The SAM mobility survey is intended to complement the ‘Mobility in Germany’ survey (MiD for short, link to MiD) as the largest nationwide survey of everyday mobility. In doing so, SAM is intended to bridge the (data) gap between the 2023 and 2028 rounds of the MiD survey, in order to gain a better understanding of short-term trends.

The aim is to use the results of the SAM to update the key indicators of mobility behaviour annually in 2025, 2026 and 2027.
The SAM is designed as an online longitudinal study with two survey waves per year.

Key components of the survey include recording mobility on a reference day in the form of a travel log, as well as collecting stable mobility indicators. A combination of these two survey techniques enables a valid representation of the structure and trends in everyday mobility behaviour in Germany. The comparatively small sample size, combined with short survey periods, necessitates extensive, multidimensional weighting in order to extrapolate the results to the entire population. At the same time, the key figures are to be made available with low latency.

The project encompasses the development, implementation and evaluation of this new component of German transport statistics. The chair is primarily working on the development of the survey and the processing and plausibility checking of the collected data.