On behaviour change and active travel: Linking interventions, underlying psychological factors and their effectiveness

Abstract

Promoting active travel, such as walking and cycling, offers significant health and environmental benefits. However, behaviour change in this domain remains challenging. This systematic review synthesises evidence on behavioural interventions to increase active travel, focusing on psychological mechanisms that mediate these effects. A systematic search of Web of Science, TRID, and PubMed identified 28 peer-reviewed studies published in English between 2010 and 2025. Studies were included if they evaluated behavioural interventions aimed at increasing active travel and reported pre- and post-intervention measures of both behaviour and psychological factors. The most common intervention functions studied were education, goal setting, planning, and persuasion, primarily ‘soft’ strategies aimed at shifting attitudes, perceptions, and social norms. Fewer studies examined ‘structural’ interventions like environmental restructuring or incentives, and these rarely assessed psychological mediators. The psychological factors most frequently targeted by intervention functions were attitudes, self-efficacy, information and skills, and social influence. Among these, social influence showed the most consistent significant effects, while self-efficacy and information/skills were significantly altered in a substantial share of studies; attitudes showed the weakest and most mixed evidence of change. Only six out of 28 studies employed formal mediation analyses to test whether intervention effects on behaviour were mediated through psychological factors such as attitudes, motivation, or self-efficacy. This review highlights the need for more theory-driven research into the psychological processes underlying behaviour change in active travel to guide the development of more effective interventions and policies.