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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 entitled "Attitudes on issues related to EU Transport Policy", released on 27 July 2007, 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 and other Eurobarometer reports are available at: ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm

Introduction

The data provided herein are the most important findings of the latest Flash Eurobarometer on "Attitudes on issues related to EU Transport Policy". The study was commissioned by the Directorate-General for Energy & Transport of the European Commission, carried out under the Flash Eurobarometer framework and coordinated by The Gallup Organization.

The survey covered all 27 Member States of the European Union on a randomly selected sample of over 25,767 individuals of at least 15 years of age.

Telephone interviews were conducted in each country with the exception of the Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary Poland, Romania and Slovakia where, both telephone and face-to-face interviews were conducted between the 03/05/2007 and the 07/05/2007. More details on the survey are available in the final chapter of this report (see the Survey details).

The study was primarily designed to:

• Follow up the car and other transport usage patterns
• Understand to what extent citizens link the car type and its usage to the environment and to the traffic situation
• What people think about the means of improvement of traffic situation
• What people do to decrease the CO₂ emissions from road transport
• What are the costs of damaging environment and who should bear them
• What the people think about the security controls at the airports and if they are aware of their rights as air passengers.

Main findings

Methods used for personal mobility

• Most EU citizens have a car in their household that they are the primary driver of (49%). Those in the New Member States were significantly more likely to answer that they do not have a car in their household.
• Considering the main mode of personal mobility we find that motorized individual transport is the most widespread in the EU (53%), followed by non-motorized individual transport (23%), and the least popular mode is using public (or community) transport (21%). In the Netherlands non-motorized individual transport enjoys extreme popularity.
• Considering potential changes to the public transportation system that might encourage more people using it, respondents who primarily use a car think that a better schedule and better connections would be most likely to encourage them to use public transportation and to drive less frequently. 22% of primary car users said that they would not change their attitudes regardless of any changes to the public transportation system.

Cars and environment

• The vast majority of the EU citizens (about eight out of ten) share the opinion that the type of the car and the way people use them have an important impact on the environment in the respondent's area.
• The best way to reverse the rise of CO₂ emissions is to allow only the sales of less polluting vehicles.
• Among regular car drivers, the highest proportion tried to save fuel by adapting their driving style. On an average the citizens in Luxemburg have utilised the most of the listed possible strategies to save fuel during the past year; they were followed by the Germans, the Austrians, the Slovenians, and the Czech. The citizens in Estonia and Cyprus are at the end of this hierarchy of countries.
• According to the opinion of the citizens in the EU, the best strategy to encourage the use of biofuel is to give tax incentives to make it cheaper.

Traffic situation

• Three in four (74%) EU citizens are of the opinion that the type of the cars and the way people use them have a significant influence on the traffic situation in their immediate area, as well.
• Relatively few people, only 6% in the EU, believe that there is no need to improve the traffic situation in their area. The vast majority (90%) are of the opinion that the traffic situation in their area should be improved. Of this 90%, most (49%) think that a better public transport system is the best way to address this issue. There are fewer people who consider that either introducing limitations in the city centres (17%), or speed limits (17%) could improve the traffic situation, and the ratio of those who think that charges for road usage could contribute to the improvement of the traffic situation is even lower (5%).

Costs of damaging environment

• A slim majority of EU citizens are prepared to pay more to use less polluting transport (54%), but only a small minority are ready to pay a more than 10 percent increase (9%).
• The majority, six out of ten respondents do not agree with the statement that all road users should pay for congestion and environmental damage through road tolls.
• Most EU citizens support spending the money collected from road users on the improvement of public transport (40%). Slightly fewer respondents favour the improvement of road related infrastructures (36%), and using these funds as general public expenditure is the least popular option (17%). Generally, respondents in old Member States are more likely to favour an investment in public transportation, those in newer Member States are more likely to favour the improvement of road-related infrastructures.

Flight safety and passenger rights

• 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 informed respondents (61%) consider airport security controls appropriate, one quarter (24%) find it insufficient and only 16% think they are excessive.
• There are a great proportion of citizens who are not aware of the rights of passengers at airports in the EU (49%). Among them, 17% said that they were not aware of these rights in spite of the fact that they do travel by plane. At the same time, 46% of the EU citizens were informed about the rights of passengers at airports in EU territory. Citizens not aware of the rights of air passengers in spite of the fact that they travel by plane are more likely to be found in the old than in the newer Member States (20% vs. 6%).