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The Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI)
Linköping University

Demand Management for Reducing Urban Traffic Congestion

This project explores how tourists and visitors to major events shape congestion in Stockholm – and how smart demand management can keep the city moving. Using rich data from public transport, road traffic and micromobility, the research identifies when and where these traveller groups strain capacity, and tests strategies to better distribute demand across modes, places and time.

Urban road and public transport congestion is a growing challenge in large cities such as Stockholm, with impacts on travel times, comfort, safety and the environment. As the city continues to grow and attract more visitors, it becomes increasingly important to understand how specific traveller groups contribute to crowding and bottlenecks – particularly city tourists and visitors to planned special events such as concerts, festivals, conferences and sports matches.

The project “Demand management for reduced congestion in urban traffic from traveller groups” focuses on these seasonal and occasional travel patterns and their effects on the multimodal transport system. Its main objectives are to:  

  1. Characterise how tourists and event visitors use the transport system, with emphasis on public transport but including road traffic and micromobility.
  2. Quantify their contribution to capacity utilisation and congestion across the wider network.
  3. Propose and evaluate demand management strategies – for example targeted service increases, shuttle services, traffic management measures and information campaigns – that can mitigate congestion and support more efficient planning.  

Methodologically, the project is strongly data-driven. It combines anonymised ticket validation data from public transport with bus GPS traces, timetables (GTFS), motorway control system data, probe vehicle data, congestion tax portal counts, city traffic counts and shared micromobility data. These datasets are used to identify likely tourists and event participants, reconstruct their trips, and estimate crowding and capacity use in different parts of the network, building on methods developed in the CAPA-CITY and MMTL2 projects.

The work is organised into activities covering: (AP1) selection of traveller groups, (AP2) analysis of travel patterns, (AP3) assessment of capacity use and congestion impacts, (AP4) development of demand management strategies, and (AP5) project management and dissemination.

Expected outcomes include planning guidelines and decision support for Trafikverket, Region Stockholm, municipalities and event organisers on how to prepare for peak tourist seasons and major events, as well as a PhD thesisthat strengthens Sweden’s expertise in data-driven, passenger-oriented transport planning. The results will inform more targeted policies and measures that improve efficiency and service quality while supporting tourism and the events sector as key parts of the urban economy.  

Contact: Erik Jenelius erik.jenelius@abe.kth.se

Team:

Anastasios Skoufas (PhD Student)

Oded Cats (Professor)

Wilco Burghout (Associate professor)

Matej Cebecauer (Researcher)

Time period: December 2024 - June 2027