Consumption and the environment (SOER2010) - European ...

Thematic assessment | Consumption and the environment
6 Mobility
6.1 Trends in mobility demand and
modal split
In this section, mobility includes life‐cycle based
environmental pressures from passenger transport. This
means pressures from the provision of transport services
for passengers — railways, metro, buses, airlines,
taxis, ferries and cruise services; transport equipment
purchased by households — cars, motor cycles, etc.;
extraction and delivery of fuel for private transport as
well as direct environmental pressures from the use of
private vehicles — exhaust emissions. Freight transport
is not included except for the transport of transport
equipment and fuel.
Europeans are moving further and faster than ever
before. The number of kilometres travelled by people
in the 32 EEA member countries increased by 20 %
between 1995 and 2007 or roughly 1.5 % per year
over the past decade, slightly below growth in GDP,
and although there are variations between countries,
passenger kilometres continue to grow overall across all
EEA member countries (EEA, 2010a).
Not all transport modes show similar growth. While
road and particularly air transport demand has
increased significantly, use of trains, buses and coaches
in the EU‐27 has increased at a much slower rate
(Figure 6.1). Cars remain the dominant mode, with
a 72 % share of passenger kilometres in the EU‐27,
excluding Cyprus and Malta, in 2007. Bus and coach
travel have decreased slightly from a share of more
than 9 % in 1995 to 8 % in 2007. Intra‐EU air transport
increased to a 9 % share of total passenger kilometres in
2007, while trains, trams and metros now account for 7 %
of passenger kilometres (EEA, 2010a).
Interestingly, while the use of rail has remained stable
overall, high‐speed trains are among the transport
modes that have recently seen the highest growth rates,
with passenger kilometres increasing by 180 % in the
EU‐27 between 1995 and 2007 (EC, 2009a) driven by
the expansion of the high‐speed network. The share of
high‐speed transport of total rail passenger transport
kilometres in the EU‐27 increased to 23.3% in 2007
(EC, 2009a). In some cases, such as France, the expansion
of the high‐speed network has been successful in
reducing the demand for air travel (EEA, 2008).
Figure 6.1
Note:
%
5
4
3
2
1
0
– 1
Overall passenger
transport
Passenger cars
Average annual growth rates
for passenger transport,
EU‐27, 1995–2007
* Sea and Air only include intra‐EU traffic. Estimates
are made by the European Commission based on
airport‐to‐airport data collected under Regulation
(EC) 437/2003 and port‐to‐port data collected under
Council Directive 95/64/EC.
Source: EC, 2009a.
Tram and metro
Railway
Bus and coach
Air *
Sea *
The demand for mobility and the choice of transport
mode is driven by a variety of distinct factors
including socio‐economic ones, income and prices;
socio‐demographic, family size and structure; spatial
and infrastructural, population density, distance between
home and work place; and cultural factors, image and
status (EEA, 2008).
One important driver of increased mobility demand is the
increase in car ownership. In the EU‐27, this increased by
35 % in the period 1990–2007 (EC, 2009a) and average car
ownership in EEA member countries in 2008 was 419 cars
per 1 000 inhabitants (EEA, 2010b). A further driver is
the expansion of transport infrastructure, particularly
motorways. In the period 1990–2005 total transport
networks in the EU‐27 grew by 3 %, while the length of
motorways increased by 47 % (Eurostat, 2009).
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The European environment | State and outlook 2010