Reduce Car Use Research Articles

Bike share’s impact on car use: Evidence from the United States, Great Britain, and Australia

There are currently more than 700 cities operating bike share programs. Purported benefits of bike share include flexible mobility, physical activity, reduced congestion, emissions and fuel use. Implicit or explicit in the calculation of program benefits are assumptions regarding the modes of travel replaced by bike share journeys. This paper examines the degree to which car trips are replaced by bike share, through an examination of survey and trip data from bike share programs in Melbourne, Brisbane, Washington, D.C., London, and Minneapolis/St. Paul.A secondary and unique component of this analysis examines motor vehicle support services required for bike share fleet rebalancing and maintenance. These two components are then combined to estimate bike share’s overall contribution to changes in vehicle kilometers traveled.The results indicate an estimated reduction in motor vehicle use due to bike share of approx. 90,000km per annum in Melbourne and Minneapolis/St. Paul and 243,291km for Washington, D.C. London’s bike share program however recorded an additional 766,341km in motor vehicle use. This was largely due to a low car mode substitution rate and substantial truck use for rebalancing of bicycles. As bike share programs mature, evaluation of their effectiveness in reducing car use may become increasingly important. Researchers can adapt the analytical approach proposed in this paper to assist in the evaluation of current and future bike share programs.

The evolution of urban mobility: The interplay of academic and policy perspectives

Urban mobility in Western countries has evolved substantially over the past fifty years, from an early interest in catering for growing car ownership and use through major road expansion, to the current emphasis on reducing car use and cutting back on road provision, encouraging sustainable travel and promoting liveable cities with a high quality of life. This can be observed in the changing patterns of car use in many European cities over time (i.e. a rapid increase followed by stabilisation and now decline). This evolution can be related to changes in the transport policy paradigm, which has been heavily influenced by the involvement of an increasing range of academic disciplines, many of which have contributed to modifying the supporting data collection, modelling and appraisal methodologies. The paper explores the varying interplay over time between academic/applied research and policy practice, and the methodological legacy left by earlier perspectives on urban mobility. It highlights a recent reinterpretation of mobility provided through taking a 'socio-technical perspective', and speculates on how policy thinking on urban mobility might further evolve over the next forty years.

The influence of urban form on car travel following residential relocation: a current and retrospective study in Scottish urban areas

Spatial planning and policy continues to be used as a tool to bring about changes in travel behavior. Policy suggests that by creating particular urban forms, demand for travel by car can be reduced. This paper uses data collected in 2006 from 280 households in Glasgow and Edinburgh to analyze the relationships between urban form and vehicle miles driven, with an emphasis on those who had recently relocated. Population densities, housing type, distance to urban center, and measures of mix were collected for the current residential location and prior residence for those who had relocated in the previous three years. An ordinal regression model of change in urban form showed significant associations with reported change in miles driven, although the effect was small compared with the effects of socioeconomic factors and car ownership. While the results give some weight to intensification as a policy to bring about a reduction in average distance driven, there may be an increase in total distance driven in the intensified area with a corresponding increase in congestion. Whether such intensification can be enacted against a backdrop of preferences toward suburban, car-oriented living is contentious. As such, this study calls into question the use of planning policy as a means to reduce car use in Scottish cities.

The influence of urban form on car travel following residential relocation: a current and retrospective study in Scottish urban areas

Spatial planning and policy continues to be used as a tool to bring about changes in travel behavior. Policy suggests that by creating particular urban forms, demand for travel by car can be reduced. This paper uses data collected in 2006 from 280 households in Glasgow and Edinburgh to analyze the relationships between urban form and vehicle miles driven, with an emphasis on those who had recently relocated. Population densities, housing type, distance to urban center, and measures of mix were collected for the current residential location and prior residence for those who had relocated in the previous three years. An ordinal regression model of change in urban form showed significant associations with reported change in miles driven, although the effect was small compared with the effects of socioeconomic factors and car ownership. While the results give some weight to intensification as a policy to bring about a reduction in average distance driven, there may be an increase in total distance driven in the intensified area with a corresponding increase in congestion. Whether such intensification can be enacted against a backdrop of preferences toward suburban, car-oriented living is contentious. As such, this study calls into question the use of planning policy as a means to reduce car use in Scottish cities.

Methodology for Evaluating Quality of Travel Plans for New Developments

A travel plan contains a package of site-specific measures that aim to manage car use and to encourage the use of more sustainable transport modes. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in using the land use planning and approvals process to secure travel plans for new developments. Although evaluations of travel plans tend to focus on outcomes such as reductions in car use, scant attention has been paid to evaluating the process through which they are developed. For this study, an assessment framework was developed to evaluate the quality of travel plans for new developments. With a case study from Victoria, Australia, the framework was applied to 31 travel plans. Results showed that most travel plans were prepared for residential and mixed use developments and contained measures that were focused primarily on information and infrastructure provision. Relevant background information and the selection of measures generally were covered by travel plans. However, the process for managing their implementation scored relatively low in the assessment in comparison with other elements. Overall, the framework developed provides a useful tool for assessing the relative merits and deficiencies of travel plans prepared for new developments and can be used to improve the quality of travel plans that are submitted through the planning process. Further work is required to refine the framework according to the collective views of travel planning practitioners.

Optimization of Cycle Paths with Mathematical Programming

The recent evolution and development of urban areas has dramatically transformed the layout of cities and has had a significant impact on mobility. Decision makers have become aware of the problem and have begun to take measures to manage the changing demand for mobility through the diversification and promotion of less aggressive and more efficient transport modes: walking, cycling and using public transport. New standards in sustainable mobility are being incorporated into this new scenario to encourage a reduction in car use. These standards form the basis for the design of planning tools and more efficient management systems, among them, encouraging the use of bicycles as an everyday mode of mobility in urban areas.There are a number of programs aimed at the promotion of cycling in cities. One in particular is for the planning and design of cycle paths through the establishment of networks that allow the use of bicycles in preferential paths with high safety guarantees. This paper presents a mathematical programming model for the optimal design of a network intended for cyclists. Specifically, the model determines which type of infrastructure (type of bike lane) is most appropriate on each link of a road network, based on criteria of cost to users and the investment cost of the infrastructure itself.As an application of the proposed model, several experiments are presented on a testing network based on the known Sioux Falls network. As a result of these experiments a number of useful conclusions are obtained for the design of cycle networks from a social and operational perspective within a pre-defined cost.The model has been developed to be highly versatile and to allow any type of change (different network, different levels of demand, etc ..) and to assure the least consumption of computational resources.

The Changing Ethics of Climate Change

Many in the environmental movement have argued in recent years that in order to speed up climate actions we should take the ethics out of the climate change debate. Focusing on the moral obligation to act or on the effects of climate change on the most vulnerable was often judged to render the discourse too “heavy,” “negative,” or “difficult.” Many also deemed it unnecessary. After all, renewable energies, better designed cities that allow for reduced car use, and power plant regulations that lead to cleaner local air—to take just three examples—all have real and substantial benefits unrelated to the fact that they are “the right thing to do” in the face of climate change. They create jobs, reduce health problems and costs, and make society fitter.

A Panel Data Approach to Understanding the Effect of the Built Environment on Travel Behavior

In recent years, the concept of compact cities has permeated the sustainability discourse under the premise that compact high density developments can effectively reduce car use levels and promote use of alternative modes such as transit and non-motorized means. However, these arguments hinge on the existence of a true causal mechanism between built environment and travel behavior. Using panel data from a survey on new movers to a high density mixed use development in the Kashiwanoha area, Chiba prefecture, several models are estimated to test the effect of changes in the built environment on activity frequency by mode. Findings suggest that even after controlling for residential self-selection, the built environment exerts a significant effect on activity frequency for some activity types such as shopping and eating-out conditional on travel modes. Mode substitution effects were observed between frequencies of nearby activities reached by non-motorized means and faraway activities reached by car given changes in accessibility levels around home location. Nonlinear effects of car ownership on activity frequency were also identified. Findings provide a good insight on the potential effects of retrofitting low density suburban areas through densification and land use mixes, an issue of critical importance in the context of rapidly ageing and depopulating cities and regions in Japan.

The implications of and institutional barriers to compact land development for transportation: Evidence from Bejing

Land use patterns are believed to affect transportation, while low-capacity land-use management is often seen as one of the primary institutional barriers to sustainable transport. Examining the case of Beijing, this paper aims to contribute more evidence in relation to these issues. Over the past decades China’s megacities have witnessed a dramatic transition in land use from traditional compact development to sprawling development due to rapid urbanization. This study found that this transition has tended to increase car usage and thus worsen the emission of pollutants by transport in Beijing when growth of income and other socioeconomic factors are taken into account. It is apparent that compact land-use policies need to be reintroduced to reduce car use. However, there are several institutional barriers related to the reintroduction of compact development in the current context of transition from a centrally planned system to a market system in China’s cities. In particular, increasing fragmentation in the realm of land-development management has created serious challenges to the implementation of compact land-development policies. Therefore, institutional capacity building is needed to enable compact land-use policies to control local sprawl and promote sustainable transport.

Reducing visitor car use in a protected area: a market segmentation approach to achieving behaviour change

This research uses a market segmentation approach to reducing transport-related environmental burdens from visitors, while maintaining economic benefit. The approach was tested in the Lake District National Park (UK). It aimed first to explore visitor transport behaviour using a social psychological framework, to understand what might best predict desired behaviour change (i.e. reduced visitor car use). Second, it developed and tested different types of marketing messages to reduce car use, based on persuasive communication theory, establishing marketing propositions appropriate to different visitor types and market segments. Third, it identified market segments with both a high propensity towards positive behavioural change and the highest economic contribution to the destination. The work is based on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour and on persuasive communication. Three hundred and ninety completed questionnaires were obtained. The paper emphasises the importance of context in successful communication to influence behaviour and shows that a market segmentation approach to behavioural change can be successful. Complex patterns of visitor mobility and modal choice emerge. For example “New Explorers” and “Familiar Families” are most likely to reduce their car use (45% and 48% respectively) and less likely to perceive this as difficult.

Sustainable transportation in Argentina: Values, beliefs, norms and car use reduction

Most Latin American countries face important environmental and societal problems associated with an increase in car traffic, and only recently, transport policies aimed at reducing these harmful consequences of car use have begun to be discussed and put on the public agenda of these countries. Surprisingly, little is known about the factors influencing the acceptability of transport policies and intentions to reduce car use in Latin America, as studies on acceptability of transport policies have typically been conducted in Europe. Previous evidence from European samples – where reducing car used had been widely discussed – showed that the Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory of environmentalism was an adequate theoretical framework to predict the acceptability of a transport pricing policy, as well as the intention to reduce car use when this policy would be implemented. But can these results be generalised to non-European samples? In this paper, we report results of a questionnaire study among 160 participants from Buenos Aires, Argentina, aimed to test the VBN theory. We found that the VBN theory was indeed also successful in explaining policy acceptability and intention to reduce car use in Argentina. In addition, we found support for the causal structure of the variables in VBN theory. Interestingly, biospheric and hedonic values were also directly and significantly related to feelings of moral obligation when intermediate variables were controlled for. These results suggest that normative considerations, activated by values, indeed predict policy acceptability and the intention to reduce car use in Argentina and that these considerations should be taken into account to increase the acceptability of policies aimed at reducing car use.

Travel plans: a way forward?

The travel plan can be defined as a long-term management strategy for an organisation and its various sites or business park; the plan seeks to deliver transport objectives through positive action and is articulated by a document that is regularly reviewed. Importantly, unlike more ‘traditional’ measures, they can be effective at reducing car use while being politically acceptable and relatively cheap and quick to introduce. Given that politicians and their officials have often seen transport problems as being extremely difficult to solve, it is therefore strange that they have seemingly ignored the apparent significant potential of the travel plan. Interviews were undertaken with ten travel plan experts in the UK, the aim being to ascertain their views on the current state of play with respect to travel plans and their predictions for the future. From these a series of recommendations is presented as to how travel plan policy may be conducted in the future.

Strategies to Promote Sustainable Mobility Management Incorporating Heterogeneity

ABSTRACT The objectives of this article are to suggest strategies for Mobility Management (MM), which has attracted increased attention as sustainable transportation policy, through incorporating heterogeneity in trip maker. The heterogeneity was analyzed by latent class model using psychological variables, segmented by three latent classes: (1) “Environmentalists with non-actively travel”; (2) “Environmentalists with actively travel”; and (3) “Non-environmentalists.” In addition, it could be demonstrated the transitional process in travel behavior for reducing car use by structure equation model, consists of three steps (attitude change → behavioral intention → actual action), and each step is influenced by psychological variables related to environmental awareness, attitudes toward public transportation, and auto preferences. Finally, to promote the MM effectively for sustainable transportation, some strategies were suggested considering the characteristics of trip makers.

Do light rail services discourage car ownership and use? Evidence from Census data for four English cities

The paper examines, using English Census data, the impacts of four light rail schemes opened between 1991 and 2001 on car ownership and travel mode along the rail corridors. The effects of these schemes are isolated by comparing the changes in the new light rail corridors with those in ‘control’ areas. Control areas represent what would have occurred in the light rail corridors if the schemes had not been built. Despite two schemes achieving and even exceeding the forecast ridership, the proportion of households owning multiple cars increased in the light rail corridors and typically by more than in the control areas. Growing rail shares in the light rail corridors have mainly come from buses and the evidence for light rail reducing car use is less clear. This latter finding is of particular significance, given that a major justification for investment in light rail rather than bus schemes is their presumed ability to bring about major modal shift by attracting substantial numbers of car users.

A Cochrane systematic review of the effectiveness of organisational travel plans: Improving the evidence base for transport decisions

BackgroundPopulation dependence on car use has adverse health consequences including road traffic injury, physical inactivity, air pollution and social severance. Widespread car dependence also entrenches lifestyles that require unsustainable levels of energy use. Most transport policies explicitly include goals for public health and sustainability. Transport interventions can therefore be seen as complex public health programmes, and assessing their outcomes against health and sustainability goals is vital. Using organisational travel plans (OTPs) as an example, we demonstrate how best practice epidemiological systematic reviews can be used to assess the existing evidence to inform transport policy. Such a synthesis of the evidence for OTPs has not been undertaken previously. MethodsWe undertook a rigorous systematic review in accordance with a peer reviewed protocol to assess the effects of OTPs on individual and population health. We defined OTPs as travel behaviour change programmes conducted in a workplace or education setting. We included published and unpublished randomised controlled trials and controlled before and after studies, where the measured outcomes included change in travel mode or health. Results17 studies were included. One study directly measured health outcomes, and all studies measured change in travel mode. The overall methodological validity of studies was poor. The highest quality studies reported mixed effects on travel mode in the school setting. An isolated randomised controlled trial in a workplace suggests that reductions in car use are possible by people already contemplating or preparing for change to active travel. ConclusionsDespite widespread implementation, there is insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of organisational travel plans for improving health or changing travel mode. Given the current lack of evidence, new OTP programmes should be implemented in the context of robustly-designed research studies, accounting for potential adverse effects such as child pedestrian injury. Cochrane systematic review methods used in partnerships between public health and transport planners can help achieve transport policy goals.

Car Dependence, Sustainability and the Transport Policy Stalemate: The Potential Trade-offs between Intra- and Inter-generational Equity

The sustainability concept, as originally defined, comprises three meta-goals: growth, intra-generational (social) equity and environmental protection (that is, inter-generational equity). In this context, while the potential trade-offs growth vs. environment and growth vs. intra-generational equity have been frequently addressed, the possible tensions between intra-generational and inter-generational equity have received only limited attention. This is true also for studies on “sustainable transport”, often concerned with the seemingly unstoppable rise of car ownership and use. This latter process is, on the one hand, a major determinant of environmental unsustainability; on the other hand, however, it entails a crucial intra-generational equity dimension, related to the differential in accessibility to services and opportunities between car users and non-car users. Accordingly, in this paper, I argue that the very nature of car dependence–defined as a dynamic and self-reinforcing macro-social process with systemic properties–urges scholars to focus on the trade-offs between intra- and inter-generational equity. Indeed, every increase in the level of car dependence widens the disadvantage gap between those who are part of the car system and those who are left out of it, but at the same time reduces the number of the latter. For this reason, its implications for intra-generational equity are very equivocal. On the other hand, most of the policies envisaged to fight car dependence are feared to have negative impacts on intra-generational equity, and thus often meet strong resistance. This is likely to bring to a “transport policy stalemate”, where no serious attempt is made to reduce car use and all hopes are concentrated on a “technological fix” to eventually solve all problems. In this scenario, inter-generational equity is likely to be sacrificed in favour of other goals.

Using transport policy to increase physical activity

The objective of this presentation is to propose a transport policy strategy to increase physical activity that will be cost effective and acceptable to the public based on a project carried out for the UK Department for Transport to consider the available evidence on the role of transport in increasing levels of physical activity. It was found that individual behaviour interventions have had some impact on physical activity, but that on-going support was necessary in the long-term. Modifications to the built environment to increase walking and cycling are only effective when supported by other measures. It was found that the key relationship is between car use and physical activity. In order to increase levels of physical activity, it is necessary to reduce use of the car. For many people the car is the mode of choice: for many trips it is cheaper, quicker and more convenient to use the car sitting outside the house than to make the effort of walking, cycling or using public transport. The economics of car use mean that a large expenditure is made to purchase the car and then each trip is relatively cheap. Because so many households have adopted lifestyles that revolve around the use of the car, it is important to recognise that any policies to reduce car use must provide as much, or close to as much, accessibility as the car does. This can be done by shifting the method of accessing cars from individual household ownership to a more flexible system of hiring or sharing cars rather than owning them. This would involve the whole range of emerging schemes such as car clubs, neighbourhood car rental, and car sharing. With smartcard technology, the internet and GPS technology a whole range of flexible options have opened up in recent years. Two key aspects of using this approach are that the opportunities can be supplied commercially and that they can be presented as increasing choice rather than less appealing messages about health. There is evidence that people who use car clubs etc are more active physically than those who own cars. The role of government would be to facilitate the behaviour change through bringing relevant parties together and encouraging the provision of information to people at key stages in their lives when they consider their car needs such as after having baby. Supporting transport and land use policies would assist the process.

Identifying Beliefs and Cognitions Underpinning Commuters' Travel Mode Choices

Interventions to reduce car use have shown limited success, in part due to limitations in models of transport choices. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) has provided a useful predictive model of car use but the specific beliefs that underpin TPB‐specified cognitions are less well understood. In this study, 229 university employees responded to a questionnaire and then reported their commuting choices 1 week later. Intention and perceived behavioral control (PBC) predicted car use (R2 = .79). Intention was predicted by attitude, subjective norm, PBC, and moral norm (R2 = .56). Beliefs could not be differentiated into attitudinal and PBC constructs, but seven beliefs predicted TPB cognitions. A similar model was tested for public transport use. The results identify key targets for future interventions.

Replacing car trips by increasing bike and public transport in the greater Barcelona metropolitan area: A health impact assessment study

ObjectiveEstimate the health risks and benefits of mode shifts from car to cycling and public transport in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, Spain. MethodsWe conducted a health impact assessment (HIA), creating 8 different scenarios on the replacement of short and long car trips, by public transport or/and bike. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality and change in life expectancy related to two different assessments: A) the exposure of travellers to physical activity, air pollution to particulate matter <2.5μm (PM2.5), and road traffic fatality; and B) the exposure of general population to PM2.5, modelling by Barcelona Air-Dispersion Model. The secondary outcome was a change in emissions of carbon dioxide. ResultsThe annual health impact of a shift of 40% of the car trips, starting and ending in Barcelona City, to cycling (n=141,690) would be for the travellers who shift modes 1.15 additional deaths from air pollution, 0.17 additional deaths from road traffic fatality and 67.46 deaths avoided from physical activity resulting in a total of 66.12 deaths avoided. Fewer deaths would be avoided annually if half of the replaced trips were shifted to public transport (43.76 deaths). The annual health impact in the Barcelona City general population (n=1,630,494) of the 40% reduction in car trips would be 10.03 deaths avoided due to the reduction of 0.64% in exposure to PM2.5. The deaths (including travellers and general population) avoided in Barcelona City therefore would be 76.15 annually. Further health benefits would be obtained with a shift of 40% of the car trips from the Greater Barcelona Metropolitan which either start or end in Barcelona City to public transport (40.15 deaths avoided) or public transport and cycling (98.50 deaths avoided).The carbon dioxide reduction for shifting from car to other modes of transport (bike and public transport) in Barcelona metropolitan area was estimated to be 203,251t/CO2 emissions per year. ConclusionsInterventions to reduce car use and increase cycling and the use of public transport in metropolitan areas, like Barcelona, can produce health benefits for travellers and for the general population of the city. Also these interventions help to reduce green house gas emissions.

Evaluation of south-Australia's TravelSmart project: Changes in community's attitudes to travel

The research this paper presents is from the TravelSmart Households in the West project (THITW), which was implemented in Western Adelaide, South Australia by the South Australian Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (SA DTEI). The primary aim of this project was to reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions through travel behaviour changes. In this paper, we present a study where before and after surveys were conducted to evaluate to what extent this project impacted the community's attitudes with respect to travel behaviour change, that is, not to evaluate their behaviour change, but to see if the THITW Project impacted their attitudes about use of car and alternatives to the car. The results show that in the before survey, inadequate public transport did not get mentioned as one of the most cited disadvantages of reducing car use while in the after survey, public transport has come into the minds of both THITW participants and non-participants. Moreover, an analysis of attitudinal statement scales shows that, compared to the 2005 survey, the THITW Project has contributed to some degree of attitude change. Particularly, evidence was found that THITW participants have significantly increased their willingness to reduce car use. We conclude that evidence exists that the THITW project has had the desired effect of changing participants' attitudes towards reducing car use.