This is the simplest possible mobility, as it only consists of one mode of mobility: Walking.
Just follow the arrow that begins at the knot “Start”. That will lead you to the mobility mode the person has chosen. From this point, you will get to the end of the path.
As we can see, this person is starting and ending walks - nothing more.
The more a participant used a specific switch between mobility modes, the thicker the connection between the knots gets.
There is no information about the time or the place of the mobility in the network. That way, we ensure the privacy of each participant while still establishing a meaningful visualization. To give you some reference on the impact of each mode of transport, we added a small chart on the lower left. There, you can see how much time and how far this participant traveled with each mode in one trip on average.
Let's make it a little more complicated and see what happens. This person walks and has a car, so two different modes of mobility. Sometimes the person uses both, maybe taking a walk after a long drive or simply having to walk to the parking station.
Driving a car is closely linked to walking in this example - and wouldn't be possible without it. The explanation is straightforward: a person must walk to get to the car.
This close link will get more interesting later when we see how public transportation and individual supporting mobility accounts for a flexible model of mobility that allows being spontaneous.
This is the first graph representing the mobility of one of the participants during the lockdown of march 2021. We can't see how the participant's mobility was before the pandemic, but we can clearly identify a focus on individual car-centric mobility.
It is the mobility of a person working nine-to-five. Getting to and from work by car and occasional errands at the local supermarket are the main reasons for mobility.
Here are some quotes from the conducted survey: "For me, my car is a necessary commodity that should only serve its purpose."
"Due to the pandemic, I use public transport rather less and the car rather more often."
"The car is my main means of transport. I think my mobility is typical for where I live."
When moving away from classic car-centric mobility, things can get complicated fast.
The participant stated in the survey: "Bicycling is my main mode of transportation and I do not own a car."
and "for me, avoiding rush hour was the biggest challenge to adapting my mobility behavior to the Corona pandemic - driving less to the office was not a challenge."
Also, the participant has some wishes for their neighborhood: "there is a lack of a healthy food store, public playgrounds, swimming pool, recycling center, and vegetarian restaurant in my neighborhood."
Their mobility seems to be massively influenced by the pandemic. Most days, this person barely leaves the house - only for an occasional walk during the day.
Other days, the home office doesn't seem to do it. The participant travels by bike to the Main Station, waits for the regional train, and then heads off to work. On their way back, they run an errand or…
...pick someone up, maybe their kid. For this participant, the reason for using the bicycle is mainly the shorter travel time. This contrasts common beliefs, that this mobility is more time-consuming because it could depend on fixed schedules of trains or the physical place you locked your Bicycle.
If you look at the visualisation, you can see a strong relationship between bicycling and short stops and vice versa. This could be related to the fact that traffic is not optimized for bicycles, so they have to stop frequently. Even though biking is the fastest mode of transport for the participant, it could still be better.
The next participant has a diverse mobility and uses all modes of transport for different occasions.
Despite having a job ticket, the person drives to work by car. One reason for this could be the pandemic, as the person uses public transport much less as a result.
Oftentimes, the persons combines the car ride to work with other errands. For example, they bring their kid to kindergarden or get groceries.
In their free time, the person uses different means of transport such as the bicycle or public transport. They like to go for a walk in the nearby forest. For longer distances such as to the southwest of Berlin and shopping the car is used. Most mornings, they bring their kid to kindergarden with a bike.
They say: "I bought the car for routes that are not accessible by public transport (last mile)."
"My neighborhood lacks a pharmacy, a youth center, a swimming pool, a sports club with a sports field, or a sports hall."
The nearest bus stop is less than a kilometer from home and very accessible.
"Due to the pandemic, my mobility has decreased considerably, but it does not pose any major challenges. If anything, my mobility has become more climate-friendly. I use the bicycle just as often, but public transport and the car much less. Nevertheless, the car is my main means of transport."
Similarly to our first person, the next participant travels from Potsdam to Berlin for work.
For transit, they use public transport. It takes them about 50 minutes to get there.
Taking the car would take 15 minutes less. But traffic and the time to look for a parking station is not included, so it would probably not be that much faster.
To further cut down the transit, they occasionally take their bike with them on the train and use it to get from their home to the first train station. Sometimes, they use a bike-sharing service, but less often since the pandemic.
Even though they normally optimize their transit time, sometimes it does not work out: "Today I missed the connecting regional train." The walk between the two stations is too long. They needed to wait 20 minutes for the next train to come.
They own a car in their household. About that, they say: 'We did not buy it, we just borrowed it from a family member as they don't use it at the moment.'
They do not give the car any emotional value or memories. It only serves its purpose, but they do not need it specifically.
At their neighborhood and their workplace, they wish for roofed parking slots for the bike