Uwe Kunert

Design Characteristics of National Travel Surveys: International Comparison for 10 Countries

In Germany a national travel survey (NTS) was planned for 2002 and was preceded by a pilot study in 2001. As part of this pilot study the state of the practice for NTS in several countries was examined through contact with relevant institutions and persons via the Internet. A structured questionnaire was used for these consultations. The participants in nine countries provided the relevant information describing their NTS. It was found that the core substance of the data gathered by the NTS is similar and that different additional aspects of travel may be covered in the surveys. However, the survey procedures and data collection instruments employed in the fieldwork show wide variety. Numerous survey design elements and combinations thereof are applied (mailback, computer-assisted telephone interviewing, personal interview). Institutional contexts appear to be important for the scope and continuity of the NTS.

About Attitudes and Perceptions: Finding the Proper Way to Consider Latent Variables in Discrete Choice Models

We provide an in-depth theoretical discussion about the differences between attitudes and perceptions, as well as an empirical exercise to analyze its effects. This discussion is of importance, as the large majority of papers considering attitudinal latent variables, just consider those as attributes affecting directly the utility of a certain alternative while systematic taste variations are rarely taken into account and perceptions are normally completely ignored. The results of our case study show that perceptions may indeed affect the decision making process and that they are able to capture a significant part of the variability that is normally explained by alternative specific constants. In the same line, our results indicate that attitudes may be a reason for systematic taste variations, and that a proper categorization of the latent variables, in accordance with the underlying theory, may outperform the customary assumption of linearity.

Methodological Advances in National Travel Surveys: Mobility in Germany 2002

In Germany, a National Travel Survey was conducted in 2002. The paper describes the process needed to make empirical‐based decisions on the main design characteristics of the survey. It outlines the survey operation used in the field during 2002, reports on the relevance of different contact strategies to minimize selectivity and non‐response, and refers to issues of data processing and of dissemination of the data. Finally, some key results are presented.

Weekly mobility of life cycle groups

This paper describes parts of a study of travel by urban residents on seven consecutive days. The conceptual structure of the research understands travel as a demand derived by a dynamic process of individuals and households allocating their budgets to activities within the framework posed by societal regimens. Societal rules have a time dimension which is repetitive with a weekly cycle. Thus, distinctive basic patterns of weekly mobility are expected for segments of the society and differences in the obligation to adhere to those basic patterns. The data used for testing these hypotheses is described and the issue of increasing reporting bias over the diary period is addressed. Sixteen life cycle groups of persons are selected here for the presentation of some findings.The profiles of trip rates for the groups over the seven days of the week (estimated with analysis of covariance) and the decomposition of the variances of trip rates into interindividual, intraindividual and systematic parts (by repeated measurement analysis) are reported. Characteristic differences in the volume of mobility, the shape of profiles and the variance components reflect different patterns of tripmaking for segments of the population over the week. It is concluded that even for well-defined person categories, interpersonal variety of mobility behavior is large but has to be seen in relation to even greater intrapersonal variability. Both components can best be understood within the period of one week which individuals use to organize their mobility.

The Value of a Statistical Life in a Road Safety Context — A Review of the Current Literature

Abstract This paper summarizes the state-of-the-art for assessing the value of a statistical life (VSL) as a component of the costs of road accidents. It focuses on the most popular approaches for assessing the VSL, with respect to its theoretical foundations, current state-of-research and empirical evidence. Our paper also provides a first (to our knowledge) compendium of results for the VSL based on Stated Choice (SC) methods. Among the analysed alternatives, the willingness-to-pay (WTP) appears to be the leading approach for assessing the VSL and the SC methods represent the current state-of-the-art for determining the WTP for non-market goods. We conclude that the SC approach overcomes some of the most important shortcomings of the alternative approaches and offers a significant flexibility that can be used to address its own limitations. We also identify a significant need for research, as a gap between the methods employed in research (SC methods) and the state-of-the-practice (other methods) has emerged.

Prognose des Ersatzinvestitionsbedarfs für die Bundesverkehrswege bis zum Jahre 2020

In Deutschland steigen die zur Substanzerhaltung und zur Modernisierung der Verkehrsinfrastruktur notwendigen Ausgaben nicht zuletzt aufgrund des hohen Anlagevermoegenswertes an. Die Untersuchung des Deutschen Instituts fuer Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW) prognostiziert im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums fuer Verkehr, Bau- und Wohnungswesen den Finanzbedarf fuer den Ersatz und die Erhaltung des Bundesverkehrswegenetzes bei qualifizierter Substanzwertsicherung fuer die Jahre 1999 bis 2020. Empirische Basis der Untersuchung sind die Investitionen und die Entwicklung des Anlagevermoegens aller Bundesverkehrswege - getrennt fuer Ost- und Westdeutschland vom Zeitpunkt der deutschen Einheit bis zum Jahr 1998. Vom Auftraggeber wurden zwei Investitionsvarianten vorgegeben, die Grundlage fuer das DIW-Anlagevermoegensmodell waren. Ergebnisse der Untersuchung sind im einzelnen nach Ost- und Westdeutschland differenzierte Prognosedaten (1999-2020) fuer: Brutto-Anlageinvestitionen, Brutto-Anlagevermoegen, Netto-Anlagevermoegen, Vermoegensabgaenge, Altersstruktur des Brutto-Anlagevermoegens sowie die Entwicklung des Ersatzinvestitionsbedarfs fuer die qualifizierte Substanzwertsicherung der Bundesverkehrswege.

PAST TRENDS AND FUTURE SCENARIOS FOR PASSENGER TRAVEL DEMAND IN REGIONS OF WEST GERMANY

The shape and structure of passenger travel observed in regions of West Germany is very diverse as a result of the personal and household characteristics of the travellers, the settlement structure...

NATIONAL POLICY TOWARDS CARS: THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY

Although much of the early technical development of the automobile occurred in Germany, the spread of car ownership within Germany was relatively slow up to 1933. Besides the general economic situation, this was due to the high costs of purchasing and running a car. With deliberate promotion of automobility by the national‐socialists after 1933, the pace of motorization proceeded more rapidly until the outbreak of World War II. Immediately after the war, motorization was slow to regain momentum but by the middle fifties, after the initial phase of post‐war reconstruction, the rapid build‐up of cars began again and has continued ever since. By 1986, the West German car fleet exceeded 27 million and 80% of motorized passenger kilometres were made by car. This rapid post‐war growth was made possible by a liberal transport policy which reacted to growing car use by adaptation and provision of the necessary infrastructure. The adverse effects of vehicular traffic on the environment and on the urban quality of ...

Ageing and Mobility in Germany: Are Women Taking the Fast Lane?

Results from travel demand research in many countries show that - on average - women are less mobile and have different mobility patterns than men. Recent longitudinal studies of gender specific travel demand reveal converging mobility of males and females. Moreover, in some countries results show convergence between cohort and gender specific travel demand: women and men display more and more similar travel behaviour while older individuals today have higher mobility demands than ever before. Do these developments hold also for Germany? Based on socio-economic and demographic analysis of gender specific travel behaviour using the German mobility survey data from 2002, we ask what individual travel patterns can be expected for the future in the year 2025. We place emphasis on the importance of educational attainment and labour force participation for the assessment of future personal mobility.

Liberalization of the Interurban Coach Market in Germany: Do Attitudes and Perceptions Drive the Choice between Rail and Coach?

In January 2013 the interurban passenger transport market in Germany was liberalized and several coach carriers emerged offering an alternative to the Deutsche Bahn, a state owned rail monopoly. The coach carriers have attempted to position themselves not just through lower prices but also through product differentiation, for example marketing their services as the most ecological way to travel. Hence, it is important to consider attitudes and perceptions when analyzing this market. One year after liberalization we conducted a stated-choice experiment among students and employees at the Technical University of Berlin, where participants had to choose between different interurban public transport alternatives (regional and intercity trains or interurban coaches). Additionally, the experiment gathered perception and attitudinal indicators used to construct latent variables. Our results show that attitudes and perceptions indeed affect the way individuals choose between different transport modes and, therefore, they must be taken into account when analyzing the interurban passenger market in Germany.