TELEVISION MEDIA CAMPAIGNS TO ENCOURAGE CHANGES IN URBAN TRAVEL BEHAVIOR: A CASE STUDY

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte and WSOC-TV Channel 9 developed and implemented a TV-based traffic mitigation campaign for the Charlotte metropolitan region. The development process, the methods used in the campaign to encourage shifts in transportation behavior, and preliminary results from the campaign are described. Although the short-term shifts in behavior resulting from such efforts are likely to be small, longer-term impacts may be more substantial. It is concluded that cooperative ventures between the media and government can be an important component of transportation mitigation strategies in metropolitan regions and should be considered as important elements of such plans.