‘Mobility in Germany’ (MiD for short), the largest nationwide survey of everyday mobility, is conducted every five years, thereby enabling time-series analyses dating back to the 1970s. However, the MiD cannot capture short-term developments or dynamic changes between survey rounds. For this reason, the Federal Highway and Transport Research Institute (BASt) is planning, alongside the main survey (in future to be known as MiD-Basis), to introduce an in-year mobility survey (MiD aktuell), which is to be designed as a panel survey. 

The chair has been commissioned, together with the Institute of Transport at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Institute of Urban Planning and Urban Transport at RWTH Aachen University and Kantar, to develop the concept for this new panel.

The concept involves developing a suitable methodology for establishing and maintaining a panel, as well as a survey design. The key requirements for the survey are the annual reporting of representative key figures on everyday mobility for Germany’s resident population, as well as the recording of changes in individual mobility behaviour over several years. To ensure the long-term viability of the mobility panel, it is also important to develop,right from the design stage, an approach that allows methodological changes or new research questions to be incorporated during ongoing operations, whilst simultaneously ensuring the comparability of data across the years. 

To validate the concept, a survey is being conducted as part of the project, including questions on methodological aspects of the data collection process, to determine how a panel should be designed to ensure that participants are willing to take part. Furthermore, in consultation with transport experts, the wishes and requirements regarding the functionality of the new panel will be discussed. 

The key research area of the chair lies on the conceptual framework of the new mobility panel. This is based on an analysis of past, existing and planned transport surveys both in Germany and abroad, as well as discussions with transport experts. These findings will be used to derive well-founded recommendations regarding the purpose, target metrics and requirements of the panel.