Identifying target groups for environmentally sustainable transport: assessment of different segmentation approaches

• Use of attitude-based market segmentation has recently increased in the transport sector.
• Different segmentation approaches are compared, based on marketing criteria.
• Approaches based on behavioural theories have advantages in predicting and changing car use.
• The approach that should be chosen depends on the field of application.

Recently, the use of attitude-based market segmentation to promote environmentally sustainable transport has significantly increased. The segmentation of the population into meaningful groups sharing similar attitudes and preferences provides valuable information about how green measures should be designed and promoted in order to attract different user groups. This review highlights advances in the understanding of mode choice from a psychological perspective, taking into account behavioural theories of car use and car-use reduction. In this contribution, attitudinal, socio-demographic, geographical and behavioural segmentations are compared regarding marketing criteria. Although none of the different approaches can claim absolute superiority, attitudinal approaches show advantages in providing starting-points for interventions to reduce car use.