Passenger transport demand by mode and purpose

Key messages

• Statistics on passenger car transport volume are lacking, but trends in public transport demand, car ownership levels and (road) transport energy consumption indicate that passenger transport demand (in terms of passenger-kilometres) increased in the acceding countries between 1990 and 1999. Air transport and private car transport were contributing most significant to this growth. Bus and rail transport fell substantially.

• Passenger transport (in terms of passenger-km) grew at the same rate as GDP in the 1991-2000 period. Recently, between 1999 and 2000 a slight decoupling of economic development and passenger transport demand is visible. This decoupling is caused by a decrease in the demand for private car transport in Germany and the United Kingdom. However, the EU-wide passenger transport demand still increases, particularly in air transport.

• Rail and bus/coach transport, which historically dominated the transport system, have lost a great deal of their shares during the period of transition in the acceding (AC) and candidate countries (CC). The share of rail and bus/coach transport is still higher in most AC/CCs than in the EU, but this difference is becoming smaller. Private car transport dominated passenger transport with around 73 % in 2000. The distribution of passenger transport over the main modes is diverging from the CTP policy objectives on the preservation of bus/coach and rail transport.

• Passenger transport continues to be dominated by car, with a share of 81 % ( ) of total passenger-kilometres in the EU-15. The share of air transport continues to increase strongly. Bus/coach and rail transport slightly lost share during the 1991-2000 period, moving away from the objective of stabilising the shares of the alternative modes (CTP). However, these shares increase again slightly since 1999.