# Mobility Patterns of Students: Evidence from Tricity Area, Poland
## 1 Introduction  
A group of various socioeconomic trends, including the generational transition, causes changes in the global economic environment. According to [PERSON] generational theory [1], there are recurring generational cycles, which change the priorities of societies in various world regions. The differences in this matter also relate to mobility patterns, which are a result of those changing priorities but are also forces in the social and physical environment [2; 3; 4].  
In the literature, both the Y Generation and mobility patterns are called in many different ways, which causes ambiguities in defining the state-of-the-art in the discussed topic. Mobility patterns are described as mobility choices [5], travel choices [6], travel demand [7; 8; 9]. In the identified literature, the Y Generation is called \"tech-savvy consumers\" [6; 10], \"millenials\" or \"millennial generation\" [11; 12; 13; 14], \"next-generation\" [3], \"digital generation\" or \"digital natives\" [15], \"generation of flip-flops and iPods\" [14; 16], \"Internet aboriginals\" [17], \"click generation\" and \"echo boomers\" [14]. This study combines all of the available approaches, unifies and organizes them to build a coherent picture of the generation as a basis for further analysis.  
According to [PERSON] and [PERSON] (1991), the millennials (Y's, Y Gens) are open, optimistic, rational, cooperative team players and rule followers. In comparison with the older generations, Y's are more positive, less, e.g., focused on environmental issues and believing in collective power. On the other hand, they have elevated expectations and want to have everything they desire [18]. They are not attached to money or property [19; 20]. Those are the reasons for the quick adaptation of the sharing economy services within this group. Y Generation will probably play a predominant role in the global market in the next years [21] because of their growing purchasing power. Due to their specific attitudes and behavior, they constitute an interesting object of mobility research, especially in urban areas [22; 23].  
Despite the wide range of research papers and market analyses on mobility patterns or choices, the research in those areas was scarce for Poland, including Tricity. Therefore, this study can partially fill this gap and present the topic from a different perspective, starting a scientific discussion and be a paper for further analysis and a basis for comparisons with subsequent studies. Moreover, it can help the policymakers verify their policies and tools for monitoring the travels of young people and addressing their needs. However, we leave it for judgment to the readers of the article.  
Therefore, the main aim of the paper is to examine the mobility patterns of Polish young adults, to be more specific--students in the Tricity area, taking into consideration their choices of the transport mode (car, public transport, active transport). To address this problem, we designed a survey questionnaire based on literature review results and implemented the statistical analysis to expand the survey results. This approach allowed us to identify the main characteristics of mobility patterns. This study, in turn, is aimed at being a base for the subsequent studies.  
The paper is structured as follows: First, the literature review results are presented to describe the state-of-the-art being a basis for the online survey carried out in the Tricity area in November and December 2018. The review results justified the design of the questionnaire. The next part presents the methods used to gather and analyze the data. The results section explores mobility patterns of the surveyed Polish students, taking into account, e.g., gender differences and a range of reasons, priorities and choices of young adults. The next part contains a discussion and comparison of our study and those presented in the literature review. The last section concludes the paper, presents its limitations and indicates the future research directions and plans.