SASMob surveys reveal patterns of workplace mobility

The City of Szeged – a CIVITAS Award-recognised champion of sustainable mobility in Hungary has initiated an alliance on workplace mobility with major employers under the SASMob project.

The alliance currently includes seven employers in the city – public and private, covering different sectors (industry, IT, education, health, public service) and different locations – with a total of over 5,000 employees.

The alliance enables organisers to analyse employee mobility surveys (facilitated by each participating employer), in a comparative way. Analysis of the survey results by Zsuzsanna Kravalik, UIA expert and Mobilissimus revealed the following key findings:

• Workplaces with unlimited, free parking available generally show 57-63% modal share for car use, while this rate is between 21 and 41% where parking is limited and/or priced.
• City centre locations boast 14-22% modal share of walking, in contrast with 3-7% at other locations. Cycling is also more popular in city-centre locations.
• Industrial companies with locations in outer industrial areas have longer commuting distances and times than other employers, also suggesting the wider catchment area for the blue-collar workforce. Public transport or car use is dominant in these workplaces, depending on the availability of PT service.
• An IT company with record cycling share of 47% demonstrates that the promotion of cycling can indeed make a difference compared to other companies with similar conditions.

The results are useful for the companies drafting their mobility plans and for the city of Szeged. Additionally, while the exact proportions will vary from city to city, the tendencies supported by data show the importance of different factors in workplace mobility.