The paths taken by the people of Munich are varied. In 2017, the Infas Institute in Bonn asked people across Germany about their mobility behavior. 29,000 people from Munich and the surrounding area also took part in the survey. Among other things, the survey found that 33 percent of young people in the city of Munich between the ages of 18 and 29 named local public transport as their preferred way of getting around; only 22 percent preferred to use the car. In the case of the elderly, however, things looked different. Of 40 to 49 year olds, 32 percent preferred to drive by car, only 21 percent of them publicly. Back then, the people of Munich stated that they covered an average of 12.5 kilometers a day, in the surrounding area it was 13.9 kilometers. Car co-drivers (25.8) drove the longest distances, followed by self-drive (18.9) and public transport users (18.6). The average bike route was 3.6 kilometers long, the footpath 1.4 kilometers. In the surrounding area, public transport played a bigger role than the car at 24.6 kilometers: 17.6 km for self-drivers and 18.9 for passengers.
As far as the distribution of the means of transport, the so-called modal split, is concerned, 18 percent of all respondents in the city of Munich said they preferred cycling on their daily trips, while 24 percent preferred to travel by car, scooter or motorcycle – what is called “motorized individual transport “(MIV) is summarized. Ten percent are MIV co-drivers, 24 percent are pedestrians, and another 24 percent are public transport users.
The study “Mobility in Germany” with regional results for the area of the Munich Transport and Tariff Association (MVV) is available on the homepage of the mobility department at muenchenunterwegs.de and the MVV at mvv-muenchen.de. The user behavior is listed here in detail. Among other things, it can be learned that in 2017 in the MVV area in everyday traffic a total of around five million tonnes of CO₂ was generated, 80 percent of which was accounted for by motorized individual traffic and around 20 percent by public transport (including local and long-distance transport, coach, Shipping and air traffic). On average, this resulted in a value of around five kilograms of CO₂ per person per day. For the city of Munich, the relevant value is around four kilograms. Munich’s mobility officer Georg Dunkel admits that the routes and usage behavior have changed significantly due to the corona pandemic. “It remains to be seen whether this will result in lasting changes in the mobility behavior of the Munich population,” said Dunkel. The results of the study showed, however, that people in Munich are making more and more trips by bike and public transport in their everyday traffic – which is a positive development. In order to counteract the increased use of motorized individual transport, the expansion of local public transport and cycling is necessary, said Dunkel.
MVV managing director Bernd Rosenbusch still considers the results to be informative, even if they are older: “They help us to correctly classify the current change in mobility behavior – but also to plan even stronger measures in the long term towards more environmentally friendly transport. “
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