The effect of prices and income on car travel in the UK

The objective of this paper is to analyse the factors determining household car travel, and specifically the effects of household income and the prices of cars and motor fuels, and to explore the intertemporal pattern of adjustment. The question of asymmetry in the response to rising and falling income is also addressed. Such asymmetry may be caused by habit or resistance to change or the tendency to acquire habits to consume more easily than to abandon them. The impact of prices, the speed of adjustment and the resistance to change will be important in determining the possibility of influencing travel behaviour and specifically car use. The study utilises repeated cross-section data from the annual UK Family Expenditure Surveys and employs a pseudo-panel methodology. The results are compared with those for car ownership estimated on the basis of similar models

Determinants of car ownership in rural and urban areas: a pseudo-panel analysis

This paper examines the factors determining car ownership for households living in rural and urban areas. A dynamic car ownership model is estimated using a pseudo-panel approach, based on data from Family Expenditure Surveys in the UK for 1982 to 1995. The results show that rural households' car ownership is far less sensitive to motoring costs than that of their urban counterparts. The implication of these results is that general increases in the costs of car transport would pose a considerable economic burden for rural households, and that other area-specific transport measures may be more suitable, particularly from an equity point of view

Volatility of car ownership, commutingmode and time in the UK

This paper has two objectives: to examine the volatility of travel behaviour over timeand consider the factors explaining this volatility; and to estimate the factors determiningcar ownership and commuting by car. The analysis is based on observations of individualsand households over a period of up to eleven years obtained from the British HouseholdPanel Survey (BHPS). Changes in car ownership, commuting mode and commuting timeover a period of years for the same individuals/households are examined to determine theextent to which these change from year to year. This volatility of individual behaviour is ameasure of the ease of change or adaptation. If behaviour changes easily, policy measuresare likely to have a stronger and more rapid effect than if there is more resistance tochange. The changes are ?explained? in terms of factors such as moving house, changingjob and employment status. The factors determining car ownership and commuting by carare analysed using a dynamic panel-data models

The optimal choice of commuting speed: consequences for commuting time, distance and costs

In this paper, we derive a structural model for commuting speed. We presume that commuting speed is chosen to minimise commuting costs, which encompass both monetary and time costs. At faster speed levels, the monetary costs increase, but the time costs fall. Using data from Great Britain, we demonstrate that the income elasticity of commuting speed is approximately 0.13. The ratio of variable monetary costs to travel time costs is estimated to be about 0.14. An implication of this is that as incomes rise commuters choose faster modes, despite their higher monetary costs. This has been an important factor in the growth of commuting by car in the past decades (for example, during the 90s the percentage of work trips made by car in Britain increased from 65 per cent to 70 per cent) and is anticipated to be relevant in the next decades for developing countries such as China and India. With increasing congestion, the time-advantage of car travel will decline, but unless faster public transport modes are available, there will be little incentive to switch to public transport (unless the monetary costs decline substantially in relation to car travel)

Land use and mobility

This paper analyses the effects of land use characteristics on mode choice and carownership. The study is based on a large sample of individuals from the National TravelSurvey of Great Britain for the years 1989-91 and 1999-2001. Land use characteristics aredefined as population density, size of the municipality, accessibility to public transport andlocal amenities, such as shops and services. Mode choice (shares of total travel by car,public transport and walking) and car ownership are modelled using multinomial andbinomial logit models respectively, which include a large number of socio-economicfactors (income, age, gender, household structure and employment status) as well as landuse indicators. The estimation results strongly support the importance of the land usefactors considered on mode choice and car ownership

The Imperfect Price-Reversibility of Non-Transportation Oil Demand in the OECD

oil industry ; demand

Life events and travel behavior exploring the interrelationship using UK Household Longitudinal Study data

Recent research has indicated that changes in travel behavior are more likely at the time of major life events. However, much remains to be learned about the extent to which different life events trigger behavioral change and the conditions under which life events are more likely to trigger change. The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) offers a previously unavailable opportunity to investigate this topic for a large, representative sample of the UK population. UKHLS data were also linked to local spatial data drawn from the census and other sources to elucidate the effect of the spatial context on changes to travel behavior in association with life events. Findings from an exploratory analysis of data from UKHLS Waves 1 and 2 are presented first Transition tables demonstrate a strong association between changes in car ownership and commute mode and the following life events: employment changes, residential relocation, retirement, the birth of children, and changes in household structure. The results of logit models that relate the probability of an increase and a decrease in the number of cars owned to the occurrence of life events and that control for individual and household characteristics and spatial context are then shown. These models show, for example, that moves to urban and rural areas have contrasting effects on travel behavior and that having a new child in itself is not a significant influence on car ownership in the short term

Conceptual model to explain turning points in travel behavior: Application to bicycle use

Existing knowledge on cycling behavior, as with travel behavior in general, is based mainly on cross-sectional studies. It is questionable how much can be learned about the reasons for behavioral change from such studies. A major investment program to promote cycling in 12 English cities and towns between 2008 and 2011 provided the opportunity to study the bicycle use of residents and how that use was affected by the investment. Face-to-face interviews collected biographical information on travel behavior and life-change events during the investment period for 144 research participants and probed the reasons for changes in bicycle use. Theory (from the life course perspective) and preliminary analysis of the interview data were used to develop a conceptual model that hypothesized that turning points in travel behavior were triggered by contextual change (a life-change event or change in the external environment) and mediated by intrinsic motivations, facilitating conditions, and personal history. The model provided an effective means of explaining turning points in bicycle use. The analysis of the interview data showed how the nature of behavioral influences (in particular, life-change events and intrinsic motivations) varied over the life course. The research highlights the advantages of viewing travel behavior change in the context of people’s evolving lives and how that approach can help in developing transport policies and practices