Identifying mobility segments for leisure travel: A cluster analysis based on a one-month travel survey

Despite awareness of the negative consequences of car use, leisure trips are still often made by car. A better understanding of the potential for a transition to more sustainable transport behaviour requires more knowledge about the differences in car use between individuals and leisure trip purposes. As a basis for this, individuals were clustered into six car-oriented and five non-car-oriented leisure mobility segments based on data from a one-month app-based travel survey. The clusters differ substantially with respect to the cluster-forming variables including car trip characteristics, mode choice, and leisure trip purposes. The clusters also differ regarding spatial, sociodemographic, and socioeconomic characteristics, especially between car-oriented and non-car-oriented clusters. However, for self-reported data about priorities in life and basic human values there are no major differences between the clusters. One interesting finding is that car-oriented and non-car-oriented clusters make leisure trips to the same extent, indicating that both groups have a similar wish or need to travel for leisure purposes but that they choose different transport modes to get to their destinations. Also, there is great variety in car use even among the car-oriented clusters. Taking these differences into consideration, a variety of measures and economic incentives targeted towards specific mobility segments are needed to reduce car use for leisure trips.