Reduce Car Use Research Articles

Car-user responses to travel demand management measures: goal setting and choice of adaptation alternatives

Travel demand management measures can be used to encourage car users to set car-use reduction goals when experiencing impairments in travel options. In forming plans to reduce car-use contingent on such goals, car users consider a range of adaptation alternatives including more efficient car use, suppressing trips, and switching travel mode. These adaptation alternatives, it may be argued, are implemented sequentially over time according to a cost-minimisation principle. A focus group study was conducted gauging the creativity of car-using households when contemplating adaptation alternatives, followed by an Internet-based questionnaire study in an attempt to obtain quantitative estimates of the size of car-use reduction goals and frequency of implementation of adaptation alternatives. The data revealed that the effects of travel demand management measures and trip purpose on the setting of car-use reduction goals were small. While the cost-minimisation principle seemed to dictate stated choices of adaptation alternatives, further research needs to examine the ways in which the principle must be qualified.

Policies for Urban Form and their Impact on Travel: The Netherlands Experience

This paper documents an evaluation of the consequences of the Netherlands national physical planning policy for an individual's travel behaviour. Four components of this policy are considered: the concentrated decentralisation of the 1970s and 1980s; the strict compact-city policy of the 1980s and 1990s; the A-B-C location policy; and the spatial retailing policy. Using data from the 1998 Netherlands National Travel Survey, the article addresses the following questions. Did physical planning reduce the use of the private car and promote the use of public transport together with cycling and walking? Did physical planning lead to shorter travel distances and times? The analysis suggests that national spatial planning has been most effective in retaining high shares of cycling and walking in the large and medium-sized cities, in particular for shopping trips. In terms of travel time, however, spatial policy seems to have been less successful. The building of new towns and, more recently, the development of greenfield neighbourhoods close to cities do not appear to have reduced commuting times. Alternative strategies to promote the use of public transport, the bicycle and walking through the regulation of land use are discussed. Relaxing some of the present spatial planning controls is suggested to reduce car use and travel times.

Acceptability of bus priority schemes and their effects on commuters' travel mode choice

Bus priority schemes are defined as the introduction of bus exclusive lanes and subsidies for a bus operating company. An analysis by the structural equation model showed that ‘environmental concerns’ influence two psychological factors such as ‘expectation of reducing car use’ and ‘justice and tolerance of bus priority schemes’, and the two factors influence the acceptability of bus priority schemes. Next, we developed a mode-choice and latent variables integrated model and revealed that psychological promotion itself has an effect on commuters'mode shift into park & bus ride.

Reducing road congestion: a reality check

For some little while now, transport policy seems to be focused on massive relative increases in public transport ridership and reduction of car use, resulting in a hoped-for reduction in road congestion. Starting with concerns with vehicle emissions as far back as the mid-1980s, and moving now into more of a focus on greenhouse gases and congestion, current transport policies are aimed at reducing two perceived externalities of increasing car use—vehicular emissions and congestion. This paper seeks to check the reality of these policy directions and question whether these are desirable, let alone achievable end states. The paper starts by looking at congestion and questions whether or not it is intrinsically bad. The negative and positive aspects of congestion are explored. The concepts of accessibility and mobility are discussed, particularly in relation to congestion and capacity increases, with the idea of trying to understand better what capacity increases or increasing congestion do to these two measures. The expectation must be that congestion levels are likely to continue to increase into the future, both as a result of increasing population and also increasing real wealth and changes in preferences. This section of the paper concludes that it is within the power of the market place to offset some of the negatives of congestion. In the next section of the paper, the potentials to increase public transport ridership are examined. An illustration is provided of the likely impacts of achieving a doubling in public transport ridership in a hypothetical city. It is found that the effects of such an achievement would be relatively small on the overall congestion of the road system, and that these effects would also be likely to be fairly short-lived. At the same time, the investments that would be necessary in the public transport system are enormous, and there is relatively little likelihood that one could achieve such an increase in ridership within current development patterns. The paper also addresses the potential of congestion pricing or road user charges to impact congestion. It is concluded that charging motorists a politically acceptable amount will probably still not make significant impact on overall system congestion, while the potential for serious impacts on the economy become large if the charges are made sufficiently high or the area covered is made sufficiently large. In the final section of the paper, a number of policy directions are put forward as suggestions for how to deal with the issue of congestion, capacity, and the declining share of market of public transport. These policy directions are not generally the ones that are being pursued today. The issue of congestion pricing is revisited, and a case is made for a kilometrage charge on road users to replace most current licensing schemes.

Exploration des capacités visuelles et attentionnelles des conducteurs âgés: Intérêts et techniques

To create the conditions for successful ageing it is important to foster the autonomy of elderly people and find ways of maintaining it as long as possible. It is essential to implement specific measures that encourage both safety and travel among the elderly. For a number of years, research into ageing has no longer been solely focused on the evaluation of visual capabilities but also takes account of cognitive abilities. This paper surveys what has been learnt about the changes that occur in drivers’ visual and attentional abilities as a result of ageing. Two issues are considered with regard to monitoring older drivers: the attempt to identify individuals with an excess risk of accident involvement and the attempt to find ways of maintaining or restoring functional capabilities. The paper describes the techniques that exist for investigating functional capabilities and those that can help to prolong successful ageing. This approach aims to channel older drivers towards evaluation programmes in a more proactive manner in order to gradually lead individuals to accept a reduction in car use.

Goal Conflicts in Political Decisionmaking: A Survey of Municipality Politicians' Views of Road Pricing

An ongoing discussion concerns road-pricing schemes as measures to abate traffic congestion and air pollution in metropolitan areas. If such measures are to be effective, road-pricing fees must be set sufficiently high However, municipalities are likely to have other goals besides reducing car use, such as upholding fairness among citizens and financial goals such as creating revenues. If conflicts prove to exist between different goals, road-pricing schemes are not likely to achieve the environmental goal. To investigate the degree to which these goal conflicts exist, members of the local governments in the three major metropolitan areas of Sweden responded to a survey questionnaire. In the questionnaire they rated a number of principles guiding the setting of road-pricing fees hypothesized to correspond to the three goals. The results showed that, for the political majority, the hypothesized goal conflicts existed in that no single goal was optimized. It is concluded that in particular fairness may prevent road pricing achieving the environmental goal.

Local Transport Problems and Possible Solutions: Comparing perceptions of residents, elected members, officers and organisations

It is generally accepted that the current growth in personal car use poses a serious threat to local communities and the environment, and that radical changes in transport policy are needed. In order for local authorities to develop acceptable sustainable transport options, it will be necessary that they have a clear view of the attitudes and perceptions of various groups in their community. This research compared the views of elected members and officers with those of residents and organisations in relation to the local transport situation and the use of car travel reduction measures. It was found that the views of elected members and officers reflect those of residents rather well. The views of local organisations, however, were different. Organisations were, in particular, more negative about policy measures that aim to reduce car use in the town centre. They also attached more importance to the viability of the local economy than the other respondents. However, they did agree with the other groups that the quality of life in the community would improve if there was less traffic. The consequences of these findings for local transport planning are discussed.

Reducing Car Travel in Australian Cities: Review Report

This paper addresses the issue of managing car-travel demand in large urban centers and reviews two instruments—urban form changes and public transport improvements—by drawing on the experience of Australian cities. Urban form changes can be achieved by higher population and employment densities. At a city or broad zonal level, the reviews show that higher densities of population and employment lead to lower levels of travel and car use. However, the linkage between urban form changes can be a complex and indirect process at a less aggregate level. Large changes in the urban form may be necessary to produce small changes in car and transit usage. This study also shows that new rail transit investments in the cities of Perth and Gold Coast were only able to reduce car use in the same transport corridor by a small percentage. A significant proportion of the rail users were previous bus users. There is no quick fix to the urban transport problems confronting large cities, and the solution will need political...

Are women potentially more accommodating than men to a sustainable transportation system in Sweden?

The attainment of a sustainable transportation system necessitates changes in the travel behavior of individuals. In this article, a descriptive presentation of travel survey data as well as attitude surveys tests the hypothesis that women are potentially more adaptable to a sustainable transportation system than men are. This is accomplished in four parts. First, results from Swedish travel survey data have found that men travel more kilometers per year, use the car more than women with regard to the number of kilometers traveled per day, and make more trips as the sole occupant of a car. Second, results from attitude surveys show that women are more environmentally concerned and express more criticism of automobility than men. Third, women are more positive towards proposals that reduce or eliminate the environmental impact of car use to a greater extent than men. Fourth, women express more willingness to reduce their use of the car than men. In general, while there are not large differences between men and women and their attitudes towards automobility, women consistently show more support of ecological issues and are more positive towards measures which entail reductions in car use, such as improving and expanding public transportation. Women were furthermore more prepared to participate in ecologically benign activities to a greater extent than men, which included reducing car use. Because of the tendencies shown in the empirical results presented here, women are judged to have more potential for accommodating an ecologically sustainable transportation system in Sweden than men are.

Air pollution and its health impacts: the changing panorama.

Urban air pollution levels are associated with increased mortality and cardiorespiratory morbidity. These health effects occur even at exposure levels below those stipulated in current air-quality guidelines, and it is unclear whether a safe threshold exists. Air pollution in Australia and New Zealand comes primarily from motor vehicle emissions, electricity generation from fossil fuels, heavy industry, and home heating using wood and coal. In individual patients a direct link between symptoms and air pollution exposure may be difficult to establish and may not change their clinical management. However, avoiding exposure during periods of peak pollution may be beneficial. Although there is some evidence that urban air pollution in Australia and New Zealand has been decreasing (through reduced car use, improved emission-control technology and use of more energy-efficient devices in the household and in industry), pollution levels are still unsatisfactory. Further reductions may prevent hundreds of cardiorespiratory hospital admissions and deaths each year.

Encouraging the commercial sector to help employees to change their travel behaviour

Travel Plans have been a key element in the UK Government's strategy for reducing car use. However, although they have been adopted by the Government's own departments and other parts of the state sector, any policy mechanisms to encourage the “widespread voluntary take-up” of Travel Plans in the private sector have so far been relatively low key. This paper examines how commercial sector organisations are currently encouraged to help change their employees’ travel behaviour in the UK. It then draws on experience from across the world to identify four mechanisms through which Government and local authorities might make travel plans more widespread than currently, namely information and exhortation, regulation, subsidy and fiscal reform.

Évaluation des potentiels de réduction des trafics automobiles dans le cas de la zone dense francilienne

The Pari 21 research project does not attempt to justify a move towards a radically different system—practically everything there is to say about the benefits and disadvantages of cars in cities has already been said. Instead, the project will perform simulations and assess, from the point of view of individuals, the feasibility of a transport system that is based mainly On the use of modes Other than the private car in the densely populated zone Of the Greater Paris Area (Paris city plus the inner suburbs). By constructing and evaluating transport policy scenarios, this research also aims to measure the potential for reducing car use in highly urbanized zones, particularly that which results from the reduction in journey speeds which are a likely consequence of the policies in question The method is based on repeated iterations of a simulation model which combines the assignment of round trips to modes other than the automobile with reformulations of transport supply. Demand is channelled towards personal modes (walking, cycling), public transport and a combination of personal and public modes. These iterations are based on the 1991-1992 Paris Region comprehensive travel survey which recorded all the round trips by car made in a typical day by the individuals living in the zone (i.e. the sequence of all trips made between each time the individual leaves home and returns home).

Characteristics of acute schizophrenic patients on atypical antipsychotics

In order to assess the degree to which specific groups will adapt their travel behaviors after certain intervention, this study utilized a cluster analysis to discuss three segments’ distinct goal frames, social-demographic properties, travel modes, and habitat, and then carried out an information intervention controlled trial to discover three segments’ modal split shifts. The results indicate that the information have consistent and distinct impacts on travel mode choice by clusters. This consistency is embodied in the simultaneous and significant increase in travel times by green modes (walking, non-powered bicycle, or bus) and in the small but non-significant effects on reducing car use in the three clusters. The distinctness of the impacts is that information have a more effective influence on subjects with gain goal frames because their travel times by all three green modes greatly improved. Subjects with the hedonic goal frame are the least sensitive to information, with the only significant increase in travel times being by non-powered bicycle. This research also addressed the “attitude-behavior gap”, weather impacts, and goal-oriented prompts. The findings suggest that policy interventions should be designed to improve public transit features, especially the bicycle system, rather than only to constrain car use, and that tailored policies should be targeted to specific groups with different goal frames.

Travel Mode Choice of Women

This study examines a model of travel mode choice that is able to explain gender differences in the willingness to reduce car use. By means of a survey among 187 inhabitants of a German city, the hypothesis is tested that women are more willing to reduce car use (intention to reduce car use, preference for public transport, and actual travel mode choice for a given trip) because of their stronger ecological norms and weaker car habits. Results confirm women’s greater willingness and the mediating role of norm and habit in the intention to reduce car use and in the actual travel mode choice but not with regard to the preference rating. The intention to reduce car use is mainly influenced by the ecological norm, whereas actual travel behavior is more strongly influenced by habit.

Increasing car dependency of children: should we be worried?

Children are becoming increasingly dependent on the car. This is occurring because of the complexity of modern life and the resulting shortage of time which often means that a child is taken to school by car, sometimes as part of a longer trip. Many parents are concerned about the safety and security of their children. The weather also plays a key role. This increasing car use by children has several implications: children lose opportunities to gain road-based skills and independence from their parents; they lose some social opportunities; parental time is spent taking children by car; there is extra traffic on the road, particularly during the morning peak; children will have a reduction in their physical activity, which has health implications; and, they may grow up with little or no experience of using alternatives to the car. This will have significant adverse impacts on future policies aimed at reducing car use. The situation is likely to worsen. Car ownership will increase further, with a greater increase in households with children than those without. Car use by children is likely to increase considerably. This is a very worrying trend.

Effects of economic disincentives on private car use

A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of economic disincentives on private car use. Eighty two-adult households who were owners of at least one car were randomly assigned to three experimental groups and one control group. Both experimental and control groups logged their car trips during one week before, one week during, and one week after treatment. The treatment consisted of charging two of the experimental groups approximately 100% of normal cost per kilometer of driving during 2 weeks, and charging the third experimental group this amount per kilometer of driving during 4 weeks. With the purpose of investigating whether deliberate planning increases the effect of economic disincentives, the households in one of the former and in the latter group were asked to fill out a prospective car log for the following week. The control group was not charged or requested to fill out a prospective car log but was in other respects treated in the same way. Analyses of the car logs and odometer readings during and at the end of treatment showed a weak reduction of car use due to the economic disincentives that however were almost completely dependent on planning.

Labour's New Trunk-Roads Policy for England: An Emerging Pragmatic Multimodalism?

In 1998 the UK government introduced a new, integrated transport policy signalling a move away from the principles of ‘predict and provide’ towards ‘new realism’. Labour's approach involved promoting a reduction in car use through (among other things) seeking to improve public transport provision and, in line with the trend which had begun in 1994, scaling down the national trunk-road building programme. But despite claiming that building new roads to resolve traffic problems would generally be a measure of the last resort, Labour's most recent statement of transport policy, Transport 2010: The 10-Year Plan, makes provisions for a large programme of trunk-road construction against a background of continued traffic growth. In this paper we compare the scale of trunk-road completions achieved by the generally pro-road Conservative governments of 1979–97 against those anticipated in Labour's 2000–10 plans. We suggest that the annual level of trunk-road completions in England over the next decade will in fact be little different from that achieved by the Conservatives. At a broader scale, we identify the emergence of a new paradigm in transport policy which we call ‘pragmatic multimodalism’.

Encouraging Walking: The Case of Journey-to-school Trips in Compact Urban Areas

An activity-based approach is used to analyse one specific short-trip purpose that has persistently frustrated transport analysts trying to induce more walk, cycle or public transport based trips. This study of the journey-to-school trip is motivated by a general consensus that, to effect a more sustainable transport system, there is a necessity to reduce car use (especially for short trips). Resistance to modal transfer from cars has been shown to be embedded in various psycho-social obstacles which are not readily teased out in orthodox econometric studies of travel demand. We report on an empirical study which fuses psychometric (construction of coping scales) and econometric analyses (logit analysis) in an attempt to uncover the psychological and sociological factors influencing modal choice, as well as the usual range of economic and demographic factors.

Encouraging schools and employers to adopt travel plans

A travel plan is a package of measures aimed at reducing the impacts of travel to a particular site. Such packages are also sometimes known as green transport plans, green commuter plans or mobility management plans. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions has recently started to use the term ‘travel plan’, preferring to drop the ‘green’ label in order to ensure that these plans are seen as addressing other issues as well as environmental issues. The ‘commuter’ label has also been changed to reflect the fact that this approach could be used to address many different types of travel, not just the journey to work. To date, however, the development of travel plans has concentrated primarily on work journeys and school journeys and there is an increasing amount of information aimed at encouraging the wider take-up of travel plans by employers and schools. This paper starts by explaining why these types of journey are being targeted and then goes on to provide a brief history of initiatives for reducing car use on the journey to school and the journey to work. It finishes with a summary of recent policy developments in this area.

Encouraging schools and employers to adopt travel plans

A travel plan is a package of measures aimed at reducing the impacts of travel to a particular site. Such packages are also sometimes known as green transport plans, green commuter plans or mobility management plans. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions has recently started to use the term ‘travel plan’, preferring to drop the ‘green’ label in order to ensure that these plans are seen as addressing other issues as well as environmental issues. The ‘commuter’ label has also been changed to reflect the fact that this approach could be used to address many different types of travel, not just the journey to work. To date, however, the development of travel plans has concentrated primarily on work journeys and school journeys and there is an increasing amount of information aimed at encouraging the wider take-up of travel plans by employers and schools. This paper starts by explaining why these types of journey are being targeted and then goes on to provide a brief history of initiatives for reducing car use on the journey to school and the journey to work. It finishes with a summary of recent policy developments in this area.