National travel statistics - travel in Europe

This paper describes work carried out under the OPTIMSIM project, which is funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. OPTIMISM will develop strategies and methodologies for optimising passenger transport systems based on comodality ICT solutions. OPTIMISM aims to provide insight into transport systems and people’s travel behaviour, in order to identify future changes in passenger travel systems that lead to more sustainable travel. In order to understand travel patterns and travel behaviour, it is important to collect data on travel patterns. As part of the OPTIMSIM project, an assessment has been carried out of existing methodologies for collecting travel data in European countries. This paper describes how different countries collect travel data and information on travel resource in their National Travel Surveys (NTS) and assesses if existing NTS can be used to make realistic comparisons between travel patterns and travel behaviour in European countries.