News

Insights and recommendations for safe public transport

After more than three years of intensive research, real-world laboratories, a panel survey and numerous interviews, the EMILIA project - development of pandemic-resistant local public transport - has now been successfully completed. From February 2021 to July 2024, measures were researched and tested to make public transport safe and reliable even in (future) pandemic times and waves of infection. The Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs (BMDV) funded the project with a total of 1.3 million euros.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive impact on people's mobility behavior. Public transport passenger numbers have fallen significantly, in some cases by up to 80%. Although the obligation to wear masks on public transport is now a distant memory and the pandemic period is almost forgotten, public transport is still struggling with the financial after-effects of the crisis.

The aim of the project was to develop effective recommendations for action in times of crisis. On the one hand, these recommendations should help those responsible to minimize health risks when using public transport and strengthen passenger confidence, and on the other hand, to incorporate the pandemic-related challenges into the future design of public transport.

A key result of the panel survey conducted as part of the project shows that the risk of infection in public transport is often overestimated compared to other everyday situations. Modern ventilation systems in buses and trains enable rapid air exchange, while FFP2 masks have been proven to offer a high level of protection. There is therefore a discrepancy between the subjectively perceived risk of infection and the objective risk. A specially developed infection calculator provides a precise assessment of the risk of infection under various conditions in public transport. In addition, the protective measures implemented by the transport companies during the pandemic were analyzed, categorized and evaluated in terms of their effectiveness and feasibility.

The project results were clearly presented in a practical guide to action. The included measure fact sheets provide a clear overview of the effectiveness of the implemented and researched measures - and give a classification of whether implementation is recommended or not.

The action guide, the public transport information calculator and selected results of the panel survey can be found on the EMILIA website at www.uni-kassel.de/go/EMILIA.

March 2024

EMILIA presents research results and recommendations for action

The EMILIA project - development of a pandemic-resistant public transport system - presented the results of over three years of research on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. The last and first face-to-face event - a consequence of the pandemic - took place at the Neue Denkerei in Kassel.

The coronavirus pandemic has left its mark across the board, both in the personal sphere and in the public transport sector.  In order to be prepared for this and to share the research results with practitioners, input was given on various topics during the conference. In the morning, the focus was on the spread of aerosols and the factors influencing the risk of infection, while in the afternoon the results of the panel survey were presented and examples of initial, concrete recommendations for action for public transport were explained.
The results can also be read here.

Finally, a developed online tool for calculating the risk of infection was presented. During the event, it was also possible to use virtual reality to observe the aerosol spread of viruses in a virtual bus. During the breaks and after the conference, there was an active exchange on current topics in the public transport sector.

A publication will also be published by the end of the project in the summer, which will summarize concrete recommendations for action for public transport that can be taken during a pandemic and will be made available to the transport industry and politicians. Pre-orders are possible at n.schneider[at]uni-kassel[dot]de.

February 2024

In February, the EMILIA team was interviewed several times about the current status of the research project.  In addition to various short reports and radio reports, a detailed article also appeared in the regional daily newspaper HNA - Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine.

The coronavirus pandemic may be behind us, but "after the pandemic is before the pandemic!" This means that the risk of new pandemics and epidemics has increased due to current living conditions. But even in the face of already known, "regular" waves of illness such as influenza, it makes sense to consider and reduce the risk of infection and to communicate measures to public transport users. This is particularly relevant as people tend to overestimate the risk of infection on public transport compared to other everyday situations. For this reason, this article also presents a calculation of the risk of infection in a very unfavorable scenario - and explains why public transport is often wrongly referred to as a "virus catapult".

The article is available here: https://www.hna.de/kassel/oepnv-ist-keine-virenschleuder-92846374.html
 

January 2024

EMILIA presents results on pandemic-related school timetabling at this year's HEUREKA in Stuttgart

The measure of staggering school hours has long been seen in the public transport industry as a solution for cost-intensive school transport. However, its implementation often fails in practice due to the different interests of the stakeholders involved. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the topic of staggering gained renewed relevance and was implemented in the city of Herne, among others, in order to equalize morning school traffic and thus reduce the risk of infection.

The effectiveness of the project and other plans were examined as part of the EMILIA research project at the University of Kassel. The results will be presented at HEUREKA in March 2024. We look forward to welcoming you there!

December 2023

Masks continue to protect - observation on public transport at the start of the winter season

Autumn marks the start of the annual cold season in Germany, when colds, flu and now coronaviruses are circulating more frequently. Masks can also provide effective protection against infection in the run-up to Christmas. The current, more dynamic incidence of Covid-19 infections is reflected in the registered respiratory diseases in reference practices, wastewater tests and the reported incidence figures.

The previous winters were a critical time in the pandemic with high infection rates; people spent more time indoors and the weather facilitated aerosol transmission.

In a further observation on mask-wearing, the aim was to determine whether people are again increasingly taking voluntary protective measures such as wearing a mask in this incipient "critical period" after the German government's coronavirus protection measures expire in spring 2023. In November 2023 - after several observations in 2022 and early 2023 - we empirically surveyed how many people are wearing a mask on various forms of public transport in Kassel. The figures are clear: hardly any masks are being worn on public transport in the current situation. The proportion of passengers wearing masks was 1.2 percent, with the majority of public transport users (98.8 percent) not wearing a mask or not wearing one correctly. Since the mask requirement was lifted at the beginning of February 2023, the proportion of passengers wearing masks has continued to fall over the course of the year.

November 2023

EMILIA publishes results in the journal "Internationales Verkehrswesen"

Is the coronavirus still an issue for loyal public transport users in the period between the 9-euro ticket and the Germany ticket? What is the best way to reach regular public transport customers? And could a free month still be attractive when the Deutschlandticket was already in the starting blocks?

This and more was researched in our real-world laboratory in collaboration with Probst & Consorten Marketing-Beratung and Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main (VGF) with the support of the local public transport company traffiQ.

Unfortunately, participation in the Tell-a-Friend campaign was low - but that is also a finding. Nevertheless, further exciting results on subscription conditions and pandemic issues were obtained.

The results of the real-world laboratory "Public transport regulars" were published in the November issue of the journal Internationales Verkehrswesen

October 2023

The EMILIA team publishes article in the trade journal DER NAHVERKEHR: Why do people cancel their subscriptions?

As part of our research project, together with Probst & Consorten Marketing-Beratung , we were able to conduct an exciting survey on the subject of subscription cancellations. As one of our real-world laboratories in which we test measures for their effectiveness, we surveyed regular customers who canceled their subscription in autumn 2022 with the kind support of our project partner kvg (Kasseler Vekehrs-Gesellschaft).

Above all, we were interested in whether this can still be a reason for canceling in times of a subsiding pandemic, what needs are behind the individual reasons for canceling in times of public transport crisis and what offers could help people who cancel to become loyal public transport users again.

The results were published in the October issue of the trade journal DER NAHVERKEHR.

September 2023

EMILIA presented current results at the European Transport Conference!

The EMILIA team attended this year's European Transport Conference (ETC) in Milan in early September and reported on the current status of project research in two different presentations. Natalie Schneider reported on the effects of the 9€ ticket in a pandemic context in her presentation "Does the Factor 'Cost' Solve All the Problems that a Post-Pandemic Local Public Transport Faces?", while Lea Fouckhardt's presentation "How Safe is Public Transport in a Global Pandemic?" dealt with the risk of infection in public transport vehicles.

The team also had the opportunity to learn about other recent findings from international science and practice and network with other participants at approximately 300 other presentations.

The European Transport Conference is organized every year by the Association for European Transport. This year's conference at the campus of the Politecnico di Milano University was attended by around 600 participants.

June 2023

The EMILIA team presents results of the real-world laboratory on ventilation visualization.

At the International Conference of Environmental Psychology (ICEP 2023) in Aarhus (Denmark), Anna Helfers and Lea Fouckhardt from the EMILIA project in the Department of Transportation Planning and Systems (Prof. Dr. Carsten Sommer) presented the reallab on the influence of ventilation visualization on passengers' risk perception and well-being during the pandemic.

The results show that passengers' risk perception in the vehicle was mainly determined by vehicle occupancy and basic personal attitudes towards COVID-19, while passengers' well-being was determined by comfort, salience of fresh air, and other passengers' mask compliance. Ventilation visualization had no effect on risk perception and well-being. Implications for communication efforts in the creeping pandemic were discussed.

April 2023

3rd wave of survey: First findings on the new Deutschlandticket

As in previous years, the team of the EMILIA research project again asked 3,000 randomly selected citizens of the city of Kassel to participate in a survey on mobility in Kassel (see news item from March 2023).

As part of this survey, questions were asked about the new Deutschlandticket, which will be valid from May. It turned out that 93% of the 1142 Kassel citizens surveyed had already heard of the Deutschlandticket. This means that the Deutschlandticket is not quite as well known as the popular €9 ticket, which was valid for three months as its predecessor last year. According to the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), the latter enjoyed 99% awareness among the population as a whole throughout Germany (see www.vdv.de/220614-pm-neue-zahlen-zum-9-euro-ticket.pdfx).

Furthermore, the participants were also asked whether they planned to buy a Deutschlandticket. Of those who had already heard of the Deutschlandticket, 312 respondents (32%) said they had no need for it. A total of 386 people (39%) plan to buy the new ticket, but only 121 of these (12%) plan to subscribe to the ticket over a longer period of time. The other 265 people (27%) plan to buy the ticket only for individual months of the year. The remaining 29 % opted for the answer option "I don't know yet".

The survey also reveals from which product segments the users of the Deutschlandticket will migrate. This shows that migration movements can be expected from all areas. It therefore remains to be seen what impact the ticket will have on the existing range of tickets in the future.

Many thanks once again to all the people who took part in the survey and thus supported our research! Further findings from the survey will also be published on this website in the future.

March 2023

Third and final wave of the survey on mobility in Kassel in pandemic times

How has the use of different means of transport changed as a result of the pandemic? Do passengers feel more comfortable using public transport again? What impact does the pandemic still have on public transport? To answer these questions, 3,000 randomly selected people in the city of Kassel will again be asked to participate in a survey on mobility in Kassel - as in previous years. This year's survey in March 2023 thus marks the conclusion of a total of three survey waves.

The results provide an important basis for further research within the EMILIA project and help to understand how the perception of public transport changes in times of pandemics. The aim of the project is to develop measures so that all people can use buses and trains with a good and safe feeling.

March 2023

EMILIA will present results at the International Conference on Environmental Psychology (ICEP) in June 2023!

At the Environmental Psychology Conference, which will take place this year in Aarhus (DK), we may present some of our results from the research project entitled "Tackling the subjective risk perception of getting infected with COVID-19 in local public transport" to an international audience of experts.

In particular, we will present results from our real-lab "Visualization of Ventilation".

A pre-registered experimental field study was conducted in two bus route bundles in urban transport in the Main-Kinzig district. The intervention consisted of visualization of fresh air supply in the bus by flutter tapes at the ventilation outlets, by info posters outside and inside the vehicle and hanging signs at the bus stops. Passengers in the experimental (n = 154) and control (n = 152) groups reported on their subjective risk perception of contracting COVID-19 on the bus, on buses in general, and on their well-being during the ongoing journey. For more info, also see the news story "Tinsel for viral anxiety?" from October 2022.

January 2023

EMILIA project conducts observations on mask wearing

After the mask obligation in Germany was dropped in many areas of everyday life in the summer of 2022, the retained mask obligation in public transport was discussed controversially again and again. In recent weeks, this has also become increasingly apparent in the increasingly different regulations in the federal states.

Against the background of the ongoing discussion about the abolition of the mask obligation in public transport, current figures on the actual mask wearing behavior were determined within the framework of the EMILIA project. For this purpose, observations were conducted in December 2022 in different means of public transport in Kassel. The observation revealed that 78% of passengers continue to wear a mask. Medical masks (40.1%) and FFP2 masks (37.9%) were worn in roughly equal proportions. In contrast, 22% of those observed were either not wearing their masks correctly or were traveling without masks altogether.

Despite the controversial discussion about the obligation to wear masks in public transport on a political and social level, a clear majority continued to adhere to this obligation - even if the proportion of masks that were not worn (correctly) increased compared to the observation in January 2022.

It remains an exciting question - also in relation to the findings on the importance of wearing masks that emerged from the panel survey  - whether and how this ratio of masks in public transport vehicles will change after the mask obligation expires. Voluntarily protecting oneself and others by wearing a mask is still possible for everyone.

November 2022

The EMILIA team publishes article in the journal DER NAHVERKEHR: Subjective perception of risk in public transport during the pandemic.

During the pandemic, public transport's greatest advantage - transporting many people in a confined space at the same time - became its greatest disadvantage, leading to a sharp decline in its use. Fear of infection could continue to influence transportation choices after the pandemic; in addition, home office and digital opportunities could make some trip purposes obsolete.

Public transport is needed as a strong backbone of public services and as an important part of the transformation of the transport sector towards sustainable mobility. In order to meet climate goals and provide mobility for all, the above trends must be reversed as soon as possible.

The survey results underline that the issue of risk perception plays an important role in attracting new and former passengers and show starting points for a future pandemic-resistant public transport by addressing the identified target groups and their needs in order to attract them (back) to public transport.

The article is available for purchase at https://öpnv-archiv.de/SingleView.aspx?show=4343363.

October 2022

Tinsel against virus fear?

The EMILIA research project is investigating whether the subjective perception of safety in buses can be increased by information campaigns. This has now been tested in the subject area of "fresh air in the bus" in a real laboratory in the Main-Kinzig district.

For two weeks, therefore, "more tinsel" applied in the medieval trading town of Gelnhausen: In vehicles of the city bus lines, a visualization of the ventilation was carried out in cooperation with the Kreisverkehrsgesellschaft Main-Kinzig mbH, Regionalverkehr Main-Kinzig GmbH and SPESSARTregional e.V.. Accompanied by information posters and other print products, the aim was to make the ventilation systems installed in the buses clearer to passengers. Whether the glitter bands moving in the air stream and the print communication had an effect on the passengers was subsequently surveyed. At the same time in Langenselbold, with the support of Heuser Omnibusunternehmen GmbH und Co. KG, passengers on other bus routes were surveyed entirely without a visualized ventilation situation so that a comparison could be made.

At just under 47%, ceiling-mounted flutter tape was the most prominent feature, ahead of posters (45.5%) and hanging signs mounted on bus stop bars and grab handles (39%). The team also found that many of the measures were not noticed at all. On this basis, further research will now be conducted to determine which methods and measures can be used to increase the subjectively perceived safety of public transportation - perhaps soon loosely based on Loriot: "In the future, however, there will be more tinsel."

September 2022

16th Oberhavel Transport Talks open with EMILIA presentation.

Under the title "The future of public transport after the pandemic - How can the (re)acquisition of passengers succeed?" the EMILIA team was allowed to present relevant results from the various panel surveys. The fact that even after two and a half years the explosiveness of the topic has (unfortunately) not decreased against the background of an active pandemic was also recognizable from the many questions from the interested audience.

After the lecture, representatives from the public transport sector and politics were able to discuss the mandatory wearing of masks in public transport, the controls desired by the respondents and the discrepancy between the objectively effective measures and the subjective perception of risk. In addition to the technical input, the successful event gave the opportunity to network with other participants from different disciplines.

Team EMILIA thanks for the invitation and is already looking forward to the exchange next year.

August 2022

Press release is picked up by FAZ

The online edition of the FAZ - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - briefly & reports concisely on current results of the panel survey: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/karriere-hochschule/bahn-kunden-fuerchten-sich-vor-einer-corona-infektion-zu-unrecht-18277798.html

July 2022

Should I Stay or Should I Go? EMILIA team publishes technical paper on risk perception and use of public transport during COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic years had a severe impact on public transport with a decrease in ridership of up to 80% in Germany. However, strong and well-received public transport is essential to meet climate change mitigation targets. In addition to a general decline in mobility during the lockdown, shifts in decision-making regarding modes of transport can be observed, with public transport clearly losing out.

This change in behavior can be explained by the fact that people tend to overestimate the risk of COVID-19 transmission in public transport. To understand risk perceptions among public transport users and non-users during the pandemic, a representative survey (N = 918) was conducted in Kassel at the peak of the third pandemic wave in April 2021.

Survey data indicate, among other things:

• People overestimate the risk of infection on buses and trains compared to other comparable everyday situations, such as shopping at the supermarket or visiting the hairdresser.
• During the pandemic, protection from infection is a relevant factor in transportation choice, but not the most important. However, this factor is rated significantly worse in relation to public transport.
• Four main target groups could be identified: Public transport loyalists (n = 193), public transport reducers (n = 175), those who dropped out of public transport (n = 331) and those who were distant from public transport (n = 219). 
• Significant differences in risk perception were found between the target groups who have turned their backs on public transportation, those who continue to use public transportation, or those who have previously stayed away from public transportation: The group of those who had turned their backs and those who had stayed away from public transport estimated the risk of transmission on buses and trains to be significantly higher than the public transport faithful. The group of those who dropped out even estimated the risk of infection in buses and trains to be higher than those who were distant from public transport.
• This increased risk perception among those who have dropped out is specific to public transport use - it cannot be generalized to other situations such as going to the supermarket, workplace or hairdresser. Thus, the heightened perception of risk is not a personality trait.
• Compliance with the mask requirement was rated as the most important protective measure by all target groups at the time of the survey.

The article is freely available in English (open access) at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.926539/full.

In order to record changes in behavior and attitudes, a further survey wave was conducted in spring 2022 using the same panel survey, the data from which will be analyzed in a timely manner. This will also allow conclusions to be drawn about the extent to which, for example, higher vaccination rates and greater knowledge about the spread of the virus have led to changes in the perception and use of public transport. In addition, a special survey was set up in the context of the 9€ ticket.

July 2022

Survey in the context of the 9€-Ticket

The 9€ ticket introduced on 01.06 gives passengers the opportunity to use public transport throughout Germany for three months for €9 per month. The ticket is a temporary offer that was introduced as part of the federal government's relief package.

The 9€ ticket is also of interest to the EMILIA research project - even if the pandemic was not the reason for introducing this ticket. After all, the three months are like a nationwide real-life laboratory in which mobility behavior in times of the pandemic can be illuminated - and the cost factor as a reason for not using public transport is almost completely eliminated in the process! At the same time, buses and trains are becoming more crowded. The question arises as to how safe people will feel in fuller vehicles during a prolonged pandemic phase.

April 2022

Second wave of survey on mobility in Kassel in times of pandemic

How has the use of different means of transport changed? Do people feel more comfortable using public transport again? To find out, 3,000 randomly selected people in the city of Kassel were asked to participate in a survey on mobility in Kassel as early as April 2021. Initial results show that the risk of contracting the disease on public transport was often estimated to be many times higher than in other everyday situations.

These exciting results are now being supplemented by a temporal dimension. To this end, the people already surveyed last year as well as other randomly selected citizens of the city of Kassel were asked again in April 2022 about their mobility behavior and their well-being on public transport.

As part of a third survey wave next year, it is planned to conduct a final survey of people in Kassel once again. The aim is to gain insights into whether and, above all, how mobility behavior changes with changing conditions in the course of the Covid 19 pandemic. This is an important basis for developing public transport in such a way that everyone can use buses and trains with a good and safe feeling.

February 2022

One year EMILIA: Second project advisory board of the research project

Together with associated partners, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) and the Federal Office for Goods Transport (BAG) and other experts, the second project advisory board of the research project EMILIA took place on February 1, 2022.

Due to the ongoing Corona pandemic, this project meeting could only be held virtually - nevertheless, the professional exchange among the participants was not neglected!

After the presentation of the overall project as well as the current state of work, experts from different disciplines presented first results and findings in crisp technical inputs. In thematically very different presentations, the speakers provided information on subjective and objective risk perception as well as communication strategies in public transport. Furthermore, results of the modeling of different plan cases for school time staggering of the Reallabor Herne and first findings from the aerosol simulation were presented.

September 2021

The project team of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Carsten Sommer

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Carsten Sommer is supported by an interdisciplinary team in the EMILIA research project. With Marissa Reiserer, the EMILIA project has been able to win over an environmental psychologist with a focus on mobility research. Natalie Schneider brings public transport experience as an urban and transport planner. The scientists are supported by three student assistants whose fields of study are also wide-ranging: Johanna Koch is studying environmental engineering, Hevin Siedo is in the master's program in psychology, and Benedikt Schlottbohm comes from the ASL department and is studying urban planning.

July 2021

Transporting schoolchildren at times of the Corona pandemic: when keeping your distance becomes difficult

Measures for transporting schoolchildren are particularly efficient if peaks in capacity utilization can be avoided without increasing the transport companies' transport costs. The city of Herne in North Rhine-Westphalia has been trying to do this on a trial basis since November 2020 by staggering school start times - not for economic reasons, however, but to significantly reduce vehicle utilization in times of pandemic without causing costs to explode.

Within the scope of the research project, the effects of the introduced staggered school hours are to be examined, especially with regard to a pandemic situation using the example of Herne, and compared with other modeled scenarios. The modeling is carried out by WVI Prof. Dr. Wermuth Verkehrsforschung und Infrastrukturplanung GmbH.

June 2021

Abstract on aerosol simulation submitted and accepted

Among other things, the research project plans to simulate the distribution of aerosols in vehicle interiors to estimate the risk of infection in different vehicle designs (e.g., arrangement of seats and air conditioning). A joint with subcontractor ESI submitted abstract for NWC 2021 - NAFEMS World Congress 2021 in October on the topic of aerosol simulation has been accepted and can be viewed at https://www.nafems.org/congress/abstracts/ .

NAFEMS is an international independent association dedicated to technical modeling, analysis and simulation.

May 2021

Survey on mobility in Kassel

How do people travel in Kassel? How are well-being and occupancy levels related ? What measures strengthen confidence in public transport? These and other questions were asked in a survey on mobility to a total of 3,000 randomly selected citizens of the city of Kassel.

The survey is to be repeated at later dates to check how people's mobility behavior changes as a result of framework conditions such as incidence levels, implemented measures or new information on infection risks.

April 2021

Kick-Off of the EMILIA project with the partners, funding body, project executing agency and further experts.

On April 19, a virtual kick-off workshop was held with the associated partners, the BMVI, the BAG and further experts. In a diversified event, the overall project was presented, the current project status was reported and various questions were discussed in several rounds of talks. All participants appreciated the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience.

February 2021

Launch of the EMILIA project - Development of a pandemic-resistant local public transport system (ÖPNV)

The German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) is funding the EMILIA research project for the next three years with around 1.3 million euros.