Can we become car-free in just one month? Evidence from Switzerland

Abstract

We analyse a mobility trial performed in 2024 in the Swiss city of Winterthur: voluntary participants were invited not to use their car for one month, and provided with free access to e-bikes, public transport, and car-sharing. Using a mixed-methods pretest-posttest design based on surveys ($n=257$) and focus groups ($n=43$), we estimate the short-term effects on car use intention and car ownership. The trial mostly attracted individuals already into the transition to “car-freedom”. It reduced frequent car use intention in 36 % of the participants, with greater effect (54 %) in those at early transition phases. It also reduced car ownership, though limitedly: immediately after the trial 2 % of the households became car-free. Two months later, car-free households increased to 13 %, also thanks to generous municipal car-selling incentives. Our results strengthen the findings by recent trials, suggesting partial substitution effects between car and its alternatives.