Eco-driving

Handout 5

Does car driving increase our

mobility?
Part 2a / Exercise 6
What does it mean to be mobile?
Does speed influence our mobility and does car driving increase it?
One might think that the use of cars leads to greater mobility, giving us the option to reach more
destinations in shorter time.
However, when looking at historical records of the average travel time per day and the average number of trips per day, we see that these figures have been almost unchanged over the
centuries:1

The total travel time budget of just over 1 hour a day is apparently the same as it was in
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ancient Rome (approximetly 2,000 years ago).

Likewise, the average number of trips per person and day is just over 3.
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In this context, a trip means a journey from home to work or from work to shopping or from the
leisure time activities back home.
Of course, there might be big differences among different groups of persons (e. g. depending on
age) and also differences from one day to another (e. g. weekdays vs. weekends). On average,
these values are surprisingly stable and identical in societies with and without cars on different
continents.
For example, it is possible to compare people using a car and people using public transport in Vienna. It is even possible to compare people using a bicycle in China and people without any vehicle in Africa.
1 Regularities in Travel Demand: An International Perspective. Source: Schafer, Andreas (2000)

LEVEL

B2

TOGETHER_Eco-driving_5_Handout 05.pdf

Eco-driving

Handout 5
In all countries, people have the same daily travel destinations: They primarily travel to
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school or work, to do the shopping and for leisure activities like meeting friends and doing sports.
In most cases the car is going at higher speeds than pedestrians, cyclists or people using public
transport.

So, is the person with a car able to reach his/her destination quicker than the person
without a car?

We see that all persons are travelling one hour a day on average.
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Thus, people using a car are not quicker.

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Is the person with a car making more trips a day because the car is so fast and gives the
opportunity to reach more destinations in the same time?

We see that all persons make only three trips on average per day.
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Thus, people using a car are not doing more trips a day and therefore, are not more mobile
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than persons without a car.

In societies with lots of cars, people reach the same number of destinations in the same time
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as before the introduction of cars.

Basically, our mobility has not changed with the introduction of the car!
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So what has changed?

The higher speed of the car gives us the opportunity to cover a longer distance in the same time.

Therefore, the distance of trips has changed.

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50 years ago an average trip was 2km, now it has increased to approximately 15km.
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As a result of all this, we cover larger distances faster in order to reach the same number of destinations in the same time.
This corresponds with the common experience that we are, despite the constantly improved
transport modes, more and more rushed.
LEVEL

B2

TOGETHER_Eco-driving_5_Handout 05.pdf