Transport priorities consultation: more citizens involved
The challenge
The city of Bristol faces many transport challenges: high levels of congestion in a city can lead to poor air quality, reduced safety for cyclists and pedestrians and an unreliable public transport system.
Bristol City Council wanted to gather the public's views on transport; to learn about the issues citizens faced with getting around the city and hear their opinions on proposed solutions. Options included the introduction of a tram system, an underground system and improvements to train routes in the city, amongst others.
The approach
They decided to use a Transport Priorities Simulator, giving people the chance to make trade offs between competing priorities to achieve a balanced set of options. Priority Simulator allowed people to consider transport improvements for Bristol alongside one another and looking at funding options to enable improvements to be made.
Citizens aren't always given the chance to be involved in complex policy decisions but using Simulator let them have a say and gain a real insight into what councils face when deciding on important issues such as transport strategies. The consultation was well-promoted by the council and covered by local press in the city. The ability to share responses via social media gave people the chance to see how other citizens would prioritise transport too.
The results
The Transport Priorities Simulator provided a more engaging way for citizens to get involved in the consultation process, encouraging more people to take part than using traditional consultation methods.
The priority simulator tool has provided a more engaging way for our citizens to get involved in the consultation process. I have received a number of comments on how easy it is to use and I am convinced that having the simulator tool has encouraged more people to take part in the consultation than using traditional consultation methods.
Delib is a govtech leader specialising in consultation and engagement, trusted by over 600 government organisations worldwide, including major planning projects. Since 2004, we've been building secure, accessible digital platforms to make participation simpler, fairer, and more inclusive. Our flagship product, Citizen Space, was built in collaboration with the UK government and has supported more than 11 million responses across over 110,000 democratic activities.