IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwirep/328239.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Modal split perceptions and preferences for public funding

Author

Listed:
  • Helmers, Viola

Abstract

Using data from a 2024 survey among 3,052 participants in Germany, this study looks at the modal split indicator from the perspective of laypersons. This indicator is often used to communicate local mobility goals with the public. We investigate whether people are able to guess the modal split distribution in their locale, which modal split would be ideal in their view, and how these perceptions influence opinions on public spending for transportation. We also examine whether showing examples of real modal splits to a random subset of participants influences accuracy or any of our other markers. Results indicate that participants have some trouble guessing modal split proportions, and that the examples did not significantly improve this. For example, only 17% of participants' guesses for the car share are within 5 percentage points of the real split. However, 85.6% of participants would like the share of car trips to be lower by on average 22.2 percentage points (mean perceived car share is 55.2%). Additionally, introducing people to the concept of the modal split without also giving real world reference points negatively influences the amount of public funds they would like to be assigned to sustainable transportation modes.

Suggested Citation

  • Helmers, Viola, 2025. "Modal split perceptions and preferences for public funding," Ruhr Economic Papers 1173, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:328239
    DOI: 10.4419/96973358
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/328239/1/1937844919.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.4419/96973358?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elmar Fürst & Maria Dieplinger, 2014. "The acceptability of road pricing in Vienna: the preference patterns of car drivers," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 765-784, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Faure, Corinne & Guetlein, Marie-Charlotte & Schleich, Joachim & Tu, Gengyang & Whitmarsh, Lorraine & Whittle, Colin, 2022. "Household acceptability of energy efficiency policies in the European Union: Policy characteristics trade-offs and the role of trust in government and environmental identity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    2. Papadima, Georgia & Genitsaris, Evangelos & Karagiotas, Ioannis & Naniopoulos, Aristotelis & Nalmpantis, Dimitrios, 2020. "Investigation of acceptance of driverless buses in the city of Trikala and optimization of the service using Conjoint Analysis," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Mohamad Shatanawi & Fatma Abdelkhalek & Ferenc Mészáros, 2020. "Urban Congestion Charging Acceptability: An International Comparative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-15, June.
    4. Frondel, Manuel & Helmers, Viola & Sommer, Stephan, 2025. "Fostering the acceptance of congestion charges: Experimental evidence for Europe," Ruhr Economic Papers 1148, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    5. Juan Gomez & Anestis Papanikolaou & José Manuel Vassallo, 2017. "Users’ perceptions and willingness to pay in interurban toll roads: identifying differences across regions from a nationwide survey in Spain," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 449-474, May.
    6. Dieplinger, Maria & Fürst, Elmar, 2014. "The acceptability of road pricing: Evidence from two studies in Vienna and four other European cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 10-18.
    7. Gomez, Juan & Papanikolaou, Anestis & Vassallo, José Manuel, 2016. "Measuring regional differences in users' perceptions towards interurban toll roads," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 22-33.
    8. Glavic, Drazenko & Milos, Mladenovic & Luttinen, Tapio & Cicevic, Svetlana & Trifunovic, Aleksandar, 2017. "Road to price: User perspectives on road pricing in transition country," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 79-94.
    9. Meeghat Habibian & Ali Rezaei, 2017. "Accounting for systematic heterogeneity across car commuters in response to multiple TDM policies: case study of Tehran," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 681-700, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:rwirep:328239. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.