Aachen is a city of short distances. Every third journey is made on foot. The people of Aachen make 39% of their journeys by car. 13% are made by bike and a further 13% by bus and train.
Management Report Mobility
As part of the 2030 Mobility Strategy, it was determined that regular reports should be issued on 25 mobility metrics.
The first such management report was published in 2022, based on data from 2021.
The second management report was published in September 2026, containing data available through the end of 2025.
Study "Mobility in Germany"
The city of Aachen took part in the nationwide "Mobility in Germany" study in 2017 and 2023. From a random sample of residents, 1,930 households with 3,436 people in Aachen took part in the study. A total of 9,534 journeys were documented by these people on a specified date, including time, start and destination, purpose, means of transport, number of people, length and duration of the journey. Data on the 1,995 cars owned by these households was also recorded.
36% of people in Aachen live without a car in their household. The proportion of households that use car sharing is 18%, compared to 11% in 2017.
Aachen is a city of short distances: 70 percent of trips are a maximum of 5 km long. A further 15% of journeys are 5 to 10 km long. Only 15 % are longer than 10 km.
The study shows that the proportion of journeys made by Aachen residents on foot is 33 percent. In the 2017 study, this figure was still 30 percent. In contrast, car use in Aachen has decreased: From 46% (2017) to 39% (2023) of journeys, of which 29% as drivers and 10% as passengers, i.e. an average of 1.38 people per car. The use of bicycles has also increased from 10 percent to 13 percent. The share of bus and train use has stagnated: Buses and trains have a share of 13 percent (13 percent).
In all of this, it can be seen that the number of journeys has decreased compared to 2017. In the 2017 survey year, Aachen residents made an average of 3.5 journeys per person per day. In 2023, it was only 3.0 trips. In particular, the number of journeys made by car per person per day fell from 1.62 to 1.18. The daily distance traveled per inhabitant is 36 km. The average distance traveled has decreased from 12.0 km (2017) to 10.4 km.
Further topics
- MiD 2023 | Mobility behavior of people broken down by municipalities in the StädteRegion Aachen
- Current traffic data ("dashboard") in Aachen
- Objectives and indicators of mobility in Aachen
- Traffic data in the Open Data Portal of the City of Aachen
- Statistical yearbooks for Aachen (including vehicle registration figures by statistical district)
- Nationwide data on transportation (Federal Statistical Office, GENESIS)