The Impact of Weather on Travel Behavior Throughout the Seasons: An Analysis of Two National German Household Surveys

We study the impact of weather on travel behavior using two large national household surveys from Germany from 2009 to 2019, and historical weather data from meteorological reanalysis. We specifically focus on home-based trips for work, education and leisure purposes, analyzing mode choice in different weather conditions. We find that all parameters studied—temperature, precipitation and cloud cover—influence mode choice. The impacts differ between different seasons, inside the seasons at comparable conditions, and between different socio-demographic groups. Furthermore, the availability of mobility tools impacts how people react to weather conditions. Bicycle use is affected most by diverse weather conditions, reaching the highest shares in dry and warm conditions. The other modes do not change equally, but show different impacts depending on trip purpose, socio-demographic group and other factors. While we could demonstrate impacts of weather, future research should be undertaken to account for the possible changes in travel behavior in recent years.