Alone in the car, but together in traffic : the determinants of solo driving and carpooling at the Avignon Festival[Seul en voiture, mais ensemble dans les embouteillages : les déterminants de l’autosolisme et du covoiturage au Festival d'Avignon]

This article explores the factors influencing festival-goers' modal choices between individual car use, carpooling, and soft mobility. The latter is based on a survey of 3,123 festival-goers during the 2024 Avignon Festival. It aims to identify courses of action to limit single-occupant car use in event contexts. It compares single-occupant car use with alternatives such as carpooling (with family or friends) or soft mobility (walking, cycling, scooters). Using a multivariate probit model, it identifies that modal choices are strongly dependent on sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, etc.) and subjective preferences regarding car use (simplicity, flexibility, etc.). The main results reveal the importance of this subjectivity in modal choices. Indeed, perceived simplicity acts as an ambivalent lever, promoting carpooling and single-occupant car use, but hindering soft mobility. Flexibility refers as much to autonomy as to effective social coordination, while comfort remains a key driver of single-occupant car use. Finally, habit, often associated with individual car use, tends to favor family carpooling in this case. These results make an original contribution to understanding modal choices in event contexts by showing how stated motivations and social representations structure mobility practices.