Mobility

In this chapter, you can find out more about the mobility of employees and students at RWTH. You will also find information on business trips and climate funds as well as the vehicle fleet and charging infrastructure.

How Are Employees at RWTH Getting Around?

The last mobility survey of employees and students was conducted by the Institute of Urban and Transport Planning (ISB) in 2022. The results show an overall positive trend for RWTH employees in their choice of transportation with regard to cycling. The figures for 2022 correspond to a doubling of bicycle traffic compared to 2016 and an approximate tripling compared to 2010. Bicycle mobility benefits a large proportion of employees within a distance that can be covered by bicycle or pedelec.

 

The figure shows the main means of transportation chosen by RWTH employees for commuting to work as well as the method chosen by students for the year 2022 (source: Institute of Urban and Transport Planning, ISB). The pattern change of the choice of means of transport (2010-2022) must be viewed taking into account the coronavirus pandemic, particularly with regard to the share of public transport. Other means of transportation are not listed in the diagram. This being so, the relative values may not add up to 100%.

The use of public transport has fallen since 2016 (-10 percentage points) and is roughly at the same level as in 2010. However, the influence of the coronavirus pandemic must be taken into account here in particular. At 1,680, the number of job tickets purchased in 2022 (mean value) is slightly below the pre-COVID figure of 1,771 in 2019.

While in 2010 well over half of employees still stated that they commute to RWTH by car, the proportion in the last survey was just over a third. This continues the trend of declining car use among RWTH staff (drivers and passengers combined).

It remains to be seen what proportion is due to special effects caused by the pandemic and how many people will switch back from cycling to public transport in the medium term. The student mobility survey was conducted for the first time in 2022. In this respect, no data is available on the trends over time. In terms of student mobility, the majority of students in 2022 opted for eco-mobility, including walking, cycling, and traveling by bus and train.

Business Travel and Climate Fund

Business trips are one of the biggest emission factors at universities – be it air travel, trips in your own car, a rented/leased vehicle, or by train. Business trips fundamentally reflect a structural sustainability dilemma between the university’s climate protection obligations on the one hand and the need to internationalize research on the other. Here you can find out more about business trips at RWTH and the University’s new climate fund.

Learn more

Vehicle Fleet and Charging Infrastructure

RWTH’s vehicle fleet comprises more than 250 vehicles (reference year 2022), almost 70% of which are petrol or diesel-powered (including work machines). Around a third of the vehicles are purely electric or hybrid.
As part of the funding project Expansion of charging infrastructure through targeted grid support (ALigN), a total of 24 charging points with 48 charging points have been created at five locations on the RWTH campus since 2022 in cooperation with the city of Aachen, STAWAG, Regionetz, and other regional companies. Outside the times from Monday to Friday, 7am to 6pm, the charging stations can also be used by third parties.