A test among young people who regularly cycle on the Spijkenisserbrug has shown that young people are easy to reach with traffic information through social media. The young people are open to this and the potential lies mainly in announcing planned activities in advance and in referring to means for current travel information such as websites or an SMS service. 

This test is done by Rijkswaterstaat together with the municipalities of Nissewaard and Rotterdam and the port authority to improve the accessibility of Voorne-Putten. In addition to this test, there are also 2 other tests for better accessibility: the bridge opening predictor for motorists and the test with a bicycle ferry at the Spijkenisserbrug.

Igor Bal, Alderman for Traffic and Transport, Municipality of Nissewaard: 'The Spijkenisserbrug is one of the most important connecting roads to and from Nissewaard. A bridge opens and closes regularly. As a municipality, we find it very important that the bridge user is informed as optimally as possible about openings and work on the bridge. These tests provide more insight into this. The opinion of the user is important here. The more people complete the surveys, the better insight is obtained. We will continue to work on optimal communication to our citizens. '

The aim of the trial was to find out whether it is possible to reach a specific target group and to be able to inform this target group more specifically about travel alternatives and bridge failure. During 2 test weeks, messages were shown daily via Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube that linked to a website with information about, among other things, the alternatives. The starting point was that young people consulted their phones before departure, and the messages made no sound or vibrations to avoid distractions while cycling. During the blockage, 1.682 people were reached in a short time. In both test weeks, reports reached about 40.000 people.

The conclusion of the trial is that messages via social media are less suitable for realtime during sudden bridge failure. The message will then be online for a relatively short time and the recipient must be active on social media at exactly that time to see the message. The longer the message is online, the more likely it is to be seen. The social media messages are suitable for longer use, for example for planned road works in the future.

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