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Entries tagged: St Paul Smart Trips

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.

Linda Mainquist was converted to a pedestrian advocate when she watched a woman in a wheelchair struggle to travel down the roadway because the sidewalk was blanketed in snow (video). The dangerous situation galvanized the St. Paul, Minn, resident to action: “Something magical happens when you say, ‘I’m the one who should do it.’”

Mainquist contacted her local city councilmember, who put her in touch with St. Paul Smart Trips, the local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group. Smart Trips had already created a helpful resource for snowy conditions: A slick little door hanger that gave folks a friendly reminder to bust out their shovel and comply with city regulations. “I’m a neighbor who relies on the sidewalks being clear of snow and ice so that it’s easy to get around safely,” the flier explains.

Linda started hanging the fliers on doors in her neighborhood. “It’s really good because a lot of people are too shy to talk to their neighbors about shoveling their sidewalks,” Mainquist said. “I’m proud of this one block. There are a lot of businesses and, when I walk by and see the business is open, I go in and tell them I’m Linda Mainquist and I think you should shovel your sidewalks. It’s been successful.”

St. Paul Smart Trips isn’t the only Alliance organization taking steps to make walking safe in the winter wonderland.

According to the Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago: “Snow or ice-covered sidewalks force people to travel in the street—a thoroughly dangerous enterprise. Uncleared sidewalks may even discourage people from walking at all. When people can’t walk easily to a destination, they might opt for making an unnecessary car trip.”

So they’ve come up with some snow-themed handouts, too. “Please shovel your sidewalk,” one flier asks. “It’s the law and the neighborly thing to do. Clear sidewalks make it safer and more convenient for your neighbors to walk.” To better serve and inform everyone in their community, Active Trans created fliers for both city dwellers and suburbanites; in both English and in Spanish.

Click here to download these resources from St. Paul Smart Trips and Active Trans. If your organization has model materials for keeping cyclists and pedestrians safe in snowy conditions, drop me an email if you’d like to share.

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.