When it comes to designing mobility in a more sustainable and more environmentally-friendly way, we often think about expanding and restructuring mobility systems: more local public transport in rural areas, widespread charging infrastructure for electric mobility, more offers for sharing bikes or electric vehicles. Such changes require the population’s support and willingness to adapt because they have a real impact on people’s habits and lives.

In view of the increasing effects of the climate crisis, the current political situation in Germany and Europe, and the associated debate about social cohesion, we were interested in finding out what the state of the mood is in society concerning the transformation of the transport sector: How much consensus (or lack of consensus) is there among people about the current approaches to transforming the transport sector? What are the potential drivers of collective changes in mobility? 

Subdued support for the transformation of transport – attitudes are influenced by habits and the access to infrastructures 

In general, those taking part in our study were cautious to negative about the transformation of transport. There are slight differences between urban and rural areas and between the two German federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.

However, the largest and most significant differences are between frequent and infrequent drivers: People who rarely drive are generally more convinced about the transformation of transport. At the same time, all the groups agree that private car use will continue to play an important role in the future.

We interpret the findings as follows: Better access to infrastructure for alternative mobility is correlated with a more positive attitude toward transforming mobility. Outside urban areas, where access to alternative forms of mobility is often poorer, people are also more skeptical about how these could work. It should be taken into account that habits and transport preferences probably already play a role when choosing where to live – people who drive a car, own one, or can imagine owning one, are more likely to move to more rural areas.   

The threat to social cohesion is discernible  

Participants have a rather negative perception of social cohesion in Germany. There are slight differences between the federal states: In Baden-Württemberg, people rate social cohesion on average slightly more positively than in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. In addition, there is a more positive perception in urban areas than in rural regions. It is important to note that more people live in rural regions in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania than in Baden-Württemberg: Almost one in two in the northeastern state compared to one in five in the southwestern state – so these two factors overlap.

On the whole, people agree on how they perceive things and see the risk of a social divide. At the same time, the respondents in our sample feel largely accepted in Germany – while simultaneously feeling they are being disadvantaged by the government. This indicates political disaffection. 

Policy measures benefit from greater social cohesion

How people perceive social cohesion and support policy measures are connected: If someone has a more positive perception of cohesion, they also give greater support to all the policy measures included in the questionnaire. Only two mobility measures are unaffected by the perception of social cohesion: the Deutschland-Ticket, which is the most popular measure across all four rounds of the MobilKULT study, and the abolition of company car privileges in Germany.

It is unclear how implementing measures would affect those experiencing doubts about social cohesion. Would this reinforce these doubts? Or could it raise the level of trust, especially if it concerns popular measures like car-free city centers?

Continuity in the acceptance of policy measures and the car culture

Having now completed the fourth round of the survey, we are able to identify considerable continuity: The Deutschland-Ticket is the most popular measure and has contributed to a shift in mobility from cars to local public transport. There has been little change in how the analyzed transport policy measures are rated: Car-free city centers, speed limits on highways and compulsory working from home are the measures that are rated best across all the survey rounds, together with the Deutschland-Ticket.

The perception of car culture has also remained unchanged across the different rounds – which indicates that the role cars play has not really changed in people’s perceptions. At the same time, identification with cars is consistently low across the rounds of the survey. However, for many people, driving means having freedom and independence in their daily lives and the opportunity to realize personal housing preferences.  

Implement measures to make the transformation of the transport sector tangible

So far, the transformation of the transport sector is not really tangible and has hardly any effect on people’s daily lives. The Deutschland-Ticket is the exception. It is very popular and encourages those using it to choose sustainable transport – even though its introduction has not been accompanied by improvements in the services offered so far.

The majority of the population also support other measures including car-free city centers, a speed limit on highways, and the promotion of working from home to avoid work-related travel.