Identifying individual mobility patterns in Munich
![Concept of nodes and relations between different transport modes. Mobility data concept.](/sites/default/files/ana.vanishvili%40eiturbanmobility.eu/2024-06/pic_challenge.jpeg)
The Challenge
The city of Munich, with its population of 1.5 million, faces significant environmental and traffic challenges due to the increasing number of inhabitants and private vehicles. This rise has resulted in higher CO2 emissions and congestion.
Additionally, around 400,000 commuters travel to Munich daily from surrounding areas, exacerbating the situation. To enhance the public transport services provided by Stadtwerke München (SWM) and Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG), public transport operator in Munich, it's essential to understand how passengers use various modes of transport. This knowledge is crucial for attracting more people to environmentally friendly transportation options.
Currently, data on public transport usage is limited. Passenger counts are collected through counting devices installed on a subset of public transport vehicles, covering only 15-60% of the fleet. This data allows for calculating long-term averages but cannot provide specific information for particular days or times. Cell-phone data providers real-time movement streams but cannot track short distances (under 1 km) or differentiate between modes of transport. App-based solutions suffer from insufficient and non-representative user bases, making accurate projections difficult.