Exploring immigrants travel behaviour: empirical findings from Offenbach am Main, Germany

Abstract

This paper focuses on the everyday travel behaviour of immigrants in Germany. We use data from an empirical study conducted in Offenbach am Main, a city with one of the highest immigrant populations in Germany. We compared the travel behaviour of immigrants and their direct offspring to that of Germans without an immigration background. Compared to non-immigrants, immigrants own fewer cars or bicycles per household, and they were also less likely to be able to ride a bicycle or to drive a car and to have access to these modes of transport. For both groups, the most important transport mode is the private car. Immigrants, especially women, use public transport and ride in a car as a passenger on a regular basis more frequently than non-immigrants. Riding a bicycle tends to be a typical transport mode for non-immigrants, especially for men. We used logistic regression models to identify, in addition to gender and immigration status, factors that influenced the regular use of car (as driver), public transport, and bicycle. These factors include, for example, income, car ownership, household composition, education and socialisation. Our results shed some light on the travel behaviour of immigrants in Germany, but we also emphasize the need for further research to deepen our understanding of the travel behaviour of immigrants in Germany.

Who can ride along? Discrimination in a German carpooling market

“…They tend to remain in these neighbourhoods and are spatially less mobile within Germany (Şaka, 2013). This coincides with their lower likelihood of owning a car or having access to household vehicles because they are on average less wealthy and creditworthy (e.g., Blumenberg & Smart, 2011;Welsch, Conrad, & Wittowsky, 2018). Carpooling therefore constitutes an affordable means of transportation.…”

“…Language skills can pose a hurdle, particularly among refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan (C. Becker, ), whose arrival in Germany peaked in 2015 and who now make up a significant part of the immigrant population (Brücker, Rother, & Schupp, ). In these cases, carpooling constitutes an alternative form of transportation to the less affordable (Steer Davies Gleave, ) and less flexible (in terms of destinations) public transportation in Germany (see also Nielsen, Hovmøller, Blyth, & Sovacool, , on Denmark) that also requires an adequate level of language skills (Welsch et al, ). Thus, discrimination on the carpooling market has severe consequences for immigrants with them being more likely to be spatially, socio‐economically, and socially entrapped.…”

“…In these cases, carpooling constitutes an alternative form of transportation to the less affordable 1 (Steer Davies Gleave, 2016) and less flexible (in terms of destinations) public transportation in Germany (see also Nielsen, Hovmøller, Blyth, & Sovacool, 2015, on Denmark) that also requires an adequate level of language skills (Welsch et al, 2018). Thus, discrimination on the carpooling market has severe consequences for immigrants with them being more likely to be spatially, socio-economically, and socially entrapped.…”

Cycling culture and socialisation: modelling the effect of immigrant origin on cycling in Denmark and the Netherlands

“…This indicates that different cultural norms could also play a role leading to different preferences (or restrictions) and choices. Similarly, a recent German study found a small effect of immigrant status on cycling, when controlling for selected demographic factors (Welsch et al 2018).…”

Foreign countries, foreign customs: an analysis of short-distance mobility of new immigrants in the Rhine-Main region in Germany

“…The United Kingdom and the Netherlands, however, have received attention [23,24]. Also for the city of Offenbach am Main in Germany, differences in mobility behaviour of immigrants have been analysed [25]. It is striking that the European studies mostly do not differentiate between people with immigrant background and recently settled immigrants.…”