Sustainable Transport & Environment

the challenge

Reducing our reliance upon the private car for every journey and providing credible alternatives is at the heart of Government policy. Sustainable transport can make a positive contribution to the environmental, social and economic fabric of our communities - nationally as well as locally. Ireland is highly reliant on car based transport and it is widely recognised that our car dependence must be addressed to ensure that Ireland’s future transport network is sustainable. Not only are cars a major contributor to air pollution, the costs can include road crashes and reduced health and well-being levels through lack of physical activity, and time wasted in traffic congestion and allocation of development land for parking which has an enormous knock-on economic cost.

To achieve a sustainable transport network, we must ensure that the environmental impact of future development is well understood and that measures are taken to adequately support and encourage sustainable modes of travel such as public transport, walking and cycling. However, balancing travel demand with the needs of society, the economy and the environment remains a significant challenge to overcome.

how we can help

SYSTRA is a market leader in the development, implementation and evaluation of programmes to increase use of sustainable travel choices – for the benefit of the economy, the environment and people’s health and well-being. We combine strategic advice and the delivery of individual interventions to provide our public and the private sector clients with the complete solution. We help deliver practical projects that reduce unnecessary car use. We know how to maximise results from ‘smarter choices’ interventions – bringing together skills from behavioural psychology, social marketing and data analysis to devise and deliver behaviour change programmes. We have an excellent understanding as to why people choose to travel in certain ways and we know how to encourage and enable effective transition to more active modes.

We have a proven track record in Mobility Management, and have been appointed by both private and public sector organisations to develop their Mobility Management Plans. This includes support in Ireland for companies and mixed-use sites with their planning applications relating to sustainable travel, and helping businesses, new residential developments, sports grounds and health sites with the development and implementation of their Mobility Management Plans.

Effective implementation of integrated strategies can support more sustainable and healthier travel choices, and show better value for money for developers, organisations, government and the community.