Given that the City of Helsingborg was described as Europe’s “champion city of cycling” by the European Cyclists’ Federation in 2023, it is a place where you would have expected to see more people riding their bikes.
Up until that point, the city’s administration had been making huge strides towards achieving climate neutrality by 2030, making large investments in bicycle infrastructure and mobility management which had not gone unnoticed. In 2022, the city was awarded ‘Sweden’s Best City in Cycling Promotion’ thanks to measures such as bike-friendly workplaces and bicycle libraries, and in 2023 it won the ‘Cycling Infrastructure Award’ for its impressive 189 m S-shaped Varvsbron Bridge. Additionally, the Kattegat Path, Sweden’s first national cycle path of 390 kilometres that snakes along the beautiful coastline, begins in Helsingborg.
And yet somehow, only 11% of city movement was being completed by bike. “Not much is happening,” said Emma Kangas from the City of Helsingborg’s Environmental Department, “we really wanted to strengthen the bicycle culture.”
The City of Helsingborg’s cycling-friendly infrastructure just needed its residents to feel motivated to switch over to two wheels. To provide this gentle push in the right direction, Swedish startup Nudgd entered the scene, facilitated by EIT Urban Mobility’s Rapid Applications for Transport (RAPTOR) programme.
Under the umbrella of this unique programme, European cities and innovative startups join hands to tackle niche city challenges with responsive, on-the-ground pilots. In the case of Helsingborg, the pilot was an immense success, proving the power of building positive habits using digital tools and creating a model that can now be replicated in other cities across Europe.
A little nudge for greater cycling uptake
Founded in 2019, Goteborg-based startup Nudgd is on a mission to make sustainable choices easy. Built on the principle that citizens want to live more sustainable lives, but are held back by feelings of overwhelm, time constraints or fragmented resources, Nudgd provides friendly, digital tips to help users to start their journey.
Their Smart Nudges Mobility platform (also called Smart Travel Habits) is fuelled by behavioural science and provides personalised digital ‘nudges’ for each user, such as a text message with cycling route advice or online progress tracking. By closing the gap between thought and action, Nudgd helps citizens slowly but surely make the transition to active mobility modes such as cycling, walking, kick-biking, skateboarding, inline skating or running, instead of travelling by car.
When the City of Helsingborg launched their call within the RAPTOR 2023 programme, Nudgd saw an opportunity to better understand citizen behaviour and develop a ‘bicycle culture’ in the region. Together the duo designed a pilot focused on primary schools, aiming to shift the commuting habits of elementary students, parents and staff. Not only was this forecast to reduce urban pollution levels, the hope was that it would boost the safety of school environments and citizen wellbeing by decreasing the negative externalities of cars.
The domino effect
Kicking off the pilot, school principals sent out the Nudgd platform link to their communities to encourage sign-ups. Behavioural-science-driven tips, maps and quizzes all formed part of the methods encouraging age-appropriate students to walk or cycle to school, either by themselves or accompanied by an adult.
“The aim for this pilot is for parents to feel safe letting their children go by bike or walk to school,” explained Emma Kangas, from the City of Helsingborg. Due to the domino effect, the idea was that staff and parents would then be more likely to take the bike to the office, or when running errands in the city. “It actually spreads around to other parts of society, and it can make a big change in total,” continued Kangas.
Over a period of five months, all 25 primary schools in Helsingborg took part. The pilot was a resounding success, sparking significant changes in transport choices. In total, 2,400 parents and school staff were identified as unique users and those who used the platform were proven to be twice as likely to switch from private car use to a more active mode of transport.
In addition to reducing pollution and moving the city closer to its goal of climate neutrality, there was a more efficient use of public space and important health benefits for citizens, positively affecting both adults and children alike. “School children are a particularly important group, because their bodies have such a great need for movement,” added Kangas.
Building good habits for the future
It is no surprise that the innovative work carried out during the RAPTOR project by startup Nudgd and the City of Helsingborg has attracted international awards. Katharina Paoli, Nudgd’s Founder and CEO, recently won the ‘Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award’ at the prestigious European Startup Prize for Mobility (EUSP) hosted by the European Parliament. Additionally, Nudgd was acknowledged as the winner of the Mobility Action award at European Mobility Week in early 2024.
“What we’ve seen is that 43% of end-users say they have changed their behaviour as a result of this platform,” explained Paoli, “we’re very excited about the opportunities to make the space around schools both safer and more climate-friendly.”
