Passenger transport demand in the EU-28 increased by nearly 1.1 % between 2012 and 2013, after an overall downward trend since its peak in 2009. Car passenger travel remains the dominant transport mode, with a share well above 70 %. Air transport grew by 10 % in 2011, but stabilised in 2012 and 2013. However, it retained its pre-crisis modal share (9 %). The share of rail passenger travel has grown slightly in recent years, accounting for 6.6 % of transport demand in 2013. Land only passenger transport demand continued to grow in 2013 in the non-EU-28 countries, with Iceland experiencing 2.9 % growth, Turkey 3.2 %, Switzerland 1.6 % and Norway 1.3 %.”
Source: European Environment Agency (2015)
The above citation highlights the increasing demand on transportation in Europe. This is primarily caused by the growing concentration of population in and around the large urban areas where the increasing number of commuters and visitors raises requirements to the local transportation infrastructures that often cannot be satisfied with physical extension of those infrastructures. Moreover, in the EU there are strategic incentives to converge toward sustainable mobility despite of the increasing demand that has been found out by the European Environment Agency.