Mobility Survey 2025
How do you get to university, which means of transport do you use – and what would you like to see for future-fit mobility at the University of Vienna?
In the 2025 Mobility Survey, the Sustainability Office of the University of Vienna surveyed the mobility behaviour of employees and students at the University of Vienna. Between November 2025 and December 2026, 2,169 employees (20% response rate) and 4,396 students (9% response rate) from the University of Vienna participated. You are thus making an important contribution: the results will feed into the University of Vienna's second greenhouse gas inventory and provide an important basis for university-internal planning and decision-making in the areas of mobility and sustainability.
Modal Split: Public Transport Remains Dominant, Cycling Booms
The vast majority of university members use public transport (ÖV), with the share being higher among students at 82% (2019: 93%) than among employees at 63% (2019: 78%).
- More active mobility: Particularly encouraging is the increase in cycling and walking. Among employees, the share of cycling has doubled compared to 2019 to 24% (summer reading). 8% of employees walk to work. The share of students commuting to university on foot or by bike also rose from 4% in 2019 to 14% in 2025.
- Car use: The share of journeys made by car remains consistently low for both groups at around 4%.
The average distance to the University of Vienna is 6.1 km for employees and 11.5 km for students.
Sustainability and Carbon Footprint of Commuting
Although relatively few people use a car, these journeys account for the majority of CO₂ emissions from commuting.
- Among employees, 918 out of a total of 1,328 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year come from car drivers.
- A positive trend can be seen in e-mobility: 15% of employees and already 36% of students who drive to university use an electric car.
- Potential for e-bikes: Around one quarter of employees and 17% of students who currently commute by car live within a radius of less than 10 km – a distance ideally suited for (e-)bikes.
Motivation in mode choice
For both groups, time savings is the most important criterion when choosing a mode of transport (91% employees, 94% students). While cost savings ranks third for students (79%), it only comes sixth for employees (69%).
Wishes and Suggestions for Improving Commuter Mobility
Respondents provided clear input for future mobility planning:
- Cycling: The most frequently mentioned wish is the expansion of physically separated cycle lanes (73% of cyclists), as well as more and safer bicycle parking directly at university sites.
- Public transport: Here, financial support such as job tickets for employees or more affordable semester tickets (including beyond the age of 26) for students is at the forefront.
- Work organisation: A key concern is the further expansion of remote work and digital teaching in order to avoid unnecessary journeys altogether (desired by 40% of employees and 44% of students).
Work and Study-Related Travel
In addition to daily commuting, work and study-related travel constitutes an essential aspect of university mobility. In 2025, 56% of employees undertook business trips, with travellers making an average of 5.4 trips per year. A clear difference emerges between staff groups: while academic staff completed an average of 5.7 trips, general university staff made 2.8. The total distance covered by employees amounted to 59.7 million kilometres, the vast majority of which was accounted for by flights (45.6 million km) and rail travel (11.7 million km). Air travel weighs particularly heavily in the carbon balance at around 10,884 tonnes of CO₂e and is responsible for approximately 95% of total travel-related emissions of University of Vienna employees. Per capita, these trips generated an average of approximately 1.07 tonnes of CO₂e.
Among students, 14% undertook study-related travel, with an average of 4.2 trips per year per travelling person. The most common reasons were excursions (60%), followed by other stays abroad (25%), internships (17%), and semester abroad programmes (11%). Of the total 23.4 million kilometres travelled, around 65% were by air and 22% by rail. This distribution is reflected in the carbon balance: flights accounted for approximately 86% of students' travel-related CO₂ emissions, while rail was responsible for only around 1%.
The survey was conducted in collaboration with HERRY Consult GmbH.