Abstract
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.
Highlights
This study identified eight urban mobility styles by using data from a multidimensional survey approach and by applying a cluster analysis with both behavioral and attitudinal characteristics as segmentation criteria
We found mobility styles who choose a particular mode of transportation out of conviction, and other mobility styles, who are led to the use of a particular mode of transportation by “external” constraints
These findings allow for a deeper understanding of mobility and the derivation of potentials for influencing these mobility styles with the goal of a more sustainable mobility in cities
Summary
Given the persistently high level of car traffic in cities, decision-makers have the responsibility to make an important contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector in accordance with the Paris Declaration. Restrictions, such as road pricing and parking management, are intended to limit car ownership as well as car use and instead promote multimodal behavior with bicycle and public transit use. Beyond car restrictions to induce a shift to other modes of transportation, the powertrain technology transformation to battery electric vehicles (BEV) is a promising development for unavoidable car use. Car ownership depends on long-distance travel and represents a key challenge for electric mobility
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