Automobilzeiten

Automobilzeiten is a term used in transportation science and urban planning to describe the period-specific travel times and reliability of car travel within a given area. Coined from the German words Automobil (car) and Zeiten (times), the concept emphasizes both the typical duration of car trips and the variability caused by traffic, incidents, and network conditions.

In practice, Automobilzeiten refers to metrics that quantify average travel time by automobile, its distribution, and the temporal patterns across the day, week, or year. It is used in transport models to assess accessibility, plan road networks, and evaluate policy measures such as congestion pricing, speed regulation, or traffic management.

Methods to measure Automobilzeiten typically rely on aggregated data from GPS-enabled probes, traffic sensors, and travel surveys. Metrics include mean travel time, travel-time reliability (e.g., the percentage of trips within a threshold), and the standard deviation or percentile-based measures.

The concept serves to compare car-based accessibility with multimodal options and to estimate potential improvements under alternative scenarios. Criticism centers on its car-centric focus and the risk of underrepresenting non-automobile modes, equity concerns, and environmental impacts.

See also: travel time, travel-time reliability, accessibility, congestion, mobility.