The Chamber launched the “Employers take action for sustainable mobility” project to reduce traffic in the Greater Montréal area. Polytechnique Montréal got involved and developed an action plan for employees, professors and students.
At Polytechnique Montréal, sustainable mobility is mobilizing
Last fall, Polytechnique Montréal became part of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal’s “Employers take action for sustainable mobility” project. The goal is to convince as many drivers as possible to use public or active transit. Sustainable mobility contributes to physical, psychological and financial health, in addition to helping reduce traffic and the harmful environmental effects of transportation.
As part of this effort, the Polytechnique’s Bureau du Développement Durable delved into the travel habits of 10,000 members of its community: the share of solo car use is 28% among employees and 8% among students.
Driven by the idea of improving traffic on the north face of Mont Royal, Polytechnique developed an action plan.
An action plan: a collective effort
Developed with the support of Voyagez Futé, the Action Plan is the result of an extensive consultative effort, kicked off by a survey. Responding enthusiastically to this call, over 1,800 people (drivers, cyclists, pedestrians and public transit users) shared the challenges they face in travelling from home to school using different modes of transportation. An organizational mobility diagnosis was produced from the responses. It includes the theoretical potential of sustainable modes of transportation and the main reasons drivers give for solo car use. Highlights are presented here.
From monthly meetings, the informed opinion of an internal committee that oversees the sustainability effort at Polytechnique also went into the Action Plan. This body, which includes representatives of all community stakeholders, made a series of recommendations to ensure the project’s success.
Since it is based on the wishes expressed by professors, employees and students, the Plan promises to become firmly integrated into the reality of Polytechnique.
Some of the key initiatives from the Action Plan:
- Developing a sustainable business travel policy
- Creating a pilot project for a guaranteed transportation service for car sharing and bike users to get home in case of emergency or bad weather
- Promoting new car sharing web platforms, in particular Netlift
- Creating a pilot project to trade parking permits for monthly public transit passes
- Developing an environmentally responsible parking project
- Organizing an active mobility challenge
- Offering free bike tune-ups
The Action Plan’s effectiveness will be evaluated after one year. Depending on the behavioural changes that are seen, certain measures will be maintained, and even improved. And based on comments gathered, new measures could be considered.
The active participation of as many players as possible will guarantee the plan’s success and sustainability. Judging by the enthusiasm that drove its development, this new roadmap will prompt people to get involved!