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The negative effects of transport in terms of pollution, congestion and climate change has urged the need for higher shares of cleaner and more efficient modes of transport, especially in urban settings. While new technology can solve some of these issues, behaviour changes has also been identified as an important factor to achieve a modal shift from cars to walking, cycling or public transport. This study investigates how ICT has been used to influence behaviour change and synthesizes key aspects into a conceptual model for creating a behaviour change support system (BCSS) for smartphone applications. A literature review concerning behaviour change and ICT in the fields of transport, health, energy and climate was conducted to gather empirical evidence which forms the foundation of the conceptual model. The empirical findings were tested and verified against a theoretical framework consisted of The Transtheoretical Model, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Diffusion of Innovations and the concept of Gamification. The results suggest that customization to the user, relevant and contextualised information and feedback, commitment, and appealing design are important aspects when influencing users to behaviour change through smartphone applications. The conceptual model provides further knowledge of key aspects to consider when developing persuasive tools that aims to encourage more sustainable modes of transport.

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly led to some of the most revolutionary changes in private and professional life around the world. While the extent and duration of these changes are not certain, they have already had a great impact on travel patterns. This is also the case in Sweden, despite its relatively liberal approach to restrictions, which relies on voluntary measures such as social distancing and self-monitoring for symptoms. Methodology Due to the pandemic, a shift to telework and virtual meetings is being tested in what can be seen as a large-scale experiment, and the knowledge and experience from that experiment may have lasting effects on everyday life. This study seeks to analyse the effects of government and public agencies’ recommendations on meeting and travel behaviour on employees at five public agencies in Sweden. Results The results indicate that the public authorities surveyed were well prepared and had a ‘backup collaboration solution’, at least technically, to make a rapid behavioural shift when travel was not an option. Though the Swedish government’s and Public Health Authority’s strong recommendations have led to the most dramatic reductions in work-related travel in modern times, the operations in Swedish agencies continue to function, along with the employees’ communications and collaborations. These results indicate that there is great potential for digital tools to influence if and how we commute and make business trips. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that such tools can make the impossible possible.

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Online shopping opportunities are transforming travel behaviour for shopping and could potentially reduce the overall travel demand. Despite numerous studies on online shopping, only a few have taken an approach that includes trips for all travel purposes. Based on a web–survey, this paper provides results on travel behaviour for physical shopping for frequent, regular, and infrequent online shoppers in Sweden. The results indicate that frequent online shoppers make as many car trips (for both shopping and other errands) as others. Also, frequent online shoppers in total make as many trips to a physical store as infrequent online shoppers – although by more sustainable modes of transport – and that the time saved from online shopping is spent on both additional shopping trips and trips for other errands. The conclusion is that online shopping might facilitate changing travel behaviour but does not in itself represent a good stand–alone measure for reducing vehicle mileage.

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