fundamentals on transport and energy

Reference Material
for
COMPETENCE

funded within the STEER Program of the EU

The sole responsibility for the content of this [webpage, publication etc.] lies with the authors. It does not represent the opinion of the Community. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

For the use of the following material:

The aim of this material is to strengthen the knowledge of local / regional managing agencies in the field of transportation. The beneficiaries of the project are managing (energy) agencies who want to play a bigger role in the transport field.

Due to the size and (in some cases) the number of individual projects, it is not possible to take up each “fundamental aspect” and to explain each single result in detail and include it into these written materials.

The following set of material should rather act as a portal.Therefore the material in hand doesn't lay claim to completeness.

The following compendium containsarguments, facts and results of EU research-projects and complementary results of national projects. The authors thank the partners and collaborators of the following projects.

The material for the topic “Fundamentals on transport and energy” was compiled by Robert PRESSL and Karl REITER (both FGM-AMOR, Forschungsgesellschaft Mobilität gemein. GmbH – Austrian Mobility Research)

Table of Contents

1.Key Indicators on Mobility

1.1Definitions and key figures

Definitions and specific units of measurement in transport planning

Modal split

2.Mobility Behaviour

2.1Principles

2.2Patterns of behaviour

Energy optimisation

Hunting and gathering

Mentality / transport culture

Feelings of pleasure as an emotional behaviour

Fascination (excitement) as an emotional behaviour

The opportunity to influence situations

Costs as a material behavioural factor

Safety as a material behavioural factor

Time as a material behavioural factor

Benefit to the public as a rational behavioural factor

Transport socialisation

Potentials in public transport

2.3The multi-stage behavioural model

3.Frame conditions and impacts of transport

3.1Energy

Motor vehicle ownership

Peak Oil Production

Land use and energy consumption

3.2Emissions and pollutants

Nitrogen oxides

Ozone

Carbon monoxide

Carbon dioxide

Particulate matter PM 10

Benzene

Other environmental pollutants

3.3Noise

3.4Costs

3.5Safety

3.6Space Requirements, Settlement Structures and Developments

Traffic spiral: Living/residence

Traffic spiral: Public transport

Traffic spiral: Leisure transport

Traffic spiral: ‘Obtaining supplies’

Traffic spiral: Planning and safety

4.Social Impacts

Mobility Management and Travel Awareness1

Reference Material from COMPETENCE / TREATISE / E-ATOMIUM

1.Key Indicators on Mobility

1.1Definitions and key figures

Mobility occurs as a result of the necessity of performing different activities at various locations. These activities can be summarised into five basic functions of existence:


The five basic functions of existence. (Source: FGM-AMOR)

If ‘being out and about’ is done for its own sake as an activity, for example hiking or going on a bicycle ride, this is assigned to the area of ‘leisure’.

Because these basic functions of existence can only very seldom be performed in one and the same place, the following purposes of travel can be identified with respect to passenger transport:

/ Home-to-work (commuter) travel
Purpose: ‘work’
e.g. the trip from a person’s home to his or her place of employment
/ Education-related (commuter) travel:
Purpose: ‘education’
e.g. a person's trip from home to school/university
/ Business-related passenger travel:
Purpose: ‘work duties’
e.g. a company representative's trip to visit a client
/ Travel related to obtaining supplies or running errands:
Purpose: ‘shopping’ or ‘running errands’
e.g. a trip to the supermarket or to the doctor
/ Leisure transport:
Purpose: ‘leisure’
e.g. a trip to the cinema, to play tennis, or to participate in another hobby, including holiday trips

In order for to enablethe performance of the individual functions (activities), it is necessary for the spatial distance between the functions to be covered somehow. As a result, traffic is generated. The smaller these distances are, the less traffic is necessary, and the more alternatives for transport modes are open. The farther apart the locations of these basic functions of existence are from each other, the longer the trips become.

Because the amount of time people schedule for travelling has hardly changed over the past 100 years, but the lengths of their trips have increased (due to urban growth, for example), the logical inference is that the speed of transport modes in general has increased as well.

Definitions and specific units of measurement in transport planning

  • Activity:
    An activity is an action that takes place outside of the home.
  • Trip
    A trip is classified as any distance that is necessary to perform two activities at different locations.

e.g. R (trip)W

e.g.R(trip)S

  • Chain of trips:
    If various trips are performed one after the other and without returning to the point of origin in between, this is classified as a chain of trips.

  • Daily trip time:
    This value is measured in minutes (hours) per person per day and indicates the total time that is spent using transport.

Daily trip time: 20 + 15 + 5 + 20 = 60 min

  • Daily trip length:
    This value is measured in kilometres per person per day and indicates the total of the individual distances that were covered by transport.

Daily trip length: 7 + 5 + 6 + 6.5 + 6.5 = 31 km

  • Frequency of daily trips:
    The frequency of daily trips indicates the number of trips per person per day.

Frequency of daily trips: 5 trips
In German metropolitan areas, an average of 3 trips are performed per person per day.

  • Journeys:
    All trips and activities that involve leaving a person’s home and returning there are classified as journeys:

If a person keeps returning to his or her home and then departs to the next activity from there, this person performs multiple journeys per day.

  • Frequency of journeys:
    The frequency of journeys is the number of journeys per person per day.
  • Mobile person:
    A person who leaves his or her home at least once a day to pursue an activity is classified as a mobile person. People who are ill and confined to their homes are not included in this definition. A person is also classified as non-mobile if they only take the rubbish outside. (Approximately 80% of the German residential population leaves the home at least once on an average day.)
  • Volume of traffic:
    The volume of traffic refers to a delineated area (e.g. a city, a section of a street) or a specific group of people (e.g. a company’s staff members). It includes the total of all trips per unit of time.
  • Transport performance:
    The system of reference employed to quantify the volume of traffic is also used to measure the total of all distances covered per unit of time. In cities with a high level of transport performance, the inhabitants are, on average, not more mobile than those in comparable cities with a lower level of transport performance. Low levels of transport performance can instead be seen as an indicator of a functioning system of local services and spatial planning.
    In many cases, it is mistakenly assumed that the greater the trip length or the daily trip length, the higher the level of mobility. The level of mobility is not dependent on distance. For example, a person who goes to a shopping centre on the outskirts of town and therefore covers more kilometres is not more mobile than someone who shops at a corner store that is within walking distance.
  • Transport duration:
    The transport duration is the total time required for transport.
  • Level of motorisation:
    The level of motorisation is the number of passenger cars in relation to the total population. As a rule, figures are given in vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants.

Modal split

Modal split means the division of travel into various transport modes. For example, out of a group of 100 people, how many make their trips on foot, how many use a bicycle, how many use public transport, and how many drive a car.

Either all trips or only trips that are attributable to a certain travel purpose (e.g. the modal split of shopping travel) can be used as a reference system. In addition to trips as a basic unit of measurement (the most frequent form of representation), the share of the individual modes of transport in the total transport performance or the duration of transport can also be represented by a modal split.

Figure: Modal Splits in European Countries based on number of trips.
Figure: Modal split for school trips of Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland

Additional key figures for Europe:

Each person, each day

  • spends approximately 1 hour travelling
  • performs 3 to 4 trips, and during those
  • an average of 2 activities.

In terms of motorisation:

  • 30% of all German adults do not have a driving licence.
  • 27% of all German households do not have a car.
  • The level of occupancy is an average of 1.3 persons per car.

Moreover, modal splits can be used to display the division of travel for subgroups of overall population, like for senior citizens or distinguished for population groups. Another possibility is showing the shares of transportation modes for each trip purpose.

Figure: Modal Split for population groups older than 45
Figure: Modal split by reasons for trip

Figure: Modal Split by different age groups

Mobility Management and Travel Awareness1

Reference Material from COMPETENCE / TREATISE / E-ATOMIUM

2.Mobility Behaviour

2.1Principles

When people are asked what criteria are relevant to their mobility behaviour, the arguments most frequently put forward are speed, cost, safety, and the environmental impact.

However, the key aspects in determining mobility behaviour elicited from surveys seem to reflect only part of the real picture. Studies have shown that a critical awareness of the environmental damage caused by cars or the existence of alternative, competitive modes of transport are not enough to weaken the resistance of most car drivers to public transport.

It is apparent that, in the area of mobility, people think and act not only as ‘homo oeconomicus’, but that a range of additional behavioural factors play a significant role as well.

Figure: Patterms of mobility behaviour

2.2Patterns of behaviour

Specific patterns of behaviour are caused by various influences, e.g. by emotional and health-related factors, as well as factors involving ownership and safety. Furthermore, external conditions, such as the opportunity to make an objective choice and the provision of information, have a strong influence on human behaviour. Socialisation, ability to learn, and habit, among other factors, also play a role.

The following examples have been selected to show the complexity of behaviour in general and to illustrate how basic behaviour patterns can be transferred to transport behaviour in particular.

Energy optimisation

Energy optimisation means that living beings select the shortest distance (the lowest expenditure of energy in return for the greatest benefit) to meet their basic needs.

Hermann Knoflacher, Professor of Transport Studies, Vienna:

People are biologically programmed to preserve their physical energy. Therefore, it is almost ‘cruel’ to enable people to optimise their energy expenditure by offering them the shortest route to an underground car park, while on the other hand forcing them to use far more energy by getting to the nearest public transport station. As a result, traffic planning should take into account basic biological insights and therefore car parks and public transport stops should be located at an equal distance from people’s places of residence.

Hunting and gathering

It can be assumed that people have developed certain survival strategies over the millennia and have retained them up to the present day. This includes behaviour such as hunting and gathering.

Transferring this to mobility, it means that modes of transport that enable people to vent their hunting instincts, i.e. individual means of transport, have an advantage over other transport modes. Mobility cannot be gathered, but potential mobility can be kept in store, for example in the form of owning a vehicle or a public transport travel pass. As an alternative to owning a car, the optimal possibility would be a travel card providing mobility by means of public transport, car sharing, bicycle use, etc.

Mentality / transport culture

The residents of different countries and regions have developed varying histories and therefore different cultures.

In the area of mobility this means that strategies and methods of transport cannot be easily transferred from one region to another. For example, in Romance countries, the attachment to private vehicles in everyday life is much stronger than in German-speaking countries. In Romance countries, the bicycle is seen much more as an item to be used for recreation or sport than for everyday travel needs. In northern countries, regulatory intrusions into the transport system are more widely accepted than in southern countries.

Feelings of pleasure as an emotional behaviour

Colours, shapes, and lighting conditions, as well as aesthetic impressions, such as green plants or water in various forms, can lead to feelings of pleasure.

In the area of mobility, cleanliness is also an important factor. Dirty bus stops and stations, for example, significantly reduce a person’s desire to be in that place.

Fascination (excitement) as an emotional behaviour

Fascination results from complexity, novelty, surprise, ambiguity, and uncertainty. A diverse environment with many opportunities to make new discoveries and encounter new and unusual situations can therefore be characterised as fascinating or exciting.

A high level of traffic density, sharp curves, heated passenger compartments, and high noise levels contribute to the degree of excitement in the area of transport, along with the wide range of different types of cars.

A crucial difference between the car and public transport is that when driving a car, the situation is enjoyable and exciting, while public transport tends to be viewed as a dull environment. As a result, even negative phenomena such as traffic chaos and congestion are often not considered as repellent as they initially would seem to be viewed.

The opportunity to influence situations

Having an influence and (passive and active) control over a situation, such as the opportunity to decide freely between various possibilities, is a fundamental part of human behaviour. Passive control refers to feeling secure in a certain area. Active control means actually selecting a possibility.

The occupant of a car has a good view of the surrounding traffic situation and can rely on a comprehensive system of signposts, which provides a high level of passive control. The level of active control, however, is even more significant. The car driver influences not only the route taken, but also the speed, temperature, and ventilation inside the vehicle. In addition, the car represents a private territory into which one can retreat and in which – in addition to driving – one can do other things as well, such as listening to music, speaking on the telephone, smoking, etc.

A passenger using public transport has far fewer options with regard to control. As far as passive control is concerned, there is often a lack of knowledge regarding journey times and routes, and passengers must obtain, read, and understand timetables in order to gain a certain level of passive control.

In terms of active control, however, modes of public transport allow relatively little room for varying behaviour (as, for example, departure times and routes are fixed). This drawback could be alleviated by sufficient room in the vehicle interior, a variable arrangement of seats, and additional service offerings, for example, for children.

Costs as a material behavioural factor

Travel involves costs, and for travellers, it has a certain price. Part of this cost is borne by the person travelling, while another part is borne by the general public (external costs).

The costs involved in using various modes of transport are not always clearly discernible. For example, the use of a car involves both fixed costs (e.g. the initial purchase price, insurance, etc.) and variable costs (petrol, tyres, servicing, etc.). For public transport, either only fixed costs, such as an annual or monthly travel pass, or only variable costs, such as individual tickets, are incurred.

Often, the variable costs for cars (petrol) are compared to the full price of tickets for individual journeys by public transport, which leads to a distorted picture.

Another phenomenon is the varying perception of costs in the mind of the passenger or potential passenger. Public transport costs, for example, are estimated as being 20% to 30% higher than they actually are, while the costs of using a car are underestimated by around 30%.

The fact that the influence of costs on transport behaviour is very often overestimated becomes apparent in cases where public transport has been provided at zero charge. For example, during times of high smog levels in the city of Graz, people could use public transport at zero charge, which was heavily advertised in the media but led to almost no car drivers switching to public transport. Only pedestrians ended up taking advantage of the offer.

The employees of the Austrian Federal Railways are another example. They are all entitled to use the entire train system free of charge, yet their choice of leisure transport shows hardly any deviation from the transport choices made by the average person.

Safety as a material behavioural factor

Safety exists when there is a high level of probability of retaining physical and mental integrity in a particular situation.

The chance of an occupant of a car being involved in a traffic accident resulting in personal injury is twenty to thirty times higher than that of users of public transport. The public, however, estimates this safety advantage as being only two to three times higher. That means that public transport is not perceived as being as safe as it really is, while car transport is viewed in exactly the opposite way.