In Central and Eastern Europe, mobility planning often starts from the same assumption: if we build the right infrastructure and price it correctly, people will switch. Yet in cities like Budapest, Debrecen, or Brno, we repeatedly see that even well-designed transport systems struggle to change everyday behaviour. The reason is not technical maturity. It is behavioural inertia shaped by decades of lived experience.
Deliberation vs. automatism
For many people in CEE cities, the private car represents more than transport. It represents autonomy, reliability, and personal control in systems that historically did not always work as promised. Even when public transport coverage is strong, daily mobility decisions are rarely made through comparison. They are habitual responses to time pressure, family logistics, and perceived uncertainty. Once a routine “works”, it becomes the default.
This is why rational arguments often fall flat. Telling commuters that public transport is cheaper or greener does little if one missed connection can disrupt childcare pickup or a shift-based job. In Hungarian cities, we often see that one negative experience with delays or overcrowding can undo months of positive messaging. Behaviour is not shaped by averages. It is shaped by peak stress moments.
The importance of perceived simplicity
Perceived simplicity plays a decisive role. Mobility solutions that require multiple apps, fragmented ticketing, or unclear rules feel risky. This is especially visible in mid-sized CEE cities where digital mobility services are introduced faster than people can build trust in them. Even technically strong solutions struggle if they feel complex compared to the familiarity of the car.
Understanding mobility behaviour in this context means recognising that people do not “choose” their mode of transport every morning. They repeat what protects their time, energy, and sense of control. Ignoring this reality is one of the main reasons why mobility pilots across the region fail to scale.
Green Brother insight
In our accelerator work with Hungarian and regional cities, we consistently see that adoption problems are labelled as “communication issues”, while the real barrier is habit protection. The most scalable mobility solutions are those that quietly replace routines instead of challenging them head-on.
This article is based on the report “Integrating Behavioural Insights into Sustainable Mobility Planning” (November 2025) by EIT Urban Mobility, developed in collaboration with Urban Places Lab and Roche, drawing on expert input from behavioural psychologists and transport researchers .
