Location of services affects modal choice

The best way to shorten or reduce everyday travel is to locate local services such as schools, day cares and health centers close to housing. According to a study conducted by HSL, the socio-economic cost of mobility and transport increased from one euro to three euro per visit when the number of service locations was reduced. In terms of mobility, a reasonably dense local service network is one in which one service point serves an area of 5-10 square kilometers.
 
Local services should preferably be located at a walking or biking distance from housing. If the service network is sparser, it is important that services are located in public transport hubs and district centers so that it is possible to encourage people to sustainable mobility, use of public transport, walking and cycling. A good idea is to locate public services close to other services such as shopping centers because it enables people to take care of several matters at one go. For example, according to a study conducted by HSL, about one third of maternity clinic and physiotherapy customers do their shopping when visiting a maternity clinic or physiotherapist.
 
When planning changes to the service network, the current transport network services and in particular, public transport services, and their development plans must be taken into account. On the other hand, public transport planning must take into account service network and plans concerning them. According to HSL’s recent study “JULKI – The Impacts of Local Public Services Network on Sustainable Mobility”, the location of services has a significant impact on the number and length of journeys made as some half of all journeys are service-related. The most common journey purposes (about 40% of service-related journeys) are shopping and accessing public services. 
 
The JULKI study assessed the impacts of changes to the service network on sustainable mobility. The cases studied included the development of maternity clinic network in Espoo and school network in Sipoo as well as the closing of Meripihka physiotherapy clinic in Helsinki. The study was a follow up to the Helsinki Region Transport System Plan (HLJ 2011) and part of a mobility management program financed by the Finnish Transport Agency and the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The results of the study will be utilized in the planning of municipal service networks as well as in the preparation of the next Helsinki Region Transport System Plan (HLJ 2015).