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Institute of Transport Research

Traffic in Berlin

The subjects of mobility and transport affect people today more than ever. On the one hand, an effective transport system is an essential prerequisite for a prospering economy. On the other hand, mobility also allows individuals to actively participate in social life while offering them a high level of personal freedom. This reliance means that individuals participating in the transport system are more easily frustrated with disruptions such as capacity constraints, delay, inadequate information or insufficient safety.

With the vision of a modern, integrated, socially and ecologically sustainable transport system, scientists of various disciplines are working on a range of questions centering around the causality and changes in passenger and commercial transport:

• The work takes as its basis surveys covering all forms of transport and an empirical analysis of the mobility and transport behavior of private households and companies against the background of the given social, economic and socio-demographic conditions. Based on this, microscopic, control mechanism-sensitive models of transport demand are constructed for both passenger and economic traffic. These models allow precise statements on changes to traffic demand and their cause.
• In the context of current and future transport demand, traffic management measures are evaluated and analyzed for their potential effectiveness. These include, for example, regulatory or financial and transport-based measures.
• Two further fields of research are concerned with international transport research and with the availability of new information and communications technologies (ICT) such as ICT-based transport information services.

The Institute of Transport Research is part of an international network. The director of the institute, Prof. Dr. Barbara Lenz, is professor for transport demand and effects at The Humboldt University of Berlin, which in addition to teaching engagements of other scientists of the institute at various universities, leads to a close cooperation with academic research and education.