What drives service traffic? An empirical research on corporate travel behaviour

Kurzfassung

Urban traffic is frequently characterized by congested roads. Passenger vehicles, light and heavy duty trucks cause traffic holdups, emit noise, contribute to air pollution (e.g. CO2, PM10 and NOX) and thus burden today’s society, environment and economy (cf. EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 2010). Service traffic like facility management, home care, maintenance, consultant services, gardening etc. generates up to 20 % of urban road traffic (SENATSVERWALTUNG FÜR STADTENTWICKLUNG 2003, p. 32). Very limited research has been done on service traffic though. It is the objective of the research presented in this contribution to help closing this gap. Specifically the paper addresses the question whether and what corporate characteristics can be linked to specific travel patterns. The work is based on an analysis of travel behaviour of firms in Germany. The methodology applies descriptive and multivariate statistics, based on data from two national surveys. The analysis of this data allows the identification of specific travel patterns of service traffic and the development of a factor model that reflects the link between characteristics of firms and corporate travel behaviour. First results indicate a clear relation between traffic patterns, economic sectors and the geographical position of customers.