At the 17th International Conference on Travel Behaviour Research, organised by the Institute of Transportation at BOKU, scientists and practitioners explored current and future changes in our travel behaviour.

Do we travel from A to B as we did before the CVD pandemic, or is there a new 'travel normality'? Around 500 researchers explored these and other questions at the 17th International Conference on Travel Behaviour Research: Transformative Travel Behaviour Research - Looking beyond Back-to-Normal' in Vienna from 14 to 18 July. The conference, which attracted participants from more than 40 countries, was organised by the Institute of Transport at BOKU University.

The increasing digitalisation of our everyday lives, uncertainties in the supply chain and the economic situation as a whole, as well as new habits and values that have emerged during the pandemic, are challenging our idea of typical travel patterns as well as the assumptions on which our transport models are based," explains Prof. Yusak Susilo from the Institute of Transport at BOKU. In any case, it is clear that we are currently 'hungry to travel' again and are travelling to more distant destinations for longer periods of time.

“We need to be able to identify the triggers that lead to profound and transformative changes in behaviour that go beyond what we can see with our traditional approaches. This is crucial if we are to achieve our goal of net zero emissions,' says Susilo.

Gewessler: A robust research landscape is important

"Enhancing our understanding of travel behaviour and improving the mobility landscape are crucial for fostering economic growth and achieving the sustainable development goals. In the backdrop oftechnological revolutions and climate crisis of the current era, improving the state-of-the-art travel behaviour analyses techniques has become even more important. We can only meet our target of achieving net zero without compromising the economic growthand wellbeing, by our collective efforts as travel behaviour researchers and practitioners."

(Prof. Dr. Charisma Choudhury, University of Leeds, Chair of IATBR) 

"Travel behaviour research shows how daily life links home, work, leisure, outdoor activities. It traces how healthy, social lives are constructed and enacted by the population. It also shows if there are problems for the population and what one could do to address this" 

(Univ. Prof. em. Dr. Kay W. Axhausen, ETH Zürich, IATBR Lifetime Achievement Award 2024)

So while the uncertainties of user behaviour and transport supply make modelling travel demand more difficult than ever, interdisciplinary research and the advancement of methods and technologies are enabling new approaches to better understand and predict human choices - which is crucial for promoting sustainable behaviour change.

Scientific contact:

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Yusak Susilo
Institut für Verkehrswesen (IVe)
BOKU University
Mail: yusak.susilo(at)boku.ac.at
Tel.: 01 47654 85630