REBALANCE D3.2 – The fundamentals of the mobility culture of today
Creators: name: Pourhashem, Ghadir
name: Kovacikova, Tatiana
name: Schade, Jens
name: Schaefer, Lisa-Marie
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021

description: REBALANCE moves from the assumption that the mobility culture that currently prevails in the world (including Europe) has led to unsustainable travel patterns, in social and environmental terms. The mobility choices made by users, fall short of ensuring a sustainable balance between traffics and places, freedom and welfare, creativity, security and public health. Therefore, there is a need for a critical examination in particular of the meaning and value(s) of European mobility culture of today. The objective of this report is to look deeper into the question, which values do travellers express currently? Through that it contributes to the whole picture of mobilityculture with covering individual aspects of people in their mobility behaviour. A critical examination will be made of the meaning, value, and impacts of mobility of today through a cross-European analysis of selected travel patterns (in particular mode choice) and mobility values (e.g. perceived value of time) with a particular focus on gender and generational conflicts. The value expression analysis can be done mainly on two levels: Firstly, on a behavioural level and secondly, on an attitudinal level. However, it has to be mentioned that besides a few academic papers which directly assessed mobility values or motives most of the studies available do not assess values directly.Thus, in both cases one has to infer either from the observed behaviour or the measured attitude whether it is value-based and in what direction. The analysis of individual value orientations in the European Union based on data of the European Social Study (ESS, 2018) reveals even though countries show variationsin their individual value structure, an overall “European” pattern. In particular, all countries show overall a strong emphasis on power and stimulation. Hedonism andachievement as well as conformity add to the important values among Europeans. Value orientations towards security, benevolence and universalism reach in most countries no positive mean and accordingly play a minor role in the European society. Then, an in-depth-analysis about the expression of values in mode choice is carried out.Unsurprisingly, using a car is very common in EU. More than at least 71% of the daily trip-kilometres are made by car with some variation between countries. The moreenvironmentally friendly modes like bicycle or public transport (PT) play a much lesser role with huge variations between countries, age groups and spatial conditions. However, in the long-term car traffic has plateaued or decreased in the last decade or more, after many decades of more or less continuous growth in several industrialized countries (“peak car”). Reasons mentioned in the academic discussion for the observed trend break are economic growth, fuel price but also alternative explanations like e.g. a shift away from car use in urban areas, increased road congestion, restrictive car policies and a permanent change in attitudes and preferences of users.Looking at the motivations behind mode choice convenience was found to be a main motivator independent from the actual mode and for all genders and ages, whereasspeed shows more importance among men than among women (34% vs 28%) and more for young and middle-aged adults. Even though traveling costs are perceived bythe majority as an important problem among 24 member states, it is behind the other three motivators. All modes of transport have in these categories different strengths and weaknesses. Most of the car users for instance, drive because of convenience (72%) and speed considerations (42%). Half of the PT-users, pedestrians and cyclistsas well choose their main mode of transport for convenience reasons. Price considerations matter for about a quarter of bicycle and PT-users and cyclists areadditionally motivated by the speed and environmental reasons. In the overall means environmental considerations matter recognisable only for the decision to cycle (22%of the bicycle users). Nevertheless, on-going research shows, that environmentalawareness has risen in the last years. Climate change is considered as one of the most serious problems the world is facing nowadays. Additionally, it is very likely that the perception of convenience has changed, in particular due to the rise of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and therefore the diverse additional options to enjoy travel time and make it worthwhile. However, an in-depth analysis of a Belgium sample (de Vos, 2018) reveals that only half of the respondents were able to choose their preferred mode of transport. The concept of not using the subjectivly preferred mode is called ‘Travel mode dissonance’ and may lead to dissatisfaction with the chosen mode. Interestingly cyclists made the most congruent choices. More than half of the car users and pedestrians would prefer using another mode of transport with many of them see more positive sides in traveling by bike. Travel mode dissonance appears to be the biggest problem among users of PT. Regarding possible changes in attitudes among young people towards car use findings from relevant studies show a mixed but falling trend in driver license acquisition in mostEU countries. Results indicate a mixture of economic, structural (e.g. household conditions, delayed marriage and parenting) and attitude/value-based reasons (e.g.rather responsibility than freedom). In addition, a recent US study shows that millennials are more willing to use multimodal transport modes compared to older generations.With regard to the negative consequences of car use a majority of Europeans (74% in 2007) thinks, that the type and usage of cars significantly influences the traffic situation in their environment, but environmental considerations are overall only a minor reason for mode choice behaviour. As well, there are even more people (90%), that agree on the fact, that the traffic situation needs to be improved and motorized traffic related environmental problems are by about 70% of the Europeans perceived as very important or fairly important problems – with one exception Finland. Half of them find that an improved public transport can solve these problems. A willingness to switch to more sustainable modes of transport is in the majority present, but only if it is not more expensive. Additionally, it is supposed to be fast and available. Most willing were younger people with higher education level and rather leftist political position in urban environments.In a case study based on data of the MoTiV project the effect of the perception of value of travel time and value of ridesharing on Europeans’ ridesharing intentions is investigated. The study results demonstrate that most people prefer to adopt ridesharing for work compared to other trip purposes. In this case, 21% of all respondents are willing to share their rides only with family or friends and 36% of respondents are willing to adopt ridesharing when commuting to/from work even withstrangers. People prefer to share the rides for the purpose of hobby or leisure during the weekend. Only 21% of respondents are willing to adopt ridesharing during evening trips which may be due to the perception of reduced safety mainly. This survey results also show that the biggest motivator for respondents to share a ride is cost saving or financial benefit (35%). The other two important motivators are easier travel (24%) and helping the environment (22%). In addition, in the MoTiV project, the value oftravel time (VTT) has been assessed based on individuals’ subjective travel experience using different transport modes and the evaluation of the perceived level of worthwhileness and perceived mood during trip. Results of a reanalysis elucidate that for all the worthwhileness elements, the majority of people travelling by motorized mode transport reported enjoyment and ability to do personal task while on move as the most important gained value for their travel time. As expected for the active modes, men and women reported fitness (ability do exercise) as the most worthwhile value perceived during travel time. Furthermore, positive and negative experience factors reported by users affecting the perceived value of travel time have been identified.Interestingly, quite a few of the reported positive experience factors relate to transportservices and infrastructure such as the road path availability, quality and directness, reliability, parking, information and signs or route planning and navigation tools.The role and importance of ICT in mobility has been investigated from different perspectives and in various disciplines. There is a considerable evidence that digitalpersonal devices strongly influence mobility and activity patterns of individuals across cultures, generations and gender. The detailed impact of ICT on mobility (in particular with regard to age, gender and mode use) is reanalysed with data from the EU projects MoTiV and MyCorridor. Results show differences among different gender and age ranges in terms of using online journey planners as well as the frequency and type of ICT related activities. With regard to the question which ICT-related activities lead to the travellers’ perception of travel time satisfaction and worthwhileness, reading on electronic devices was perceived as the most worthwhile ICT related activity. However, when comparing the results based on age groups, there is a significant difference in evaluating worthwhileness. Finally, we look if the pandemic urged travellers to substitute their travel needs by using telecommunication. However, so far only anectodical exidence exists. A recent study on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Italian young people’s lifestyle and leisure activities reveals a significant increase in online participation in a variety of activities by the youngest age group. The study results also accented the higher interest of female respondents in participation in webinars or online tutorials, using social media and messaging services and communication through chat and video-chatting services while males were more interested in playing online games.