Workshop Synthesis: Behavioral changes in travel – challenges and implications for their identification and measurement

Transportation policy measures aim to motivate people to change their travel behavior (e.g. to use sustainable modes of transportation instead of a car). Furthermore, life events (e.g. birth of a child, retirement) often result in changes in travel behavior. On the other hand, structural processes (e.g. the exchange of differently car-socialized cohorts) might result in changes in travel volumes as well, but the underlying reasons for this cannot be regarded as behavioral changes. A major goal in the workshop was to find a comprehensive definition of behavioral change. Based on this definition, methodological approaches have been discussed and distinguished from each other and methods for the identification and measurement of behavioral changes by use of different methodical approaches have been revealed

Exploring the role of individuals’ attitudes in the use of on-demand mobility services for commuting – A case study in eight Chinese cities

The use of on-demand mobility (ODM) services has increased in Chinese cities and is used by people for various purposes, such as leisure activities or commuting. The aim of this study is to identify and analyze factors that play a role in the use of ODM services for commuting of high-income earners in China. In previous studies, this group of people was identified as extremely relevant for ODM use as they can afford the services in principle. A specific focus of this study is on the influence of travel mode attitudes as well as sociodemographic characteristics. The data set used in this study was collected with the innovative travel skeleton approach based on information given by high-income individuals. The survey took place in eight different Chinese cities with 5,192 respondents. They have provided insights on their everyday travel (e.g., commuting) and attitudes towards car and public transit. To investigate the role of psychological factors behind the use frequency of ODM services, we applied a factor analysis to identify latent factors from psychological item sets used. Next, we integrated them into an ordered hybrid choice model (OHCM). The results show that people’s perceived public transit experience increase the probability to use ODM more often for commuting. We suggest a strong interrelation between public transit and such services, even among people with high incomes

How Late Reporters Effect Data Quality in Longitudinal Surveys – Experiences From the German Mobility Panel

Survey design always has a significant influence on the outcomes. Therefore, this paper investigates how follow-up campaigns affect survey outcomes and response rates in longitudinal surveys. Furthermore, it is assessed how late reports in the fall affect survey outcomes. The analyses are based on the unique data of the German Mobility Panel. Overall, this paper paints a broad picture of the methodological aspects and overlapping effects that should be considered before starting the fieldwork of longitudinal surveys. The results indicate that people who are reminded to participate positively influence the survey outcomes - even when the report is belated

Workshop Synthesis: How to Collect and Use Longitudinal Data?

This paper is based on the presentations, papers and discussions of workshop “Longitudinal data” at the ISCTSC conference in Porto Novo in March 2022. The presentations and discussions are primarily based on three different panel surveys that represent different approaches and designations. All these surveys have to struggle with typical challenges. The paper discusses the analytical characteristics and the designation of longitudinal surveys, addresses the problems and challenges of longitudinal surveys and will sum up the discussed strategies, in which a long-term continuity of such surveys can be secured

Balancing Innovation and Continuity – Experiences with Survey Design Adaptations of the German Mobility Panel

The German Mobility Panel is one of the longest-lasting studies with a basically unchanged design in mobility behaviour research world-wide. As a result one central asset of this study is the provision of time series data. Nevertheless in repeated surveys, design changes are sometimes inevitable due to new research questions or external developments. Since 1994 the German Mobility Panel has seen only minor design adaptations. After nearly 20 years with a more or less unchanged design, declining participation rates by certain person groups and new survey methods have required fundamental changes in the survey design. This paper describes design changes to the German Mobility Panel in 2013 and analyses the first outcomes generated by the methodological changes

How the COVID-19 pandemic changes daily commuting routines – Insights from the German Mobility Panel

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on everyday travel and, by extension, everyday commuting. During the pandemic, some people were able to work from home while others continued commuting. This study examines how commuting behavior changed between 2019 and 2020. In this study, we analyze panel data of the German Mobility Panel, a national household travel survey. We paint a broad picture of the characteristics and behavior of those who commuted during the pandemic. The analyses focus on the intra- and interpersonal differences and are presented in a mostly descriptive way. The results show that people with low income and a low level of education are primarily those who cannot work from home and do not have flexible working hours. The results further show that especially public transport has lost importance in daily commuting. However, those who commuted in 2019 and 2020 did not significantly change their commuting behavior regarding commuting time and commuting mode

Capturing the Usage of the German Car Fleet for a One Year Period to Evaluate the Suitability of Battery Electric Vehicles – A Model based Approach

AbstractThe low driving range of battery electric vehicles (BEV) is often considered as relevant reason for the low BEV sales. In order to verify this assumption, the usage of conventional cars in Germany needs to be analyzed. These analyses may help to make more reliable and realistic statements to what extent German cars could be replaced by BEVs without restrictions for their users. Most travel surveys do only consider a single day or a short period of time in the analysis. Longer time periods should be taken into consideration when analyzing the travel data since the daily car usage is not identical every day. Since there are no representative and detailed car usage surveys over longer periods available a hybrid car usage model was developed to close that gap. This model is mainly based on three mobility surveys: the German Mobility Panel (MOP), the car mileage and fuel consumption survey, and the long distance travel survey INVERMO. We show that 13% of the modeled German private car fleet never exceeds 100km per day during a full year and could be replaced by BEVs without any usage restrictions for their car owners. Another 16% of the modeled private car fleet is driven more than 100km on 1-4 days during a full year and can be substituted with slight adjustments. These cars are often second cars of a household and used less intensively (6,600km/year resp. 7600km/year) than cars not suited for BEV substitution (14,800km/year). Households that could replace their cars tend to have a lower disposable income. The crux of the matter, however, is that substitution of conventional cars is often not feasible since the mobility budget of BEV suited households tends to be too low or does not make economic sense due to the low annual mileage

Home Deliveries and Their Impacts on Travel: Capturing Shopping Behavior and Attitudes towards Shopping in a Travel Behavior Skeleton Approach

Attractive options such as home delivery services (e-commerce) may shift the travel for shopping purposes to a more voluntary activity. Research is faced with the question which (latent) characteristics of people might indicate a higher potential to use home delivery services as a substitute for individual travel. Therefore, an appropriate survey instrument is needed which in its function fully depicts both individual travel and particular shopping behavior. Further, it should be supplemented by psychological aspects relating to shopping behavior and shopping-relevant relevant transport modes. This work presents an extensive literature review and a survey approach which has been exploratively tested

Mobility Styles and Car Ownership - Potentials for a Sustainable Urban Transport

Decision-makers in cities worldwide have the responsibility to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in urban transport. Therefore, effective measures and policies that allow for a change in people’s mobility towards sustainable mobility must be derived. To understand how different people respond to measures and policies, and to increase the effectiveness of such policies, individual mobility needs and mobility determinants have to be considered. For this, the definition of individual mobility styles as holistic descriptions considering travel behavior, attitudes, as well as life stages is useful. This study presents a segmentation approach that identifies eight urban mobility styles by using data from a multidimensional survey conducted in Berlin and San Francisco. We applied a cluster analysis with both behavioral and attitudinal characteristics as segmentation criteria. By analyzing the characteristics, we identified a mobility style—the Environmentally Oriented Multimodals—that is environmentally oriented, but not yet all people in this cluster are sustainable in their mobility. Thus, they are the group with the highest potential to accept and use sustainable mobility. Additionally, we found that within the Environmentally Oriented Multimodals, the change from one life stage to another is also likely to be accompanied by a car acquisition