Train or plane? An empirical study of the choice of means of transportation in intra-European travel

One of the most important issues in the environmental debate is the necessity of reducing emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In industrial nations CO2-emissions are mainly produced by the increase in leisure-time traffic. Therefore, it is of major political concern to motivate consumers to switch to means of transportation which protect the environment better. Possible determinants in the choice of the means of transportation are the features of each alternative (e.g., time input, costs) as well as environmental attitudes of consumers. In this study 218 customers of a local travel agency were questioned concerning their environmental awareness and their perception of costs and time differences in traveling by plane or train within Europe. The results show that the decision between plane and train is determined by cost and time differences and not by the customers' environmental attitudes. Furthermore, comparisons between the perceived and real differences in terms of time and cost reveal that customers are very well informed. Furthermore, the study reveals that opportunity costs matter as much as direct costs for the choice of the means of transportation. This result confirms standard Rational-Choice assumptions but contradicts the findings of many experimental studies in which subjects underestimate opportunity costs.