Although the private car remains the main mode of transport for EU citizens, there is great awareness about its impact on the environment and traffic situation. According to a recent Eurobarometer opinion survey, released today, most Europeans favour measures to promote the use of public transport and encourage a more sustainable mobility. The survey also revealed citizens’ attitudes towards air transport security and air passenger rights.
“This survey clearly shows that mobility is an essential part of EU citizens’ lives and that they expect a high quality and reliable transport system”, said European Commission Vice-President, Jacques Barrot, in charge of Transport. “We are working for a transport policy focused clearly on our citizens’ needs and expectations as reflected by this poll: better environmental protection, higher levels of safety, less congestion in big cities and stronger rights as consumers.”
The Eurobarometer survey covered all 27 Member States of the European Union on a randomly selected sample of around 26 000 individuals on issues related to EU Transport Policy, including urban transport, environmental and traffic aspects, flight safety and passenger rights. The main findings are as follows:
Private motorized transport is predominant in the European Union: 81% of EU citizens have a car in their household. The majority of EU citizens (51%) name the car as their main mode of transport, followed by public transport (21%), walking (15%) and motorbike (2%).
Improvements to public transportation, such as better schedule (29%) and better connections to regular destinations (28%), might encourage those citizens who primarily use their cars for daily mobility to drive less often. However, a remarkable proportion (22%) of car users says that under no circumstances would they use their car less.
The vast majority of the EU citizens (78%) share the opinion that the type of car and the way people use them have an important impact on the environment. The majority (35%) of respondents believe that the best way to reverse the rise of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions due to road transport would be to permit only the sale of less polluting vehicles. Another 30% think that CO2 emissions could be reduced most efficiently by promoting, via tax incentives, the purchase of fuel-efficient vehicles.
When asked what method, if any, had they used in the past one year to save fuel, more than half of the respondents who are the primary driver of a car in their household tried to do it either by adapting their driving style (57%) or by walking or cycling more (56%). Fewer respondents used public transport more often (26%), or changed to another car which consumes less fuel (25%), while 16% did not use any of the methods indicated in the questionnaire and 4% of them applied all the methods mentioned to save fuel.
According to 36% of EU citizens, the best method to encourage the use of bio fuel is to make it cheaper via tax incentives. The second most preferred (32%) measure is to define compulsory standards for manufacturers to produce cars that use bio fuel.
Three in four (74%) EU citizens are well aware that the type of car and the way people use them have a significant influence on the traffic situation in their immediate area. An overwhelming majority (90% of respondents) feel that the traffic situation in their area should be improved by means of a better public transport system (49%), introducing limitations in the city centres (17%), speed limits (17%) or charges for road usage (5%).
A slim majority of EU citizens is prepared to pay more to use less polluting transport (54%). However, the majority of Europeans (60%) do not agree with the statement that all road users should pay for congestion and environmental damage through road tolls, while 35% do.
A large number of the citizens in the EU (38%) responded that they seldom fly, and are thus not really competent to answer questions concerning security controls at airports. The majority of respondents that do fly consider airport security controls appropriate (61%), one quarter (24%) find them insufficient and only 16% think they are excessive. Finally, 46% of EU citizens are informed about passenger rights at airports in EU territory, while 49% are not aware of them. Among the later, around two thirds never fly while one third said that they were not aware of these rights in spite of the fact that they do travel by plane.
The full Eurobarometer report is available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm
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