“A little less conversation, a little more action please” - Triggering greener travel behaviour in a music festival context: The case of Fuchsbau Festival, Germany

Abstract: With growing awareness about their environmental impact, music festivals have increased their efforts to become greener since the 2000s. In line with this trend, the German Fuchsbau Festival developed a transport plan, taking into account that up to 80.0% of a festival’s emissions are produced through audience travel. Aiming at triggering a greener travel behaviour among its visitors, four measures were defined: the introduction of a parking fee, the promotion of car-pooling, the provision of free shuttle buses from the closest train station to the festival site, and the offer of coaches departing from three German cities. In this context, this thesis investigated two related topics: the potential of the transport plan to achieve its aim, and the perception the transport plan received. As the author was involved in the development, implementation and assessment of the transport plan, the thesis is considered an action research project. Following a mixed methods approach, both quantitative and qualitative data was collected. In an online survey and thirteen semi-structured interviews, members of the audience were asked about their travel preferences, habits and their perception of the described transport plan. The data was analysed utilising an adjusted Theory of Consumption Values. It was observed, that visitors attached particular importance to a trip’s functional and emotional aspects, including ‘price’, ‘time’, ‘storage room’, and ‘fun’. The means of transport promoted through the transport plan have been found to serve these needs to different extents. It is therefore concluded that the transport plan has the potential to trigger a greener travel behaviour. Yet, challenges remain in making green means of transport accessible to a wider audience. Furthermore, it was found that the transport plan was perceived well. This offers the festival’s organisational team room to manoeuvre should they wish to continue enhancing their sustainability-related efforts. Further research is suggested to test the thesis’ generalisability, and to develop supplementary suggestions which can help to improve the festival’s transport plan.