“Nudging” Our Way to Mode Shift

Please note that this event has been rescheduled to Thursday, November 12.

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein explores how subtle changes in the way choices are presented can significantly influence human behavior. Through the lens of behavioral economics, the authors demonstrate why people don't always make rational decisions, and how "choice architecture" can be designed to encourage better outcomes while preserving freedom of choice.

For transportation professionals, Nudge offers valuable insight into one of the core challenges of Transportation Demand Management (TDM): influencing travel behavior. Whether the goal is encouraging transit use, carpooling, active transportation, or telework, or shaping smarter parking management, TDM practitioners rely on understanding how people make decisions and what motivates them to change habits. The concepts in Nudge provide a framework for designing programs, incentives, communications, and policies that make sustainable transportation choices easier, more attractive, and more likely to be adopted.

This discussion features Chris Bongorno, TDM-CP and Mitzi Alex, AICP of Toole Design.

Meet the speakers

Chris Bongorno, TDM-CP

Chris is Toole Design’s Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Practice Lead. He has nearly two decades of experience in transportation and community planning, mixed-use and institutional development, place management, and strategic planning. Chris’s work in the TDM industry has brought him to communities across the United States, helping to set up projects, programs, and the organizational capacity needed to execute them.

Chris currently serves as the President of the Midwest Chapter of the Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT), through which he earned the TDM Certified Professional (TDM-CP) credential. He is also active with the American Planning Association (APA) Transportation Planning Division (TPD) and chairs the Yellow Springs Active Transportation Advisory Committee in his home town of Yellow Springs, Ohio. Chris is a proud Cleveland native and maintains roles there with groups like the Holden Parks Trust and Doan Brook Watershed Partnership.

Outside of work, Chris enjoys cooking, cycling, board games, live music, and hanging out with his wife, three children, and their dog, Gryff (short for Gryffindor).

Mitzi Alex, AICP

As the Minneapolis Office Director, Mitzi has both public and private experience leading land use and multimodal transportation planning, implementation strategies, public policy, and community design. Her specialties include managing complex planning and policy initiatives, healthy and active communities, sustainable growth, policy and planning analysis, and implementation strategies. She values cross-sector collaboration and creative approaches, and has presented professionally at national planning, transportation, and medical conferences.

Outside of work, Mitzi enjoys nature based activities including hiking, birding and kayaking, travel, great food, and family time.

Discussion Topics for the ACT Book Club:

• How behavioral economics can strengthen TDM programs and travel behavior change initiatives
• The role of choice architecture in mode shift and transportation planning
• Ethical considerations when influencing traveler decisions
• Real-world applications of nudges in parking management, transit promotion, employer programs, and active transportation
• How small changes in messaging, incentives, and program design can lead to meaningful transportation outcomes

Nudge challenges TDM professionals to consider how human behavior shapes the success of mobility strategies.