MOTUS - Mobility Transformation: Understanding key factors for sustainable and resilient transport

© RVN Universität Kassel

© MOTUS: Project idea as control loop

Calendar / Publications

• Papendieck, P., Bäumler, M., Sotnikova, A., Hirrle, A. (2022). Learning from Covid: How can we predict mobility behaviour in the face of disruptive events? - How to investigate the mobility of the future. 4th Symposium on Management of Future Motorway and Urban Traffic Systems (MFTS), Dresden, Germany.
• Bäumler, M., Lehmann, M., Prokop, G. (2023). Generating representative test scenarios: The fuse for representativity (Fuse4Rep) pocess model for collecting and analysing traffic observation data. 27th ESV conference 2023, Yokohama, Japan.
• Papendieck, P. & Francke, A. (2023). Neue Wege aus der Gewohnheitsfalle: Identifikation von Faktoren für den bewussten Wechsel auf das Fahrrad. 8. Nationaler Radverkehrskongress, Frankfurt, Deutschland.
• Papendieck, P. & Francke, A. (2023). How can cycling mitigate the impact of disruptive events on mobility systems? Velo-city 2023, Leipzig, Germany.

Published datasets

• Representative drone datasets (3 months)

Problem

Disruptive events change behavioural patterns. The Corona pandemic has been influencing everyday life of many people und thus their mobility behaviour: Daily routines and thus certain ways disappear, for example due to working from home. Traffic modes different from the usual ones gain more interest, for example the use of bikes instead of public transport due to fear of getting infected. Whether these are long term effects and how they influence the sustainability and resilience of existing traffic systems is still an open question. But it is sure that other disruptive events like climate or structural change as in lignite mining areas will appear.

Objective

The goal of MOTUS is to develop a simulation platform that provides a holistic view of the urban transportation system and its agents. Thus, decision makers from municipalities can derive preventive measures for future disruptive events and take specific precautions. The platform takes into account both the sustainability and the resilience of an urban transport system. Special attention will be paid to the Corona pandemic, climate change and structural change in coal mining regions.
The basis for the model stored in the simulation platform is formed by mobile phone, drone, detector, accident and survey data before, during and after the Corona pandemic.

MOTUS would like to support the following parties as follows:

• Municipal Decision Makers:
  • Promotion of an understanding for complex urban transport systems.
  • Support for Decisions (e.g. effects on sustainability).
• Administration Planning:
  • Support of traffic development plans.
  • Revaluation of existing plans concerning sustainability and resilience.
  • Providing open traffic data.
• Citizens:
  • Raising Awareness for resilient and sustainable traffic.

Research questions

MOTUS addresses the following research questions:

• How does mobility behaviour change in face of disruptive events?

• How does changed mobility behaviour affect urban transport systems and transport users?

• Which measurements can be taken to ensure sustainability and resilience in face of future disruptive events?

• Is it possible to transfer the results of pandemic analysis to other disruptive events as climate or structural change?

Methodology

The Research Questions shall be answered using an interdisciplinary approach for modeling and control the transport system (see MOTUS control loop):

• The transport model includes models for travel behaviour, traffic demand, traffic flow and safety risk. These models are derived through surveys, data analysis and simulation.
• Disruptive events disturbing the transport model are pandemics, climate change and structural change. For each disruptive event a set of scenarios defined by variables from a STEEPLE analysis of the system are investigated.
• A measurement unit assesses the system‘s sustainability and resilience by evaluating several variables and their temporal behaviour.
• The controller ("action catalogue") includes different actions and measurements at different scales depending on the difference between the measured sustainability and resilience and their reference values.

Model municipalities

During the course of the project, the MOTUS simulation platform will be transferred to and tested in the model municipalities of Leipzig and Bad Hersfeld, which were selected during the project.

Timeline

Project period: 11/2021 – 10/2024

Project partners

The following five project partners form the MOTUS project consortium:

Contact