snow storm in the Twin Cities, residents were encouraged to pick up informational door hangers at local distribution points and to leave them at problem properties in their neighborhoods.

The campaign will run throughout the winter with the goal of ensuring safer and more accessible sidewalks for all users, with particular regard to transit-riders, those with disabilities and the elderly.

The door hangers and more campaign details can be viewed at http://www.smart-trips.org/sidewalks.