A KTU researcher’s study on urban mobility received international award

Although sustainable mobility is strongly encouraged in Lithuania, most residents still prefer to travel by car. To better understand what influences people’s choice of transport, a researcher from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) conducted a study which revealed that the availability of public transport is not the only important factor – social norms and habits also have a significant influence. The researcher won an international award for this study.

There is a lack of “soft” measures that aim to change the habits of people, Dr Jonė Vitkauskaitė-Ramanauskienė, a researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities (KTU SHMMF) at Kaunas University of Technology, believes.

“There is also a lack of measures that would reduce the attractiveness of using cars. For example, tax on entering the city centre has not been introduced in many places, there is no dynamic parking price regulation, where the price depends on how many cars are in the car park,” says Dr Vitkauskaitė-Ramanauskienė, talking about the challenges of implementing sustainable mobility.

Influenced by the choices of those around them

The transport sector, and passenger cars in particular, are the main source of greenhouse gases in Lithuania. Dr Vitkauskaitė-Ramanauskienė says that reducing emissions in this area could help achieve significant goals in reducing climate change, but even though public transport infrastructure is constantly improving, people still choose to travel by car. This is what sparked the KTU researcher’s curiosity – what factors determine people’s travel habits?

“During my doctoral studies, I created a model based on various behaviour change techniques, which I implemented in the form of the ‘Move Green’ initiative. With this initiative, I sought to encourage people working in Kaunas to choose public or non-motorised transport and walking instead of cars,” says the KTU researcher.

This initiative revealed that people’s travel routines are determined by external and internal factors. Among them – the continuity of bicycle paths, the availability of public transport, and attitudes, habits and perceptions of social norms.

“People are still greatly influenced by the choices of those around them – if we see our friends, neighbours or colleagues travelling by car, we begin to perceive this as a certain social norm. AS a result, we may start to think that others expect this behaviour from us, and we choose a car for all our journeys,” says Dr Vitkauskaitė-Ramanauskienė, revealing the results of her doctoral study.

Received an international award

For this research, Dr Vitkauskaitė-Ramanauskienė received an international award – the Baltic University Programme PhD Award. Young scientists from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine and Lithuania are eligible to participate in this competition.

“I am very honoured that my dissertation was recognised as the best in the field of social sciences and humanities. This award is not only symbolic – the winner receives financial support for a scientific publication or a scientific conference,” says the KTU scientist.

Doctoral studies opened the door to international recognition for Dr Vitkauskaitė-Ramanauskienė. She is convinced that the decision to enrol in doctoral studies must be well thought out, as these studies require a lot of time and effort.

“However, PhD studies bring great satisfaction as one has an opportunity to make a real societal impact. Although you put your maximum effort into doctoral studies, you get back much more,” adds Dr Vitkauskaitė-Ramanauskienė.