La mobilité des frontaliers du Luxembourg : dynamiques et perspectives

In the foreword, this collection of research sheets introduces the challenge of cross-border mobility with Luxembourg. The challenge is this: the flow of people crossing the border to work keeps on increasing and the issues relating to mobility needing to be dealt with are becoming more and urgent, and all the more so as the great majority of cross-border workers use their own cars.

The collection is divided into the main parts, each of them then being subdivided into 13 sheets developing the subject.

The first part (sheets 1,2,3,4 and 5) deals mainly with mobility between home and the workplace. The second part looks in more detail at the everyday activities and entertainment of cross-border workers (sheet 6,7,8 and 9) and finally, the last part focuses on the opinions and day-to-day experiences of these workers (sheets 10, 11, 12 and 13)

First of all, after an analysis of the socio-demographical and geographical evolution of the population of cross-border workers, sheet 1 informs us that these socio-demographic profiles are changing considerably.

Indeed, cross-border workers are more numerous overall (up from 132,000 workers in 1975 to 352,000 in 2011), have aged notably and include a larger proportion of management-grade and therefore better qualified workers, with higher incomes and including more home-owners. In addition, this development has led to changes in daily mobility and residential practices, with a significant increase in home/workplace flows.

Section 2 deals with the issue of cross-border workers moving to Luxembourg for reasons to do with the distance between home and work. It can be seen, from a diagram produced a part of the EMF (cross-border worker mobility) survey, that this reason was not the main one, and that the reasons for moving are quite varied. Among the different reasons given for moving, was the desire to become a home-owner, housing-related aspects, financial difficulties/constraints, etc. 

Sheet 3 provides information on the means of transport used by cross-border workers to go to work.  Whether they live in Belgium, Germany or France, the great majority of cross-border workers choose to use their car. The highest rates of public transport use are in urban centres, where the connections to Luxembourg are the most efficient. Conversely, car use is more common in areas that are less densely populated and less accessible by train or bus, which is, however, where many cross-border workers live.

Then sheet 4 explains that cross-border workers live on average 44 km from their place of work and take 53 minutes to get to work. Although the distance has remained stable since 2007, journey rime, however, has increased slightly. The time spent travelling to and from work varies according to the modes of transports used.

Sheet 5, the last one in Part 1, tells us that over 18,000 cross-border workers use public transport to come to work in Luxembourg. Most of these journeys are into the capital. The majority of cross-border workers use car rather than taking the train, as already explained.

In Part 2, it is explained in sheet 6 that cross-border workers generate a high number of movements in Luxembourg for their work and for other activities. Cross-border journeys remain more numerous than journeys made entirely within the Grand Duchy, which are both shorter and most often made on foot. In total, cross-border workers spend an average of two hours a day on their daily travel.

The next sheets talk about the sequences of cross-border workers' activities during the course of the known day, thanks to the main movement chains of these cross-border workers, as well as their regular activities outside of their home-work commute, and the fact that these households have high level of car ownership, since three quarters of them have at least two cars.

And finally, the last pat looks at the opinions of cross-border workers concerning modes of transport, their perception of the energy question and their everyday experience of commuting.  This last point takes up a large part of their time, leading to tiredness and stress, etc.