Stop & Go

With public transportation, many people can be mobile at the same time. This protects the environment and saves money. Although "public transportation" is very popular, people in Germany still use this form of transport relatively seldom. Many see public transport as an unreliable transportation form due to the many delays and bad connections. Especially in rural areas, the supply is often insufficient. Local public transportation has to be more flexible and individual in future to compete with vehicles.

It has many advantages being on the road with public transportation: protecting the environment, reducing traffic in towns the crowded cities, and contributing to a general change in traffic. Above all: you can customize your stay according to your individual needs. Travel time can be converted into lifetime. Those who do not have to concentrate on the traffic, can use their time spending on a bus and train in a better way. As you can drift away from the state of constant attention on the traffic and dedicate yourself to things that you like to do: closing your eyes, drinking coffee, reading a book or listening to music. Of course, travel time can also be used effectively as working time, if your fellow travelers enable you to work in a concentrated manner.

When we use public transportation, we cannot choose our fellow travellers. You may smell or hear things during a journey, you wished, you had not. Poor air and bad smells are among the most common disruptive factors while travelling by bus or train. In busses and trains people meet each other who have got completely different lifestyles and attitudes. They are inevitably confronted with the behaviour of other passengers.
The spatial limitation compels us to listen to private and intimate conversations. In fact, half of the public transport users feel disturbed by loud phone calls of their fellow passengers. Almost a third is annoyed by music which sounds out of low-quality head-phones.

Cycling is a current trend and is also considered as a practical form of travel. It is a serious alternative to driving and a chance against traffic jams and lack of parking spaces. After various phases of cycling in the past 200 years, this individual and muscle-driven form of mobility is currently receiving particular attention. The selection of different models and individual accessories is huge. Initiatives that politically promote better conditions for cyclists can be found in many places. What will they be able to change?

Nowadays, a bicycle is more than just a bike: cargo bikes can be used for transports over short and medium distances in urban areas. E-bikes support the body during cycling and folding bikes allow a complete mobility chain due to their practical handling. No wonder many people prefer to use a bike instead of a car in traffic.

Together we are strong. The so-called "critical mass" is a worldwide phenomenon. They cycle, on a regular base, as a collective, through the city. Together, the group takes up a large area of the road, which would be otherwise reserved for cars. This concentrated visibility of so many bicycles draws public attention to the importance of cycling.

When you have a job where you are out and about for most of the day, you are talking about job-related mobility. This means that mobility is an integral part of the work task. The duration, frequency, rhythm and framework conditions of mobility are determined on a company basis and can therefore be influenced by operational measures. A train driver or a bicycle courier will cover a distance of many kilometres per day. They face special challenges on a daily basis. If you walk around the city every day for eight hours - like a traffic warden - you may just change your leisure time behaviour.

How do you always stay on track despite routine and monotony? Does the attention level increase with the speed of driving? For suburban train drivers, this is not an option, as they have to pay attention to numerous speed restrictions. These mark danger spots, such as level crossings with poor visibility conditions or are intended to protect special structures near the rail. New and also temporary speed restrictions are added on a weekly base. Paying attention to those is particularly important and must be integrated into the already challenging daily work routine.

Field administrative workers monitoring the stationary traffic walk at least 20,000 steps per day. The city of Dortmund declares about 100,000 warnings in stationary traffic per year - known as "parking tickets". This means only 12 warnings per day per person for 38 active field administrative workers. There is no incentive bonus for a particularly large number of issued warnings.

Almost all workers commute today. There are different forms of mobility and intensities. These are associated with various challenges. Depending on the form of mobility, different demands and strains with different consequences for physical and psychosocial health will appear.

About 20% of the employed need around 30 and 59 minutes to get to work. The long-distance commute starts at travel times of at least 60 minutes each way. Whether commuting is perceived as stress depends on a variety of factors. It is of great significance to be able to plan the journey to and back from work. Motivation is a crucial factor when commuting It is less stressful if the commuter decided voluntarily to commute. Being at the mercy of external constraints and conditions, which imply commuting, can be much more stressful.

The so-called "Overnighter" spend at least 60 nights a year away from home due to professional reasons. Depending on the form of mobility, different requirements and burdens with different consequences for physical and psychosocial health become apparent. Those who only see their family on the weekend feel more uprooted and lonely and have to expect the possibility of a separation more often. In case of secondments, the accompanying relatives are sometimes more affected by the consequences of the posting, as the seconded workers themselves. It is astonishing that nearly 15% of the employed are Overnighters.

Walking is the most original form of human movement. As long as the physical requirements allow it, many people still walk a lot today. Nevertheless, the pedestrian traffic only plays a subordinate role in the design of the traffic areas. Only since a few years pedestrians in traffic are seen as an actual development which relies on deceleration and mindfulness on different levels.

With the relatively young discipline of strolling (promenadology), the perception of the environment is examined by decelerated walking of distances throughout the city. Different disciplines such as psychology, urban planning, and sociology are interested what kind of impact slow walking has got on our wellbeing and perception.

In the 19th century, the urban dandy strolled with a turtle over the boulevards of Paris or London. S*he made it clear that s*he had a lot of time. And time was a luxury even back then.

This individual vehicle is electrically powered. The speed is controlled by the weight shift and can reach a maximum of 20 km / h. The battery lasts for a distance up to 38 km. The Segway is mainly used in free time activities, but it is also used for patrols of the police or the rescue service at major events.

Digital applications in the field of mixed mobility (intermodal mobility) pursue the goal of combining different forms of mobility as efficiently as possible. These apps show which types of transport you can combine to get from A to B.

Mobility is an important part of social life, because it brings people together. The actual changes in mobility behaviour can provide clues as how people will be living together, in the near future. At present, traditional ideas of mobility still dominate the worlds mobility models which aim for increasing technological efficiency:
higher, farther, faster. Parallel to the technical developments alternative action strategies also generate ideas for social and societal action strategies. But these are just indicators how the future of mobility could be. No one knows what reality will bring. So until them we will have to wait and keep on dreaming.