Passenger transport demand

Total passenger transport demand (pkm) including road, rail, air and sea in the EU-28 countries (excl. Croatia) increased by 11 % between 2000 and 2011. However, an estimate based on 2012 fuel consumption data suggests that passenger transport demand may have declined between 2011 and 2012. In all non-EU EEA Member States, growth in road and rail pkm was above EU-28 average. In Turkey, pkm in 2011 was almost 1.5 times higher than in 2000. In Iceland, pkm grew by 27 % and in Norway and Switzerland by between 17 % and 18 %, respectively.

In terms of land based passenger transport, from 2000 to 2011, growth in the EU-15 countries was 6 % and in the EU-13 30 %. However, from 2008 onwards there has been little land passenger transport growth, across all modes, both in the EU-15 and the EU-13 countries. In terms of contributions from different modes, there are also differences between the EU-15 and the EU-13 countries.

Car passenger km demand in the EU-15 increased by only 5 % over the 2000 to 2011 period, and actually fell 1.4 % between 2009 and 2011. This reflects the stabilisation of car demand in Western Europe (and the United States) which has been the subject of much research.

In contrast car passenger km in the EU-13 rose by 53 % between 2000 and 2011. This strong growth is due to the much lower levels of car ownership and use compared to the EU-15 at the start of this period, combined with strong GDP growth. Accession to the EU has also made it easier to import second hand vehicles from neighbouring countries.

Overall, car journeys are by far the dominant mode accounting for over 80 % of EU-15 and EU-13 land passenger kilometres, and 73 % of all internal EU-28 passenger transport kilometres, including land, air and sea (excluding Croatia). In Norway and Iceland, the car’s modal share is close to 90 % of land passenger transport.

Regarding growth in rail and bus passenger demand there are strong differences among EEA Member States. For rail, growth was 17 % for the EU-15 over the 2000 to 2011 time period with France and the UK accounting for the greatest increases in rail pkm. In contrast, in the EU-13 rail pkm decreased by 27 % over the same period. The modal share of rail in passenger land transport declined continuously, from 13 % in 1995, to 10 % in 2000 to 5 % in 2011. Thus, despite the historically prominent role of train travel in Eastern Europe the modal share of rail transport in the EU-13 is now significantly lower than in the EU-15. This trend needs to be reversed if the EU’s Transport White Paper target of the majority of medium distance (intercity) passenger transport going by rail in 2050 is to be met. Switzerland has the highest rail mode share in the EEA-33. It increased from around 14 % to around 18 % between 2000 and 2011.

EU-15 countries have invested heavily in high-speed rail (HSR) since 2000, increasing track capacity by over 150 %, resulting in an increase in passenger-km by HSR of almost 80 % (DG MOVE, 2012). Despite the growth in pkm the modal share of rail transport (relative to total land transport) in the EU-15 has remained fairly stable at around 7 % over the past decade (6.7 % in 2000 to 7.3 % in 2011).  

For bus travel, similar patterns were seen: in the EU-15, the share of pkm by bus and coach remained fairly stable at 8 % to 9 % over the 2000 to 2011 time period while the modal share of bus and coach transport in the EU-13 strongly declined from 22 % in 1995 to 11 % in 2011. Turkey’s 44 % mode share of busses and coaches is by far the highest among the EEA-33. Total pkm by bus and coach in Turkey have increased although the much faster increase in car pkm led to a drop in the relative share which was still at 60 % in 1995.

Air transport is the sector with the greatest growth over the period 2000 to 2011, increasing by 25 % in the EU-28 (excl. Croatia; DG MOVE, 2013). Aviation in the EU showed annual increases of between 3.5 to 4 % until the recent economic recession. However, total passenger kilometres fell by nearly 9 % between 2007 and 2009. In 2011, it saw strong growth again and reached similar levels to 2007. However, in 2012, the number of flight movements in the EU-28 (excl. Croatia) decreased by 3 % and are forecast to decrease by a further 0.5 % to 3.6 % in 2013. It therefore seems likely that air passenger kilometres will also have dropped. However, despite the recent slow-down, positive growth rates of between around 1 % and 3.5 % per year are forecast from 2014 onwards.

At the EU-28 level (excl. Croatia) GDP and passenger transport demand grew at similar rates. However, developments in the EU-15 are quite different to the EU-13. In the EU-15, greater relative decoupling occurred for car use, with GDP growing faster than car transport demand. This is linked, in part, to modal shift – demand for rail grew faster than GDP. In contrast, in the EU-13, there has been little or even negative decoupling with car pkm and GDP growing at similar rates over the past 15 years. However, while EU-13 GDP fell between 2008 and 2009 car pkm kept increasing. Therefore, in recent years, between 2008 and 2011, car pkm per Euro of GDP in the EU-13 was higher than during the late 1990s.

Between 2000 and 2011, the EU-13 converged towards the EU-15 in its modal split. This entailed a strong shift from buses and railways to cars. The share of cars in passenger kilometres in the EU-13 is now similar to that in the EU-15. In the EU-13, in particular, the decline of rail and bus passenger demand in both relative and absolute terms is remarkable. Total rail passenger kilometres in the EU-13 have fallen by a third over the past 15 years and the share of rail transport is now lower than in the EU-15. Bus passenger kilometres in the EU-13 have also fallen by over 20 % in the same period.