Public Acceptance of Green Mobility Policies: An Agent-Based Model

Abstract

We present an agent-based model to simulate policy acceptance for push and pull policy measures. Push measures are generally perceived as restrictive and are often directed towards the reduction of private car use, e.g. fuel price increases and inner-city car bans. Pull measures relate to diverse incentives to facilitate climate-friendly travel choices, e.g. attractive offers for public transport such as interregional cost reductions and expansion of the public transport infrastructure. The model is informed by empirical data regarding agents’ travel mode utilities and allows to evaluate agents’ satisfaction and acceptance of diverse policy scenarios. Regional dependencies are tested for the case of Austria. The results show that the political acceptance of push measures increases when they are combined in packages of measures considering the expansion of public transport infrastructure. Furthermore, the general acceptance of green mobility measures is closely linked to the existing infrastructure of the individual districts.