Key findings of the recently published Continental Mobility Study 2020 show that public transportation has gained in importance as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In order to minimize contact with others, many people are choosing to travel in their own cars. The use of public transportation and carpools, in contrast, has declined significantly worldwide.

Within the framework of the study, representative surveys on people’s mobility habits were conducted in Germany, France, the USA, Japan and China.

In France and Germany, 80% of respondents reported having changed their daily mobility habits during the pandemic, for 81% in the USA. In China one can observe the greatest change in mobility habits with an increase of 93% for 88% in Japan.

Dr Ariane Reinhart, Continental Executive Board member for Human Relations and Sustainability, says of the study results: “The results of the Continental Mobility Study show that there is a global need for personal mobility. During the coronavirus pandemic, this demand has increased even more.” Dr Ariane Reinhart continues: “Against the backdrop of the pressing climate issue, sustainable and – first and foremost – carbon-neutral solutions for global transport are therefore all the more important. As a technology company with one of the most comprehensive sustainability roadmaps in the supplier industry, Continental is set to make key contributions in many areas related to personal transport. Our goal is carbon-neutral mobility – by 2050 at the latest.”

The coronavirus pandemic is leading to greater personal mobility and thus to a further increase in traffic density in the five countries surveyed. “Modern vehicles with predictive software onboard are now an important part of the solution to people’s mobility needs. Cars that bring their occupants safely and efficiently to their destination. Continental stands for these intelligent solutions,” says Dr Ariane Reinhart.

n addition to cars, bicycles have also received a further boost due to coronavirus pandemic. At 34 per cent, the increase in the use of bicycles is particularly high in China, followed by Germany at 21 per cent. It is a different story for public transportation, meanwhile, with half of the people in Germany saying they use public transit less often than before, and more than half in China and Japan. It is notable that 56 per cent of people in the USA and 48 per cent of people in France have made no changes in their use of buses and trains. In China, Japan and Germany, only around one-third of respondents reported likewise.

The question is whether this trend will continue after the crisis.

Overall, cars are part of daily travel for most people in all of the surveyed countries. In the USA, Germany and France, more than half of those surveyed said they use a vehicle daily or almost daily and around one-third reported driving a car at least once a week. At 43 and 41 per cent respectively, the total for China reaches a similarly high level, but with fewer daily or almost daily trips than in Western industrialized nations. Only around a third of Japanese people surveyed reported driving daily or at least once a week, with 13 per cent of respondents there stating that they forgo driving completely.

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