Subreport 4: Impact of Demographic Change on the Demand for Transport in the Regions

The impact that demographic change has on the future mobility structures constitutes a challenge for Austrian regions in social, political as well as technical terms. Regional growth or shrinking processes and structural changes within a population, combined with parallel changes in behaviour, will have an impact on the transport system that will be felt for a long time to come. Population and household development has so far happened within a narrow geographical context which required organising everyday life around transport and entailed a substantial growth of regional traffic. According to the present population forecasts and projection of individual mobility patterns, demand for transport will continue to grow in most of Austria, although its structure will change. For transport policy and transport planners, managers and financing of the infrastructure this means a regionally varying need to adjust priorities and measures, which are elucidated in the subreport.