2026

Milestone in the DREAMS project: Consortium meeting and symposium in Budapest

The institute was represented on site by Yusak Susilo and Georgia Charalampidou.

Highlights of the meeting:

• Stakeholder symposium: A high-profile symposium was held at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The focus was on joint presentations and expert discussions with representatives of other DUT projects to leverage synergies in urban transformation research.
• Evaluation of the Living Labs: A central part of the consortium meeting was the analysis and assessment of the ongoing intervention measures in the various European Living Labs.
• Excursion to Rákosmente: To conclude the meeting, the consortium visited the Hungarian Living Lab in Rákosmente. This visit provided valuable insights into the local implementation of the project objectives on the ground.

The insights gained in Budapest form an essential basis for the next phases of the Living Lab analyses toward the sustainable transformation of urban mobility spaces.

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09.03.2026

8th SDS T-SIG Workshop in Stockholm

On February 19–20, 2026, the Institute for Transport Studies took part in the 8th annual workshop of the System Dynamics Society’s Special Interest Group for Transportation (SDS T-SIG). The event, themed “Systems Thinking and Transport,” was hosted in Stockholm by the System Dynamics Society, the Integrated Transport Research Lab (ITRL), and KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

The workshop addressed system-oriented approaches in transport research and planning. The institute was represented as follows:

• Prof. Astrid Gühnemann served as a discussant in the session “Exploring the dynamic interactions between heavy electric truck adoption and electricity supply and pricing.”
• Paul Pfaffenbichler and Vertic Eridani participated online in the presentations and discussions.

The event focused on exchanging methodological approaches in system dynamics and their application to areas such as decarbonization, freight transport, and sustainable mobility development.

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02.03.2026

With love for science: Research in kindergarten

This week, Juliane Stark visited two kindergarten groups at the Audorfgasse kindergarten in the 21st district as a Science Ambassador. Together, they talked about what research actually is and how it always begins with questions.

They discussed the pros and cons of various modes of transport and discovered why it is important to observe closely, compare, and ask questions. It is always impressive to see how curious and enthusiastic even the youngest children are about scientific topics.

About the initiative on the Young Mobility Website and on the OeAD-Website.

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27.02.2026

Review of the Institute Staff Retreat: Strategic Direction and Team Development

From February 10th to 11th, 2026, the team completed a two-day staff retreat in Lower Austria. The aim of the event was to intensify cooperation within the team, which has grown significantly over the past year, and to sustainably optimize internal processes for future research tasks.

As the institute was pleased to welcome numerous new employees over the past year, a significant focus of these days was on personnel integration as well as the joint sharpening of a vision for the coming research years.

Scientific and organizational focal points of the retreat:

• Process Analysis and Workflow Optimization: Existing workflows were critically examined in moderated working sessions. The goal was to design interfaces more efficiently and to develop a clear roadmap for cross-project collaboration.
• Strategic Focusing (“Circle of Influence”): The team dealt intensively with current challenges in transport planning and research. Priority was given to the areas in which the institute can directly drive innovation in order to deploy resources specifically for a sustainable mobility transition.
• Strengthening Cooperation Competency: In addition to the strategic blocks, interactive exercises were conducted to promote problem-solving competency within the team. The successful implementation of complex tasks under time pressure highlighted the importance of clear communication and mutual trust for excellent research results.

Special thanks go to our trainer and coach Marie-Theres Euler-Rolle, who professionally accompanied and moderated the entire process with her expertise.

The Institute for Transport Studies looks back on two productive days and enters upcoming projects with a sharpened profile and strengthened cohesion. We would like to thank the entire team for their constructive participation and positive dynamics.

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23.02.2026

Farewell to Dipl.-Ing. Valerie Jeepjua

Over the past six years, Valerie Jeepjua has played a key role at the interface between research and practice. Her scientific focus areas included travel behavior, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), and active and intermodal mobility.

During her time at the institute, she contributed to a total of 14 research projects. Most recently, she made significant contributions as a project researcher to GreenPATH (environmentally friendly commuting solutions) and ZeroFlex (innovative mobility hubs). She also provided valuable input to international collaborations such as the EU project SMACKER and the TRA:WELL project on transport and well-being, with results published in renowned journals.

In addition to her research, Valerie Jeepjua was actively involved in the institute’s community service, including organizing and moderating the Bike2BOKU Challenge.

The Institute for Transport Studies thanks Valerie Jeepjua for her excellent collaboration and dedicated commitment in research and teaching. We wish her every success and all the best for her future career and life!

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09.02.2026

AgiMo Workshop in Dresden

Staff members of the Institute for Transport Studies (IVE) recently took part in the CRC AgiMo – TRR 408 workshop “Mobility and Time Use – Innovating Methods, Generating Insights” at TU Dresden.

IVE was represented by Prof. Yusak Susilo, Prof. Astrid Gühnemann, and Assoc. Prof. Reinhard Hössinger. The contributions focused on methodological innovations in mobility research:

• Combined survey methods for mobility behavior and time use
• Integrating time-use perspectives into modern survey designs

The workshop enabled fruitful exchanges with the international research community. The Institute for Transport Studies thanks the organizers and looks forward to continued collaboration within the AgiMo network.

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06.02.2026

Welcome to our team: Dr. Johannes Müller

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Johannes Müller to our team. He will strengthen our work in transport planning for active mobility, with the aim of developing evidence-based methods that advance sustainable mobility planning.

Dr. Müller brings extensive expertise from his recent roles at the Technical University of Munich and the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, particularly in the following areas:

• Transport simulation: Applying MATSim to model and evaluate new mobility services
• Policy analysis: Assessing real-world impacts of innovative mobility solutions
• Citizen science: Integrating user feedback through digital participation tools

We are very much looking forward to working together. Welcome to the team, Johannes!

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02.02.2026

Visit from the University of Innsbruck at the Institute

On 27 January 2026, the Institute for Transport Studies welcomed Prof. Ursula Scholl‑Grissemann (BMIMI Endowed Professorship “Active Mobility: Movement in Leisure and Everyday Life”) and Dr. Elisabeth Happ (Senior Scientist) from the Department of Sport Science at the University of Innsbruck for a professional exchange.

Hosted by Assoc. Prof. Juliane Stark, the discussions focused on active mobility as well as child and youth mobility. Current research approaches and effective communication and intervention strategies were explored.

A key part of the program was the presentation of our DAVEMOS VR Lab. Thanks to a demonstration by Liting Yuan, our guests gained insights into our experimental setups and the use of virtual reality to study mobility behavior.

We thank Prof. Scholl‑Grissemann and Dr. Happ for their visit and the productive exchange, and look forward to continued collaboration in the field of sustainable, movement‑oriented mobility.

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29.01.2026

Urban mobility without a private car – results from Vienna’s “Auto-Wette”

Our Institute has completed the scientific evaluation of Wiener Linien’s “Auto-Wette” (Car Bet). In this real-world experiment, 46 participants from 37 households in Vienna’s Währing district went without their private cars for three months. The aim was to test the limits and potential of urban multimodality under everyday conditions.

Giving up a private car in the city is not only feasible but often more cost-effective and climate-friendly—without noticeable losses in mobility.

Study design:

• Duration: 3 months without a private car; app-based trip tracking throughout
• Incentive: €500 mobility credit for alternative modes (walking, cycling, public transport, sharing, taxi)
• Data basis: movement and spending data, before–after comparison, supplementary surveys

Main findings:

• Finances: Monthly mobility expenses fell by an average of 40%. The €500 credit was rarely fully used.
• Climate: A total of 5.5 tons of CO2 were saved during the test phase—equivalent to the annual CO2 sequestration of roughly 440 trees.
• Accessibility and time: Destinations were on average 5% farther away; daily travel time increased by only about 3%—mobility was effectively maintained.
• Travel behavior: Over 80% of trips were made using environmentally friendly modes (walking, cycling, public transport).
• Long-term effects: More than half of the surveyed households (15 out of 28) have already sold their car or plan to do so.

The findings show that in dense, multimodally served urban districts, everyday mobility without a private car can be organized reliably and practically—with clear cost advantages and measurable climate benefits. At the same time, structural challenges remain for trips beyond the city, especially toward suburban and rural areas. In these contexts, service density, temporal reliability (early/late services), and sharing options are crucial.

Research team: Oliver Roider (Project lead), Reinhard Hössinger, Roman Klementschitz, Tobias Dürhammer, Roxani Gkavra, Vera Kretschmer

We thank Wiener Linien for the collaboration and all participating households for their contribution.

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19.01.2026