Beliefs about energy, a factor in daily ecological mobility?

The central question is to ascertain whether general energy beliefs have any influence on transport mode choice. These beliefs are explored and determined by using one short open question. Based on an alternative approach of free associations instead of a standardised scale of behaviour, this question is included in a quantitative survey and allows us to obtain meaningful words. These exploratory results show first that beliefs about energy can be considered as general representations like a cost, a power or even an environmental issue. These beliefs are included in a logit model of mode choice that also considers more conventional factors representing socio-demographic characteristics, socio-economic aspects, as well as territorial structure and function. The final results demonstrate that energy beliefs influence mode choice if they include an environmental component, which expresses the negative effects of energy. The effects of these beliefs nonetheless are smaller than those of situational constraints.