Passenger transport demand

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Topics: Transport ,

Assessment made on 01 Jan 2002

Note: new version is available!

Jan 18, 2011 - Passenger transport demand (CSI 035) - Assessment published Jan 2011

Generic metadata

Classification

Transport (Primary theme)

Tags:

TERM012 | TERM

DPSIR: Driving force

Identification

Indicator codes

TERM 012

Geographical coverage:

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Contents

Policy issue: Break the link between economic growth and passenger transport growth.

Key messages

Passenger transport demand remains closely linked to economic growth in the EU . Passenger transport is also growing in the ACs, but data are insufficient to quantify this.
Passenger transport is shifting to road and air in the EU and the ACs

Figures

Passenger transport demand and GDP (EU) Passenger transport (passenger-km) includes car, bus/coach, rail, tram/metro and domestic, intra- and extra-European aviation

Modal split in inland passenger transport in EU, 1999

Modal split in inland passenger transport in two ACs, 1999

Evolution of passenger-km by rail and bus/coach, GDP per capita and car ownership, AC-13 Passenger-km by bus/coach is based on data from Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia and only available from 1993 onwards

Key assessment

The common transport policy recognises that growth in passenger transport, as well as in freight transport, needs to be restrained to alleviate congestion problems and environmental pressures. Trends in passenger transport in the EU, as well as the ACs, seem to run counter to this objective.

Statistics on individual mobility by car are lacking for the ACs. However, rapidly growing car ownership levels, the decline in rail and public transport and the increase in transport energy consumption indicate dramatically growing car transport. For example, average car ownership in the ACs (excluding Turkey) increased from 146 per 1 000 inhabitants in 1990 to 223 in 1998. Growth in car transport is highest in the ACs bordering on or near the EU, which are also those with the highest GDP per capita.

National and international air transport in the AC-10 has risen by 17 % since 1993 (no sufficient statistics available before 1993). Only Bulgaria and Romania show a decrease in the number of passenger-km by air.

In the EU, passenger transport increased by around 18 % between 1991 and 1999, remaining closely linked to economic growth. Rail transport grew by 8 % and bus/coach transport by 3 % over the same period. Aviation (national and international) is the fastest growing transport mode with a growth of 60 % since 1993.

Data on non-motorised mobility (walking and cycling) are extremely scarce for the EU as well as the ACs and need to be improved.