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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.

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Car use in modern cities with a well-developed public transit is more sophisticated to explain only through hard factors such as sociodemographic characteristics. In cities, it is especially important to consider motives for car use. Therefore, we examined two modern cities with a high modal share of non-motorized modes and public transit to answer the question: How do the affective and instrumental motives influence car use in such cities? The used data set was collected in Berlin and San Francisco. To investigate the role of motives, we applied an ordered hybrid choice model (OHCM) with a probit kernel. Based on the OHCM we explained more than 14% of the overall heterogeneity and gave further insights to the decision-making process. The affective motive had a strong influence on car use frequency, whereby the instrumental aspects did not matter. Furthermore, an effect resulting from age could not be determined for the affective motives in these cities. Results suggest people are more likely to use cars for affective motives despite the city’s adversities. For these people it is difficult to achieve a shift to alternative means of transport. The only way to intervene here is through regulatory intervention.

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Background The car has so far played an important role for transporting goods. However, new services emerging from e-commerce may increasingly reduce its relevance as the transporting of goods might no longer be a reason for car use. As a result, e-commerce or the delivery of goods by third-parties can function as potential supplement for car-free households and support a car-free lifestyle. To assess this potential, appropriate segmentation to subgroups is needed to better understand differences in shopping behavior and the linked role of the car. Methods The presented study from Munich (Germany) provides a comprehensive approach by applying a latent class analysis. The classification revealed six distinct classes with differences in shopping behavior as well as sociodemographic and spatial characteristics. To asses underlying motivations, this approach is complemented through relating the latent classes to attitudes towards shopping and mode choice. Findings Results show that those people who frequently use their cars also have an affinity for frequent online shopping. This relationship should be considered when discussing whether e-commerce can promote a car-free lifestyle.

To counteract climate change, electric vehicles are replacing vehicles with internal combustion engine on the automotive market. Therefore, electric vehicles must be accepted and used like conventional vehicles. This study aims to investigate to which extent electric vehicles are already being used like conventional vehicles. To do this, we present a supervised method where we combine usage data from conventional vehicles (from car use model based on survey data) and electric vehicles (from sensor data) in Germany and California. Based on conventional vehicles, eight car usage profiles were defined by hierarchical clustering in a previous study. Using a softmax regression, we estimate for each electric vehicle a probability of assignment for every car usage profile. Comparison of conventional and electric vehicles with a high probability reveals that electric vehicles are used similar for long-distance travel (>100 km) and different for short-distance travel (<10 km) to conventional vehicles. This implies that electric vehicles are indeed used for long-distance travel but are still not entirely used for everyday mobility. This could be because electric vehicles are not yet suitable for all trip purposes (e.g., transport of larger items).

Routines and mandatory activities, such as work and school, shape the activity patterns of individuals and strongly influence travel demand. Knowledge about stability and variability of these routines could strengthen travel demand modelling and forecasting. A longitudinal perspective is required to investigate these aspects. In this study, the activity patterns of a sample of people is compared for one week in two successive years. It is analyzed whether the activity patterns of a given person vary from year to year, to what degree, and how this variability and stability can be measured. It is considered whether socio-demographic factors and life events determine stability in weekly activity patterns. The study is based on the representative panel survey, German Mobility Panel. The weekly activity patterns of the same respondents in different years is assessed, using two methods to measure stability and variability. The survey respondents are clustered into three groups according to the degree of variability in their activity patterns. A logistic regression model is also used to identify socio-economic and demographic covariates for similarity in weekly activity patterns. Results show that about one-third of the sample had the same or very similar weekly activity patterns in the two years examined. A person’s occupation status is a good predictor for the variability of activity patterns. Moreover, persons undergoing a change in occupation status are quite likely to show a greater variability in their activity patterns.